The ultimate night of nights

Does an ultimate night have to be the last in a person's life in order to never be topped? In his young adult novel "Angel of the Last Night", award-winning author Nils Mohl deals with the difficult topic of suicidal thoughts in young people. Nils Mohl was a guest at two schools in South Westphalia - the Rivius-Gymnasium in Attendorn and the Carl-Krämer-Realschule in Hilchenbach - as part of the House of Science's YoungPoetry format. YoungPoetry is based on the theme of the Science Year "Medicine of the Future" in 2026. The overarching theme of the readings is "Mental health as reflected in current youth literature".

In his novel, Nils Mohl accompanies his protagonist Kester through the night of nights, in which he and his classmates want to celebrate their A-levels on the beach. Kester gets the keys to a friend's car, sets off for Hamburg, deliberately steers the vehicle into a building site, has an accident, is taken to hospital, escapes and makes his way to a club in a leafy bunker in the Hanseatic city, which he knows from stories told by his school friends and which he desperately wants to get into. After being turned away by the doorman, he meets Bruno, who introduces himself as Kester's guardian angel....

Nils Mohl took the young people on a journey through Kester's long night in Hamburg, which is characterized by encounters with very different people. The author used videos to underline the ambience of the Hanseatic stand, the plot with drawings and also film sequences in which an actor reads passages from the book. Selected passages were also read by the author himself. Quiz questions rounded off the reading and encouraged the audience to take part.

The opportunity for questions and discussion rounded off the events, which were moderated by Katja Knoche, head of the House of Science. YoungPoetry is funded by the Christa-und-Dieter-Lange-Stiftung.