How does young love look in Berlin during the post-therapeutic age? In Leif Randt’s latest novel, the German bestseller Allegro Pastell, there’s a lot of WhatsApping from drug-fueled dance parties and ambiguous emojis from trips to Decathlon, every gesture a measure of exacting control. Written with dry humor and deep emotional intelligence, Randt contends insightfully with the perma-communication and hyper reflexivity that can make contemporary relationships so hard to unspool.
Join us on Saturday, 7 June as the author reads from Granta Magazine Editions’ new English translation of Allegro Pastell. Q&A with fellow novelist John Holten to follow, along with a dusky cocktail on the Schöneberg sidewalk.
Please RSVP to patrick.kurth@spikeartmagazine.com until 6 June.
Spike Berlin
Goebenstr. 22
10783 Berlin
7-10pm
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LEIF RANDT (b. 1983) is a novelist and screenwriter. His debut novel, Leuchtspielhaus (2009), deals with a members-only hairdressing salon in East London, and was followed by the utopian novels Schimmernder Dunst über CobyCounty (2011) and Planet Magnon (2015). Most recently, Allegro Pastell (2020) became a bestseller and is being adapted for cinema; his fifth novel is forthcoming in September 2025.
JOHN HOLTEN is a novelist living in Berlin.