Author evening with Tauno Vahter and the translator Maximilian Murmann
A man, restless, on the run - as a child from his mother, later from American capitalism, the repressive Soviet regime, from prison, the gulag and a psychiatric clinic.
The Estonian sees and experiences a lot on his escapes across the Baltic Sea, across the Soviet Union and across the pond, where he finally lives under the name Madis Jefferson. It is the 1920s to 1990s, a time of great political upheaval in Eastern Europe, the struggle between two very different social and economic systems on both sides of the Iron Curtain. A time full of fear, hope, disappointment and new beginnings.
The gripping novel is based on true events. Following the reading, the author Tauno Vahter and his translator Maximilian Murmann will talk about the research process and the life of the real Madis Jefferson, an Estonian whose real name was Johannes Rudolf Lapmann. The author has a few more details about his life to share.
Tauno Vahter (born 1978) is a translator, writer - and winner of the 2012 European Quiz Championship! Both his first collection of short stories and the novel "The 11 Escapes of Madis Jefferson" won major literary prizes in Estonia. The German translation of the novel is almost hot off the press - published in February 2024.
