De l’Horizon, who describes themself not simply as a writer but as someone who moves between writing, performance, dance and witchcraft, speaks about the idea of “becoming unsplit” and challenging binary ways of thinking. Their approach to writing, they explain, is less about speaking about others than creating alongside them: “I don’t want to write about, but I want to write with.”

The conversation explores de l’Horizon’s acclaimed debut novel, Blutbuch (US version: Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues), and its recurring images of trees, blood, family, language and transformation. Recalling a tree from childhood, de l’Horizon describes the blood beech as a source of connection and protection: “I felt more connected to it than I did to people,” they read from their book.

Language is central to their understanding of the body and the world. De l’Horizon describes the world as a textile in which people are already woven, arguing that identities and bodies can be rewritten because the meanings attached to them have changed throughout history. “I think all of our bodies are in language,” they say.

The interview also considers care, illness, politics and the legacy of European colonialism. De l’Horizon questions the separation of psychological, political, artistic and medical experience, and proposes “care magic” as a practice based not on repairing what is considered broken but on turning toward others. “I’m interested in becoming more than an answer to violence,” they say.

Reflecting on European history, gender, race and the suppression of pagan and nonbinary traditions, de l’Horizon argues for histories that acknowledge uncertainty and contamination rather than searching for a pure origin. “I’m trying to write a dirty and impure history of Europe,” they say.

Kim de l’Horizon was born in 1992 in Ostermundigen, Switzerland. They studied German, film and theater studies in Zurich and literary writing at the Swiss Literary Institute in Biel, and have worked across literature, theater and performance. Their debut novel, Blutbuch, published in 2022, won the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Literature Prize, the German Book Prize and the Swiss Book Prize. The US edition of the book is called Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues, 2025. The novel has been translated into numerous languages and adapted for the stage. De l’Horizon has also received recognition for earlier work in poetry, prose and playwriting, including the Treibhaus and OpenNet competitions, the Textstreich poetry competition and the Dramenprozessor award.

Felix Thorsen Katzenelson interviewed Kim de l’Horizon in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival, In August 2024, at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Edited and produced by Signe Boe Pedersen

Camera: Simon Weye

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2026.
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond.