Mascha Unterlehberg in Gelsenkirchen: Reading from When We Smile in the Metropolitan Garden

A literary summer evening full of anger, friendship, and fine tension

At the 6th Literature Festival Close & Far, on July 18, 2026, in the Metropolitan Garden at Dahlbusch, one of the most distinctive new voices in contemporary literature meets an attentive audience. Mascha Unterlehberg reads from her debut novel When We Smile, which explores the nervous energy of youthful friendship, the shift from closeness to violence, and the question of self-assertion with great linguistic precision.

A debut novel with literary force

The novel opens with an image that immediately goes under your skin: Jara stands on an old railway bridge over the Ruhr while Anto disappears into the water. From this scene, Unterlehberg develops a dense portrait of friendship and coming-of-age that does not aim for simple answers but rather for inner movement, contradiction, and the boiling center of female anger. The reading therefore promises not only an author encounter but a literary experience with intense reading atmosphere.

Mascha Unterlehberg and the language of a generation

Mascha Unterlehberg was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr and studied literature and art history in Freiburg and Paris as well as at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig. For When We Smile, she received the Alfred Döblin Medal in 2026. The jury honored a catchy and elegantly woven text structure. Exactly this combination of formal control and emotional unrest also characterizes the response to the novel: a work about belonging, vulnerability, and the moment when friendship becomes a stance.

The Metropolitan Garden as a fitting place for contemporary literature

The Metropolitan Garden at Dahlbusch e.V. in Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen provides the ideal setting for a reading of this kind. The area around the historic Villa Dahlbusch stands for an urban garden project, cultural participation, and an open, neighborly atmosphere. The outdoor event combines literary quality with immediate proximity to the audience and creates an environment in which language, voice, and space interact particularly intensely.

An evening that resonates

Anyone interested in contemporary literature, debut novels, and intelligent readings will experience an evening here that goes far beyond a classic book presentation. When We Smile leads right into the tensions of growing up, the ambivalence of loyalty and aggression, and the question of what to do with all the anger. That is precisely the appeal of this event: it is poetic, uncomfortable, present, and live, particularly urgent.

Conclusion: This reading connects literary precision with emotional urgency and an extraordinary venue. Anyone wanting to experience contemporary literature in its concentrated, lively form should visit Mascha Unterlehberg live in the Metropolitan Garden.

Official channels of Mascha Unterlehberg:

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Sources:

• City of Gelsenkirchen - 6th Literature Festival Close & Far
• German National Library - When We Smile
• WDR - Mascha Unterlehberg on When We Smile
• SWR Culture - Mascha Unterlehberg on her debut novel
• idw - Award of the Alfred Döblin Medal 2026 to Mascha Unterlehberg
• Metropolitan Garden at Dahlbusch e.V. - Homepage