Kaska Bryla

grew up between Vienna and Warsaw. She studied economics in Vienna and studied at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig, where she co-founded the literary magazine and author network ‘PS - Politisch Schreiben’ in 2015. She was editor of the monthly magazine ‘an.schläge’ and has received numerous scholarships and prizes. Her theatre play ‘Im Herzen der Krähen’ premiered in 2023. Her debut novel ‘Roter Affe’ was published in 2020, followed by the novel ‘Die Eistaucher’ in 2022. In 2024, Kaśka Bryla was invited by Brigitte Schwens-Harrant to read an extract from ‘Mein Vater, der Gulag, die Krähe und ich’ at the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in Klagenfurt.

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Books

Kaska Bryla - My Father, the Gulag, the Crow and Me

The summer of 2020 is hot and beautiful, yet fear and uncertainty are everywhere—including the caravan park community where the author lives, struggling with a serious illness. She draws strength from conversations in her head, talking to her father, who was interned in a gulag as a member of the Polish underground. His act of resistance has affected her profoundly. Her own battle to live life on her own terms as a queer woman is similar, yet in many ways very different. She also draws strength from Karl, a baby crow abandoned by its mother, which she cares for while it’s still unable to fly. Loving, laconic and surreal, the novel interweaves snatches of conversation with the author’s father with fever dreams and loneliness. This book reminds us of what it means to keep your promises.

Kaska Bryla - The Ice Divers

Iga the skateboarder, the beautiful Jess and their chubby friend Ras are outsiders at their school, but the bond between them is strong. Secretive and inseparable, they call themselves the "Ice Divers". One night, the youngsters witness a brutal assault by the police. When the iniquity remains without repercussions, they decide to take the law into their own hands. Twenty years later, a mysterious stranger turns up who seems to know about the act of revenge that took place all that time ago. The precarious balance is under threat. Kaśka Bryla skilfully weaves a gripping story about the causes of radicalisation into a plea for solidarity and love. Not for the faint-hearted, this novel will be warmly embraced by passionate spirits!

Kaska Bryla - Red Monkey

Roland K., multiple murderer and rapist, is serving his sentence in Berlin’s Moabit prison. His connection to Mania, the prison psychologist, seems deeper than a few therapy sessions might suggest. When Mania’s childhood friend Tomek disappears in Vienna, she embarks on a desperate search for him with the help of Ruth, a hacker. Thus begins a dynamically narrated race against time. Will they find Tomek? Does Tomek even want to be found? And what does any of this have to do with Roland K.? With courage and verve, Kaśka Bryla intertwines the enduring questions of guilt and forgiveness, good and evil, with an unexpected love story to deliver a gripping road novel.

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