Literary highlights in February

With his generational novel about the rise and fall of the Hungarian Aldes family, 22-year-old Nelio Biedermann landed last year's surprise hit. A novel like a world, the overwhelming saga of a family driven by love and longing for it. Reflecting existence, tragedy and beauty. And the eternal question of how to live. In Thalwil, it's practically a home game for the young author, and in conversation with literary agent Hannah Nuspliger-Fosh, there are interesting things to hear about the process of creating the family saga.

Thursday, 12 February, Kulturraum Thalwil, 8 p.m., admission: CHF 35/ student ID 15

A tribute to the minimalist American poet and ascetic Robert Lax, who lived from 1915 to 2000. The audio recordings made by filmmaker Nicolas Humbert in the 1990s of the poet reciting his poems are combined with the imaginative timbres of trumpeter Carina Khorkhordina and electronic musician Miki Yui. The live music reflects Lax's contemplative poetry. A reduction in which individual words and syllables distil the essence of language. Saturday 21 February, Cabaret Voltaire, 10 p.m.

Antonioni's classic looks back at the United States during the turbulent 1960s and literally blows up the American way of life. For writer Zora del Buono, it was a formative cinema experience. In this interview, she talks about what fascinates her about the film and what Zabriskie Point says about the United States today. Zora del Buono is an architect and award-winning journalist and author (she received the Swiss Book Prize in 2024 for Seinetwegen). Four of her eight books are set in the USA. Her fascination with the country began at the age of seventeen during a trip: the vastness of the landscape, the highways, the lostness of man in nature – all this represented a promise of freedom to her. Over the decades, her view of American society became more critical, and so did her writing. Zora del Buono talks to Isabelle Vonlanthen about her love for the USA, about this film and about what made it such an experience for her. Monday, 23 January 2026, Kino Xenix, 8 p.m., tickets available directly from www.xenix.ch.

She is one of the most incisive voices of our time. Hardly anyone dissects the present and power relations better than Sibylle Berg, author, thinker and Member of the European Parliament. In "Deep Talk" she meets Marah Rikli, queer, caregiver, activist and mother of a disabled child. While Berg envisions a future beyond exploitation and exhaustion in her new novel, Rikli has been writing for years about what fairer systems and relationships should look like. Even the announcement alone inspires a tingling sensation, a desire to harness the power of the approaching spring to break new ground in our thinking. An evening to mark in your calendar!

Thursday, 26 February, Comedy House, 7:30 p.m., admission: CHF 35/student ID 25, with sign language interpretation, more information at comedyhaus.ch