The Route
From March 1 to April 4, 2026, writers Louise Kenn and Mücahit Türk, both students at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig, will travel through the American Southwest and South. The journey begins in Las Vegas and continues through San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, and Phoenix before reaching New Orleans, then Houston, Austin, and Dallas. They conclude their travels in New York before returning to Germany.This dossier is beginning to take shape. As the tour sets off from California in March and winds its way to Louisiana by early April, new articles will appear here along the way. In the pieces below, the writers’ impressions unfold into literary snapshots—encounters and conversations, reflections on society in the U.S. and Germany, and personal insights that trace the intellectual and emotional paths of a young generation moving through the world, both in place and in thought.
ON THE ROAD is realized in cooperation with the German Institute for Literature Leipzig and under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Ulrike Draesner. Further information about the project and upcoming public events is available on the UNTERWEGS project website.
