Hello Leipzig: Here’s how Monday 21 September 2026 gets underway

Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar: Zum deutschen Artikel.

If this year’s book prize goes to Shida Bazyar, guests at her reading today will be able to say they’ve already seen the winner in person. Things are set to get a bit tricky at the Angerbrücke tram depot: watch out for diversions! The LZ shows you the way. At the Sportforum, the LVB are building for the future – and a major climate conference is looking to the future, examining concerns and opportunities for our lives to come.

Tram hotspot becomes a major building site

With the start of new track works at Angerbrücke, the routes of several tram and bus services are changing from today. Leipzig Transport Services (LVB)

are renewing tracks in the area of the Jahnallee/Zschochersche Straße junction. According to the company, the works will last until 16 October. The tram lines affected are 7, 8, 14 and 15, as well as bus routes 67 and 131.

Tram lines 7 and 15 will be diverted between Goerdelerring and Lindenauer Markt via Westplatz and Felsenkeller

. Tram line 8 will run between Westplatz and Lindenauer Markt via Felsenkeller. Tram line 14 will run between Westplatz and Angerbrücke via Waldplatz and Sportforum Süd. Passengers should expect some changes to tram stops and restrictions on accessibility

along the diversion routes.

Bus routes 67 and 131 will follow a local diversion from Queckstraße towards Angerbrücke until 16 October inclusive. The Lindenauer Markt stop will also be relocated for these services. The LVB has made the full diversion plan, including the exact locations of the stops and information on accessibility, available ONLINE

on its website via an interactive map

.

At the same time, the Jahnallee/Zschochersche Straße junction will also be closed to traffic from today until 16 October. It will still be possible to turn off between Zschochersche Straße and Kuhturmstraße in both directions. Jahnallee will become a dead end between Bowmanstraße and Angerbrücke. Access to Luppenstraße and the Angerbrücke tram depot will remain available. Motor vehicle and cycle traffic – which is particularly relevant for local residents – will be diverted via Capastraße, Erich-Köhn-Straße and Angerstraße.

A quicker journey home

Staying with the construction news: Leipzig Public Transport (LVB) is currently upgrading the Sportforum Süd stop into what is known as the “stop of the future”. The works are expected to last until the end of October. The stop will remain accessible throughout the construction period, as work is being carried out in sections. The aim of the project is to better manage large passenger flows – particularly during major events around the stadium, arena and Festwiese – and to speed up departures.

Illuminated platform edges will be installed, which will in future indicate the position of the tram doors even before the trams arrive, along with new passenger information displays, modern public address systems and additional information pillars in the vicinity of the stadium. Digital solutions are thus intended to improve passenger guidance and the distribution of visitors.

‘Sportforum Süd’ also serves as a test bed for solutions that could later be deployed at other heavily used LVB stops. The construction tender ‘Jahnallee, Stop of the Future, VE 01 – Civil Engineering and Cable Works’ specifies 2 light strips, 2 DFI displays, 6 loudspeakers, 4 cameras and 2 information pillars, as well as cable, data, foundation and earthing works. The published construction documents do not specify a total investment figure for the project.

Until now, the transport authority has organised the management of passenger flows after concerts and football matches using a large number of staff. The “Stop of the Future” is intended to simplify this procedure in future.

And it’s on the move – for now…

More than 270 experts from over 30 countries are gathering in Leipzig from today for the international conference ‘Connecting Biodiversity, Climate, and Human Behaviour’. Until Thursday, they will be exploring the links between climate change, biodiversity and human behaviour at the KUBUS in Leipzig on the UFZ campus. The conference is organised by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of Leipzig.

The programme features a total of around 180 scientific presentations and a panel discussion. As part of the conference, 90 early-career researchers are competing for awards for researchers at the start of their scientific careers. A conference dinner will take place at Gondwanaland in Leipzig Zoo.

The multi-day gathering will examine how climate change, biodiversity loss and human behaviour are interlinked and influence one another. Experts from various disciplines will discuss how findings from climate, biodiversity and behavioural research can be brought together to better understand the causes and consequences of global environmental change.

Book Prize nominees at the Literaturhaus

Shida Bazyar, one of six authors on the shortlist for the 2026 German Book Prize, is coming to Leipzig today. At 7 pm, the writer will present her new novel *Die Lücken* in the hall of the Literaturhaus Leipzig at the Haus des Buches (Gerichtsweg 28).

The book has just been published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch and is set in the fictional town of Heimesbach in the Hunsrück region, through which Bazyar recounts some ninety years of German history. It centres on Jewish families who lose everything during the Nazi era, as well as on those who profited from National Socialism and later portrayed themselves as mere followers. Decades later, the Sharifi and Karimpour families flee Iran. In this way, the novel links questions about a repressed past and memory with the desire for a sense of belonging and an examination of the historical “foundations of our homeland”.

On 8 September, it was announced that *Die Lücken* is one of the six titles on the 2026 shortlist. Prior to this, the seven-member jury had reviewed a total of 205 titles and initially nominated 20 novels. The winner of the German Book Prize will be announced on 5 October 2026 at the award ceremony in Frankfurt’s Römer. Tonight’s event will be hosted by Maria Hummitzsch. Admission costs 10 euros, or 7 euros with a concession. Tickets are available at the box office.

Shida Bazyar was born in Hermeskeil in 1988 and studied creative writing in Hildesheim. Her debut novel, *Nachts ist es leise in Teheran* (It Is Quiet at Night in Tehran), was published in 2016 and was awarded, amongst others, the Ulla Hahn Authors’ Prize and the Uwe Johnson Encouragement Prize. In 2023, Bazyar received the Ernst Toller Prize. With *Die Lücken* (*The Gaps*), she has now reached the shortlist of the German Book Prize for the first time. The event in Leipzig is part of her current reading tour: following this evening’s event, there will be appearances on 22 September in Soltau, on 23 September in Hamburg and on 24 September in Kiel.

Transparency note: The visualisation of the Sportforum Süd stop is based on data taken from the construction site description. The graphic was created using AI and does not claim to be an accurate representation of the final structure.