About the work
Wolf is a children's novel by Saša Stanišić, published by Carlsen in 2023 with illustrations by Regina Kehn. It grew out of a shorter story in Stanišić's 2016 collection Fallensteller, which the author reworked for a younger readership. The stage version for Düsseldorf's Junges Schauspiel, directed by Carmen Schwarz, combines spoken theatre with puppetry and premiered on 5 December 2024.
Plot
Twelve-year-old Kemi is sent by his mother to a forest summer camp he wants nothing to do with. There he befriends Jörg, an outsider who observes nature closely, while the rest of the group excludes them both. A grey wolf with yellow eyes keeps appearing to Kemi, challenging him to face his fear and the hostility around him.
Cultural significance
Wolf won Stanišić the 2024 German Youth Literature Prize in the children's book category. The book was also named one of the most beautiful books of the year by the Stiftung Buchkunst and listed in the international White Ravens selection. It is regarded as a sensitive, unpreachy treatment of bullying and exclusion.