The poems and rhythmic running texts in John Sauter's new volume of poetry "Ghosts" move between nightmare and utopia. John Sauter a.k.a. Johnny Katharsis is not only known as a rapper beyond the borders of his hometown Leipzig, but also as a poet since his lyric debut “Zone” (2021).
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John Sauter
His ego wanders through a habitat that is crumbling away – spills, tunnels, broken and fallow zones. And just as his surroundings disappear and the past loses its contours, he too slips into the spirit world. Sauter is the documentarian of a shattered interiority, with a keen sense of the cracks in society.
That evening, John Sauter talks to Helge Pfannenschmidt about poetry and rap, society and crisis - and reads from his new volume.
John Sauter was born in Freiberg/Saxony in 1984, studied journalism and art history in Leipzig and language arts in Vienna. He lives as an author and musician (Johnny Katharsis) in Leipzig. In 2019 he received the starting scholarship for literature. In the same year, his poetic debut »Startrampen« was published by Edition fabrik.transit, Vienna. His first volume with Voland & Quist, “Zone”, followed in 2021 in edition AZUR. With “Ghosts” he now presents a powerful third volume of poetry.
Helge Pfannenschmidt, born in 1974, lives in Dresden. There, after a few positions in the literary business, he founded the publishing house edition AZUR in 2005, which is now based as VQ AZUR at Voland & Quist. He continues to be responsible as editor and editor of the series, and he has also been organizing the literature festival Literatur JETZT! since 2011. in Dresden. He also works as a freelance editor and in various jury and consulting positions.
(Program in German)
