German-Swiss author Benedict Wells has been making a name for himself with novels such as Becks letzter Sommer from 2008 (also a film starring Christian Ulmen) and Vom Ende der Einsamkeit from 2016. This latter novel won the 2016 European Union Prize for Literature and is his first book to appear in English (The End of Loneliness, translated by Charlotte Collins).
Wells will be reading in both German and English, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions of the author.
We hope you'll be able to join us! If you'd like to learn more about the author, this 2018 article from The Guardian is a great place to start.
This reading is brought to you by the Waterloo Centre for German Studies in cooperation with Goethe-Institut Toronto.
Interested in hearing the novel's YouTube playlist? (Yes, novels now come with playlists.) Click here.
This is a free event open to all. An RSVP is not required to attend the event, but it will provide you with updates and it helps us to plan our event.
Please scroll down for information about parking at the Centre in the Square.
The Waterloo Campus Bookstore will be on hand with copies of The End of Loneliness for purchase.
About The End of Loneliness (from the publisher):
Jules Moreau’s childhood is shattered after the sudden death of his parents. Enrolled in boarding school where he and his siblings, Marty and Liz, are forced to live apart, the once vivacious and fearless Jules retreats inward, preferring to live within his memories – until he meets Alva, a kindred soul caught in her own grief. Fifteen years pass and the siblings remain strangers to one another, bound by tragedy and struggling to recover the family they once were. Jules, still adrift, is anchored only by his desires to be a writer and to reunite with Alva, who turned her back on their friendship on the precipice of it becoming more. But, just as it seems they can make amends for time wasted, invisible forces – whether fate or chance – intervene.
A kaleidoscopic family saga told through the fractured lives of the three Moreau siblings, alongside a faltering, recovering love story, The End of Loneliness is a stunning meditation on the power of our memories, of what can be lost and what can never be let go. With inimitable compassion and luminous, affecting prose, Benedict Wells contends with what it means to find a way through life, while never giving up hope you will find someone to go with you.
If you think you'd like to read The End of Loneliness as part of a book club, check out the Penguin Random House reading guide.
Parking
Surface lot (Street Level), accessible from Otto Street:
Cost: $2.25/hour to a maximum of $10.750/day, Payment required Monday to Saturday 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Be sure to place the payment slip in the windshield area of your vehicle. Meters will accept VISA, MasterCard and change.
Theatre Parking $9.00 cash if Centre in the Square is open for an event after 6:00pm
Civic District Parking Garage (Underground Lot):
There are two entrances, one is off Queen St, on the south side of the Kitchener Public Library, and the other entrance is off Otto St, beside the surface lot. First 1/2 hour: $1.05, next 1/2 hour is $ 1.05, each 1/2 hour thereafter is $1.65 to a maximum of $14.50.
The theatre rate for this garage is $7.50 cash and they continue to accept KWS vouchers. After you have found a parking spot, please use the Otto Street door to exit as close to the Centre in The Square as possible. There are stairs and an elevator at this exit that bring you up to the surface lot.
Street Parking:
There are also a limited number of free two-hour on street parking spaces on Margaret Avenue, Mansion St and Ellen St between Victoria and Queen. Metered parking is available on Ahrens St and Roy St.
Fire regulations do not permit parking in the Gallery loading dock or on Ring Road.
Parking Options City of Kitchener:
Parking lots are operated by the City of Kitchener.
Please direct any questions or concerns about parking to Traffic and Parking Services by calling 519.741.2345.