Hendrik Bolz: Out of Ruins

About this event

Hendrik Bolz, born in 1988 and raised in the prefab estates of Stralsund, first made a name as one half of the satirical hip-hop duo Zugezogen Maskulin and later as host of the podcast Springerstiefel, which examined the legacy of far-right structures in East Germany. His bestselling debut, Nullerjahre, was a raw autobiographical account of growing up amid violence and boredom in the post-reunification wasteland. Now, in his new book Aus Ruinen (Out of Ruins), he turns to his arrival in Berlin at the end of the 2000s. The story follows a young man moving from a high-rise estate to a campus full of left-alternative West German middle-class students, navigating financial crisis headlines, confused text messages, and a stubborn code of hardness that no longer fits. This Frankfurt book premiere pairs a reading with an on-stage conversation between Bolz and moderator Isabella Caldart, who will dig into the personal and social themes of the book. The talk is held in German in the intimate setting of the Romanfabrik – an evening for anyone drawn to sharp, socially observant literature.