Emily Marie Lara: Nowhere Heart Land

In the organizer's words:

A haunting debut about the deceptive power of memory and the liberating power of truth

A brilliant debut that grabs you and won't let go

A young woman wakes up with a black eye in her hometown in the German provinces. Actually, Rosa always wanted to go far away, but now, after many years in London, she is back and is haunted by confusing memories of her youth in a humanist boarding school, of her mother who died young and of old friends who no longer speak to her. Torn between nostalgia and reality, Rosa searches for the truth between old stories.

With great intensity and humorous lightness, Emily Marie Lara tells the story of a young woman who resists growing up with all her might and yet finds herself in her rejection.

An intense, atmospheric novel about the best and worst sides of being young

Emily Marie Lara was born in Wuppertal in 1993 and studied German, Romance Studies and Communication. After several years in the UK and Berlin, she now lives in North Rhine-Westphalia again. By day she works in the media industry, by night she writes by candlelight and on paper. In 2022, she won the Wuppertal Literature Biennale sponsorship award.