Leh-Wei Liao is presenting her novel Glaszeit as part of the Leseland Hessen programme, hosted by Rebekka Frank.
Larger than life, on an advertising display in the underground Taipei Mall: this is how the young doctor Novana sees her mother, the Taiwanese artist March, again. It has been eighteen years since March left her behind in Germany without any explanation. Everything that has recently defined Novana’s life fades into the background in the face of this unexpected reunion: her desire for a fresh start, which led her to leave Cologne; her daily routine on the neonatal intensive care unit in Taipei; the sleepless nights spent wandering through the metropolis. Then, at a karaoke night, Novana meets Sihan. A fearless activist – lively, determined. Novana feels drawn to her, and something that seemed long lost returns to her life: the possibility of intimacy.
Leh-Wei Liao tells a compelling and radically clear story of defiant women, of desire and hurt, and of Taiwan’s uncertain future – and asks what is worth fighting for.
Leh-Wei Liao, born in Göttingen in 1993, is a doctor and is currently studying visual arts at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. She has been writing since 2022 and has since published numerous pieces in journals and magazines. In 2024, she was a scholarship holder of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation and the Kölner Schmiede. *Glaszeit* is her first novel and Luchterhand Literaturverlag’s flagship title this autumn.
Date
08.09.26, 7.30–9.00 pm
Literaturhaus Kassel
Palais Bellevue
Schöne Aussicht 2
34117 Kassel
Tickets here.