Katharina Volckmer and The Appointment

2021-02-19

'It felt liberating to find that voice and put it on paper...Some restrictions can be creative.' Hello! Katharina Volckmer talks about her debut novel, The Appointment (Fitzcarraldo Editions), a TLS 'Book of the Year 2020', and one critics have called 'a darkly funny untangling of national and sexual identity' (The Guardian).And what a great way to kick off our 'Finding Room' series with a novel set entirely in one room...Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! -...

'It felt liberating to find that voice and put it on paper...Some restrictions can be creative.'

Hello! Katharina Volckmer talks about her debut novel, The Appointment (Fitzcarraldo Editions), a TLS 'Book of the Year 2020', and one critics have called 'a darkly funny untangling of national and sexual identity' (The Guardian).

And what a great way to kick off our 'Finding Room' series with a novel set entirely in one room...

Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

Rippling Points

Can the restrictions of writing in a language which isn't your 'mother tongue' ultimately set you free?
How a 'silent' character can be a 'loud' presence.

Buy THE APPOINTMENT here

Reference Points

Books and Writers

Thomas Bernhard - The Old Masters

Siri Hustvedt - The Blindfold

Franz Kafka

Ottessa Moshfegh

Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint

Articles

Katharina in conversation with RL Goldberg for the Paris Review

Katharina on 'that strange German silence' that persists over the Holocaust for the Guardian

Ideal lockdown literary listening.