born in Vienna, Bryla grew up in Vienna and Warsaw. She studied economics at Vienna University and subsequently attended the Deutsches Literaturinstitut in Leipzig, where in 2015 she co-founded the literary magazine and author network PS-Politisch Schreiben. She was editor of the monthly magazine an.schläge and has been awarded the STARTStipendium (2013) and the Exil Preis für Prosa (2018). Since 2016, she has provided creative writing courses in prisons and for people with a migrant background. In 2019 she produced the Szenogramme staged reading series in Leipzig. "Roter Affe" (2020) is her first novel. www.kaskabryla.com
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.
