Vorwiegend festkochend by Lara M. Gahlow

Published September 16, 2025

A touching narrative about age, care and the power of unexpected encounters. Awarded the Hamburg Literature Prize.

Minna is 92, lives alone – and counts the words of the nurses who meet her every day. Until Moni comes. Moni listens. Moni buys the right potatoes. A special connection is created between shopping lists, puffed rice and North German objectivity. With fine humor and a great sense of nuances, Lara M. Gahlow tells in her short story debut about the courage to be close in a world that does not provide for this.

“Predominantly Waxy” is an award-winning literary tale about aging, caregiving, and the power of genuine encounters. Care is more than a service. It is closeness, routine—and sometimes the only regular social contact. But what does that mean for those who depend on care? And for those who provide care?"

Lara M. Gahlow is a freelance author, editor, and cultural manager. She studied cultural studies in Bremen, the USA, Lüneburg, and Lithuania. She works in an intersectional feminist context and advocates for gender equality in the cultural sector. In 2023, she moved to Vienna to write her first book – and won the Hamburg Literature Prize for the short story “Vorwiegend festkochend”. Lara believes that life holds the best stories if you just look closely. And that’s exactly what she does.

The narrative is about the question of what we need to live self-determined. Growing old with grace I give small, silent answers with each side. The book contains a lot of my grandmother – and maybe yours too. The end of a life, that's perhaps not the hottest topic. But such an important one. And one thing is certain: we all grow old. Let's think about what that might look like.

The book was published by Ankerwechsel Verlag. The jacket and cover are set in Feraz Condensed.

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