Reading with Franz Hohler

From the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen to the source at Lake Toma: Following a spontaneous impulse, Franz Hohler walks along the Rhine and captures what he encounters: campsites and swarms of mosquitoes, motorway bridges and bird calls, historical and biographical, remembered and all too contemporary, tragic and comical - and in Liechtenstein a wastewater treatment plant. Sometimes the Rhine is a mighty river, impetuous nature that plunges dramatically into the depths, sometimes a leisurely little Rhine or terribly built up and tamed, almost impossible to find. But in Franz Hohler's serenely pointed prose he is always a symbol of life and the changeable coexistence of man and nature.

Franz Hohler was born in Biel, Switzerland, in 1943. He now lives in Zurich and is considered one of the most important storytellers in his country. Hohler has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Alice Salomon Prize and the Johann Peter Hebel Prize. His work has been published by Luchterhand Literaturverlag for over fifty years.