Meet the authors: Insą Ritterhoff and Timo Janca

We invite you to a meeting with Insa Ritterhoff and her book Das vergessene Glück (The Forgotten Happiness) and with Timo Janca, who will present the second part of his trilogy Schatten und Licht (Shadow and Light). The meeting will be moderated by Prof. Ewelina Kamińska-Ossowska from the Institute of Literature and New Media at the University of Szczecin. The meeting will be held in German. Insa Ritterhoff, born in 1968 in Hanover, has been living on the Baltic Sea coast for many years. In her professional career, she has gained a variety of experiences - from a full-time job at a bank, independent creative work, and work as a PR specialist to the film industry. She is currently involved in transforming an old industrial site into an event and creative space in Lübeck, as well as writing. The book Das vergessene Glück (2025) tells the story of Ella, who inherits a suitcase filled with documents, photos, letters, and notes from the late Karla. Although she hardly knew the woman, she treats the contents with journalistic curiosity, which over time turns into fascination. All the more so because, as she follows the life of the elderly lady, she begins to confront her own past. Will Karla's story give her the courage to take her life into her own hands and finally start following her own path? Aufbau-Verlag has also published Was vom Leben bleibt in the form of an ebook and audiobook. Dr. Timo Janca, born in 1982, is a writer, lecturer, and traveler. After completing his studies in German and Slavic languages in Kiel, he lectured as a DAAD lecturer in Russia, Poland, and Ukraine. He currently works at the Deutsche Auslandsgesellschaft (DAG) in Lübeck. In addition to teaching, he organizes projects and events related to literature and theater, as well as study trips. His publications include cultural studies on the relationship between literature and history, as well as methods of critical analysis of press texts. He has published: "Zwischen Verklärung und Aufklärung: Identitätssuche in der georgischen Literatur 1801-1989" (Between Transfiguration and Enlightenment: The Search for Identity in Georgian Literature 1801-1989), "Resultats- und prozessorientierter Diskurs in der osteuropäischen Gegenwartsliteratur" (Results- and Process-Oriented Discourse in Contemporary Eastern European Literature), "Aufzeichnungen aus dem Kaukasus - Reisen und Recherchen" (Notes from the Caucasus - Travels and Research), the first part of the trilogy "Von Flüchen und Ausfluchten" (Of Curses and Excuses), which he presented at the Pomeranian Library in 2025, and the second part of the trilogy "Schatten und Licht" (Shadow and Light), in which he described the further history of a family of emigrants who settled in the USA in the 19th century.