Take Away the Alps: Reading and Conversation with Ralph Tharayil and Senthuran Varatharajah

The novel «Take away the Alps» tells the story of a childhood in Switzerland in pictures. There is the nameless brother and sister speaking in chorus. There's a home with Ma and Pa and the speed of the bikes the kids ride out to their games: to the phone booth, to the garbage dump, to the reeds. And there comes a new child into the class and paves a way for the siblings out of their own inner mountains. In a crystalline prose, Ralph Tharayil's debut develops a »coming of age« story that tells of the forms and deformations of the integration experience, and of the language and bodies that resist it.

«To tell about childhood is to know the first poem of silence. Ralph Tharayil knows it, and he tells about it: in a language so fragile that it must break. From this buried wound, Tharayil harbors a miracle: his incorruptible voice, startling as an event.» – Senthuran Varatharajah


Moderation & Conversation: Senthuran Varatharajah

Ralph Tharayil, born in Liestal in 1986 to South Indian parents, studied history, media, economics and literary studies in Basel, during which time he worked as a journalist, author, performer and musician. He develops, also in collaborations, texts for audio pieces and performances and writes poetry and prose for which he has received several awards. For «Take away the Alps» he received the Alfred Döblin Medal for promising debuts. Ralph Tharayil lives in Berlin.

Senthuran Varatharajah, born 1984, is a writer, philosopher and theologian. In 2016, his debut novel Vor der Zunahme der Zeichen was published by S. Fischer Verlag. His second novel Rot (Hunger) was published in 2022, also by S. Fischer. Senthuran Varatharajah lives in Berlin.

• Free event
• No registration required
• Bar open from 5.30 pm
• Place: In the museum
• Language: German

(Image Credits: Image 1: Amelie Kahn-Ackermann / Image 2-4: ZVG)