Lichtungen was shortlisted for the German Book Prize in 2024—awarded at the Frankfurt Book Fair and one of the most prestigious literary awards in the German-speaking world. Denis Scheck, one of Germany’s most influential book critics, called it “a truly great literary work of art,” declaring that “with Iris Wolff’s Lichtungen, literature in 2024 begins with a real bang.” The novel has also won the Uwe Johnson Prize, with critics across Europe praising Wolff’s “tender language that gets under your skin.”
The story follows Lev and Kato, childhood friends from a Romanian village whose lives go separate ways following the fall of the Iron Curtain. The novel is particularly striking by virtue of its backwards structure—opening with chapter nine and working back to chapter one, peeling away layers of memory as it goes. It’s an ambitious approach, but Wolff carries it off without falling into gimmicky traps.
The evening will feature readings in German by Wolff and in Maltese by Alfred Scalpello, the translator responsible for the Maltese edition., followed by a conversation in English moderated by Dr Katrin Dautel. This multilingual format offers something rather special: a chance to hear how Wolff’s carefully crafted German sounds in its original form, and then how Scalpello has re-sculpted it into a vibrant new work of literature for the Maltese canon. For those few who can understand both languages, the event promises a unforgettable experience.
Scalpello is a senior lecturer in German at the University of Malta who has made his name translating everything from seventeenth-century German travelogues to contemporary thrillers. Translating Wolff’s prose, which she herself describes as “close to poetry” is daunting enough when writing in languages which share much of German’s structure and history, let alone in a language as unique as Maltese. Attendees will have the chance to ask about these challenges: how do you capture the rhythm and texture of such a novel? What compromises do you have to make?
The novel’s themes will be familiar to Maltese readers. It explores migration, belonging, and the tension between leaving and staying—questions that speak to Malta’s position at the crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean, with its own complex history of movement and displacement. Lichtungen examines how political upheaval reshapes intimate relationships, how even opening borders might mean shutting doors.
Wolff herself was born in Hermannstadt (Sibiu) in Transylvania’s German minority community and came to Germany at age eight in 1985. Her novels consistently explore communities caught between cultures, languages, and historical forces—themes that echo Malta’s own linguistic complexity. Like Wolff’s Romanian-Germans, Malta has long witnessed a struggle and symbiosis between different languages: nowadays Maltese and English coexist as official languages, but Italian’s influence over the culture isn’t going anywhere. This multilingual reality, far from being just a source of conflict, has become part of Malta’s identity.
This event continues an important tradition. Recent Malta Book Festivals have featured Marie Gamillscheg (German Book Prize shortlist 2022) and Barbi Markovic (Leipzig Book Fair Prize 2024)—both supported by German and Austrian embassies. Clearly a genuine literary connection between Malta and Eastern Europe is not just possible but already growing quickly.
The translation into Maltese is part of a broader effort. Literary translation into Maltese requires both linguistic skill and cultural sensitivity, and the Malta Book Fund has increasingly supported such work. When a novel as accomplished as Lichtungen gets translated, it’s a sign that Malta’s literary culture is growing and diversifying.
The evening will be moderated by Dr Katrin Dautel from the University’s Department of German, with readings in German, Maltese, and a conversation in English. The event concludes with a book signing, with copies available in both languages.
If you need a quick pitch for the event, then here it is: An acclaimed author reading from a novel that critics across Europe have praised; a skilled translator demonstrating how literary language crosses borders; and the rare opportunity to hear the same story in two very different linguistic traditions. For anyone interested in contemporary European literature, or in migration stories that avoid easy answers, or simply in prose that captures the complexity of human relationships, this is worth making time for.
In Conversation with Iris Wolff is taking place on November 7 at the Malta Book Festival. It is co-organised by the University of Malta’s Department of German, the German-Maltese Circle, and publisher Horizons, with support from the German Embassy.