Martina Hefter releases new novel Nach der Sonne schauen

Author Martina Hefter, winner of the 2024 German Book Prize, has released her new novel, “Nach der Sonne schauen” (Looking After the Sun). The book was presented during a premiere at the Schauspiel Leipzig as part of the Literary Autumn festival.

The narrative follows Iona Bartschok, an installation artist working in a former open-cast mining area in the Leipzig lowland. The story explores themes of loneliness, climate change, and artificial intelligence, set against a landscape undergoing profound transformation from coal mining to artificial lakes and wind farms.

A central conflict in the novel involves an incident where a painter, Herto Straus, defaced Iona’s long-standing diploma work with graffiti. The book examines the boundaries between nature and artifice, as well as the psychological impact of a changing environment.