Sven Regener at the Book Fair: The Lehmann Brothers Return to West Berlin

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Sven Regener at the Book Fair: The Lehmann Brothers Return to West Berlin.

If you know Frank "Herr Lehmann" Lehmann and his brother, you know this: these characters carry you through West Berlin nights, late-night corner shops (Spätis), and life's utterly ordinary catastrophes. Now they're back — in a new novel and live at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Per ZEIT, Sven Regener sends the Lehmann brothers on an odyssey through West Berlin in "Frankie und Freddie." The stage is once again the city where Frank Lehmann has been roaming for decades — only this time as a duo, and with new novel material.

In the Book Fair video, Regener — whom you know as a musician from Element of Crime — talks about his beloved characters. The video's title — "Steil gehen auf Antidepressiva" (roughly: "Going Hard on Antidepressants") — already gives away that this won't just be a cozy reading. Exactly what Regener means by that, you can hear in the ZEIT video.

Why West Berlin Never Ends for Regener

For Regener, West Berlin isn't simply a setting — it's a character of its own in the background. The Lehmann brothers move through a city that no longer exists today: walled in, loud, idiosyncratic. That Regener returns there for "Frankie und Freddie" is a promise to everyone who devoured "Herr Lehmann" and its sequels.

What You'll See at the Book Fair

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the annual meeting point for authors, publishers, and readers. Regener is using the stage for a video conversation about his characters and the new novel. If you want to experience Regener as a storyteller, this is your appointment.

More on the topic: Link to the ZEIT video with Sven Regener