Overview
In the new edition of SAMSTAGS UM 4 we present the Irish author Seán Hewitt with his poetic coming out novel Öffnet sich der Himmel. Bilingual reading with Seán Hewitt and Tim Habe.
James is on the cusp of adulthood. And he dreams of a different life far away: leaving the village, disappointing his parents, finally confronting everything with something lively, real and fulfilling. Because here in sleepy Thornmere in the north of England, everything remains the same: his round as a milk boy, the church services, the eternal worries about his sick little brother, the exclusion by his classmates. But then, in the fall of 2002, James meets Luke – a year older, outrageously handsome, sent to the country for discipline by his out-of-touch parents – and over the course of a year, James surrenders to new, uncontrollable forces, a longing that will change him forever, a question that will haunt him for the rest of his life: Would I risk everything for the possibility of love?- A beautifully told coming out novel about the longings of youth, about the tenderness, nightmares and illusions called love.
Moderation: Veit Georg Schmidt
Reading in German and English.
Free admission!
Date
February 21, 2026, 4 p.m.
Contributors
Seán Hewitt, born in 1990, is the award-winning author of several books of poetry. He has been awarded the Laurel Prize and has appeared on numerous prize lists, including the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. He received the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature for his memoir All Down Darkness Wide. He teaches at Trinity College Dublin and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. The Sky Opens is his acclaimed debut novel.
Photo: Stuart Simpson/Suhrkamp Verlag
Tim Habe, born in 1999, is currently studying acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. He has performed as a dancer in Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival, but has also shown his talent in a number of theater productions, TV and cinema films.
Photo: Julian Schmelzinger