„Jetzt lass mich doch mal auslesen“ is the literature podcast of the Hamburger Abendblatt and the Literaturhaus Hamburg. Now it is coming on stage for the first time: Literaturhaus director Antje Flemming and Abendblatt culture editor Thomas Andre open their book podcast to the audience of the Harbour Front Festival - with recommendations, contradictions and close reading.
The podcast is dedicated to new releases, classics and discoveries; He recommends, discusses, contradicts. The guest for the live edition is the Hamburg author Katharina Hagena, an author whose novels combine topics such as memory, origin, loss with observation of nature.
In her most recently published novel "Flusslinien" (River Lines), she brings together three very different people on the Elbe: a centenarian who lives in an old people's home on the Elbe, a granddaughter who works with plants as a gardener, but also tattoos her grandmother, and the chauffeur of the old people's home. He acts as a messenger between both worlds, between worlds that do not fit together and yet belong to each other. Twelve early summer days change what these characters know about each other - and what they themselves have so far concealed from each other.
Katharina Hagena lives as a freelance writer in Hamburg. Her novel "The Taste of Apple Seeds" became a bestseller; her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. In 2025, her novel "Flusslinien" was published.
Antje Flemming has been director of the Literaturhaus Hamburg since May 2025. Previously, she worked in the Hamburg cultural authority as a consultant for literature, author promotion and literary life; from 2002 to 2016 she was already responsible for communications at the Literaturhaus. Flemming is a literary scholar, author and editor.