Five key books of the month with Volker Weidermann: German Book Prize winner Schirin Bassi, Wolf Biermann's diaries and Per Mertesäcker's new novel

Die Zeit literary critic Volker Weidermann presents his five most important books of the month — October, the month of the Frankfurt Book Fair and of the German Book Prize. The episode moves from the award-winning novel about a Hunsrück village to a poet's life's work, and includes an interview with football world champion turned author Per Mertesäcker.

■ Schirin Bassi – "Die Lücken"
- A German Book Prize winner: a historical epic spanning more than 100 years in a fictional Hunsrück village
- The distance between abstract remembrance of the Nazi era and the concrete history of one's own family and community
- Based on archival research and the testimony of a Jewish survivor

■ Wolf Biermann – a life in diary form
- A slim volume distilled by editor Ilko-Sascha Kowalschuk from roughly 50,000 pages of diary
- His move to the GDR as a young communist, his expulsion in 1976 and the political force of his poetry

■ Interview with Per Mertesäcker
- Writing after a football career: his privileges, school visits and reasons for taking up the pen
- His second novel "Der Wolkenberührpunkt" and the real-life inspirations behind it
- His long-time favourite book by Benedict Wells

■ Further recommendations
- Bonnie Garmus: a new novel centred on a poetry magazine in 1980s New York
- Helga Schubert: "Die Woche danach", an account of bereavement after the death of her husband
- Readings from several of the recommended titles are included throughout

Recommended for anyone looking for curated, expert book tips with literary context, alongside a conversation about the motivation and craft of writing. It offers leads to new releases, background on their authors and an entry point into contemporary German-language literature.