Anna Eckert Lax (*1979), based in Berlin, is our guest as a recipient of a Lower Saxony Literature Grant. Her literary essay Geschwisterlich begins with a great-aunt and an unsuccessful letter from 1941. From there, Eckert Lax explores what is passed down between generations—not only cutlery, but also illness, care, and shame. Her writing moves with curiosity along the connections and differences between anthropological and literary approaches to writing.

“In a clear, almost matter-of-fact style, she leads us to existential questions that emerge from personal family relationships, are connected to current scientific findings, and deepened through literary references. [...] The essay is moving because it brings home the fact that we inherit more than just things,” the literature commission explained in its statement.