Reading & Talk: Muri Darida – King Cobra

About this event

Muri Darida, whose work moves between poetic prose and sharp political commentary, presents his debut novel “King Cobra”. The story follows Lazi, who travels to Hungary to find her grandfather's rifle – and instead finds a family steeped in unspoken memories, violence and pálinka. Only Aunt Monika suspects that Lazi's return is also about a changed body and a deep need for revenge. The cobra of the title becomes a mutable symbol of shedding skin, danger and transformation, weaving through a text that tackles family silence with humour, tenderness and rage. Darida won the Robert Walser Prize for this novel, which also made the longlist for the German Book Prize. The evening is part of the “WORTMELDUNGEN im Crespo Open Space” series, designed to bring authors together with other thinkers for conversations about the present. Moderator Malu Schrader will guide the talk and reading. The event is in German, and while the atmosphere is calm and focused, the literary intensity should appeal to anyone drawn to contemporary German fiction and explorations of identity, migration and memory.