Program

Book launch with Chana Porter

The Berlin Writers' Workshop presents a reading with Chana Porter to celebrate the launch of THE THICK AND THE LEAN.

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Lyriklesung und Gespräch

Am 9. Februar begrüßt Book and you die Québecer Dichterin Maude Veilleux in der Lettrétage. Im Gepäck hat sie mit „Last call les murènes“und „Une sorte de lumière spéciale“ zwei Gedichtbände, die im Januar zum ersten Mal in Frankreich bei Bouclard erscheinen. Jennifer Dummer wird den Besuch der Dichterin moderieren.
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Lesung und Gespräch

Wie sehen das Arbeiten, die Erfahrungen und Realitäten von Autor*innen aus, die aufgrund von Krieg oder politischer Repression ihre Heimatländer verlassen mussten und nun in Berlin bzw. Deutschland leben? In regelmäßig stattfindenden Abendveranstaltungen der Reihe “Literaturen im Exil” präsentieren jeweils zwei Autor*innen unterschiedlicher Herkunft ihre Texte und tauschen sich über ihre Exil-Erfahrungen sowie über Chancen und Herausforderungen in der (deutschen) Literaturszene aus.  [read more…]

Reading by Donna Stonecipher, Alexander Booth and Ryan Ruby

“He accompanies me across the street it was the 1 icy winter day he wasn’t wearing a jacket, not just what’s written but existence, too, must be poetic.” So Friederike Mayröcker (1924-2021) ends, at the age of 89, a section of her stream-of-consciousness meditations, CAHIER, crystallizing a sense of her epic life and work: “not just what’s written but existence, too, must be poetic.”

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Reading by Pete Carvill

DEATH OF A BOXER is the story of boxing and boxers. But it is, overall, a series of love stories. And it is more about sport than it is about the people who choose to exist in his harsh, marginalized world that is oddly full of beauty and grace. Famed US author Donald Ray Pollock, writer of THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME and KNOCKEMSTIFF, has called DEATH OF A BOXER the ‘best and most-important book on boxing’ that he has ever read.
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Reading by Sarah Schulman

The Berlin Writers' Workshop and the Schwules Museum present a reading and discussion with Sarah Schulman and her most recent book LET THE RECORD SHOW: A POLITICAL HISTORY OF ACT UP NEW YORK, 1987-1993: Twenty years in the making, LET THE RECORD SHOW is the most comprehensive political history ever assembled of Act Up and American AIDS activism.
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PORTAL: Book Launch & Party
with Tracy Fuad, Zoe Darsee, Patty Nash and Lotta Thießen

Please join us to celebrate the launch of PORTAL, a new collection of poetry by Tracy Fuad published by the University of Chicago Press.

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Deutsch / English / DGS (mit Dolmetschung)

Ausgehend von zwei Videoarbeiten entwickelt sich eine Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem *Tauben Performance Künstler* Eyk Kauly und dem hörenden Sound-Duo HYENAZ (Kathryn Fischer und Adrienne Teicher). Gemeinsam untersuchen sie mittels Gebärden, Tönen, Performance und Video, was es heißen könnte, die Bedingungen der Hörbarkeit zu queeren.

On the basis of two video works a collaboration develops between deaf performance artist Eyk Kauly and the hearing sound artists HYENAZ (Kathryn Fischer and Adrienne Teicher). Together they explore through sound, signs, and performance how conditions of audibility can be challenged.

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Reading and Discussion

European Young Literature Berlin is part of a series of events, readings and publications stretching from Paris, Matera, Stockholm to Berlin.

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Reading and Performance

CONVERGENCE is an evening of experimental, multi-sensory performances organized by Kross Collective, which explore dialogues between sound, text, and visuals. For our second event, we are delighted to premiere a new, live A/V performance by vocalist Wilma Sävström and experimental musician Days Like Television. Von Jeglichem Wort- a sound & text project- will present an ambient sound performance of poetry and video. Mire is the dark-ambient drone and atmospheric soundscape project of Andreea Hriscu, and for this evening she will present a sound and art performance.

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Magazine Launch 

Join us to celebrate the (re)launch of the Erotic Review. This launch marks a new chapter in the 30-year-old British magazine's storied history. Showcasing art and writing from around the world, the Review is takes a fresh look at what the erotic is, or could be, in our lives and gives space to an open, playful and compassionate discourse about desire. Find out more about Issue 1 on the website.

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Book Presentation: 'Arab Berlin: Dynamics of Transformation'
Arab Berlin – an Ibn Rushd Lecture with Nahed Samour and Mahmoud Salem

Sonnenallee is one of the most famous streets of Berlin these days - and this no longer related to the legendary 1990s film about the German reunification, but to all the Arab businesses framing its wide sidewalks. Arab groceries stores and halal butcher shops, shisha cafés and shawarma restaurants, Arab banks and Islamic fashion stores gave it it’s second name – for a while known as ‘Little Beirut’ or ‘Gaza Strip’, it now just goes by the name of ‘Arab Street’ to account for the diversity in Arab provenance. But these are just the facades, and there is so much more to Arab Life and Culture in Berlin.

The newly published book "Arab Berlin: Dynamics of Transformation" edited by Hanan Badr and Nahed Samour takes a closer look behind the facades and examines the multifaceted changes in Berlin and its Arab communities. From politics and society over history and migration to gender and beyond, Arabs actively participate in shaping these transformations. Badr and Samour’s comprehensive compilation comprises academic articles, essays, interviews, and photographs, providing profound insights into Berlin's intricate dynamics. Authors from diverse backgrounds contribute their perspectives, fostering a nuanced dialogue on contemporary shifts.

Please register at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdsthK20kqgEwFDFlPO9qIcSCOXzqA2vor2NDqmxVy4J9cIag/viewform?sender_campaign=e3GJWM&sender_ctype=email&sender_customer=9rlXNpJ

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The DEAD LADIES SHOW is a series of entertaining and inspiring presentations on women who achieved amazing things against all odds. Each show hosts passionate cheerleaders of too-oft forgotten women, inviting its loyal audience into a sexy séance (of sorts) celebrating these impressive icons, turbulent lives, and deathless legacies.

It’s us again! Back to our three-talk format but only in English again, unfortunately, due to our continuing funding woes. We’re treating you to talks by your beloved co-hosts Katy Derbyshire and Florian Duijsens, plus the curator, writer and film producer Rachel Pronger. Learn all about three impressive women who faced tough times, pushed boundaries, and gave the world lasting treasures. The aim of the show is to raise money for more podcasts, so we've adjusted the non-reduced price to €10, but reduced tickets still cost €4. Doors open 7.30 pm – come on time to get a good seat!

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Talks with Hassan Ait-El-Ouali and Saleh Chaoui & music by Quasim Kzar

The "Ibn Rushd Young" series provides a platform for young researchers,
intellectuals, and artists to share and discuss their current projects with an audience of like-minded peers. With this unique format we are opening up an alternative space outside the confines of traditional academia— one that's non-hierarchical and embraces interdisciplinary dialogue on topics, issues, and projects holding significance for the Arab World.

In our upcoming event, we're excited to host two sessions delving into the exploration of gender, religion, and social norms in literature.

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A Cross-Disciplinary Exploration of Experimental Arts. With Vincent Laju X Yurika Saito, Sam Albatros, Mire aka Andreea Hriscu X Renée T. Coulombe, Days Like Television & Growthrings
Moderation:Tom Bresemann

CONVERGENCE is an evening of experimental, multi-sensory performances organized by Kross Collective, which explore dialogues between sound, text and visuals.

In their third event they present Vincent Laju X Yurika Saito showing improvisations and interactions between visual (inc. performative installation) and sound (cello, Shakuhachi) forms. We will then screen two short films, in the video-poetry genre, from the queer artist and poet Sam Albatros, featuring music from Von Jeglichem Wort. After this Growthrings will enter the stage. Two extended musical sets will follow - an immersive, sono-poetic and performance installation by composers Renée T. Coulombe of Banshee Media and Andrea Hriscu of Mire, that weaves together improvisation, automatic writing, resonant ambiences, and AI prompting to probe the collaborative possibilities of artistic intelligence in real time. Whilst Days Like Television will preview material from his upcoming album- ‘This Will Have Been the Past’ (released June 5 on Bonambi Records) in an A/V performance.

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Performative Reading

On June 15, SIESTA celebrates its third and final Panoramas of Latin American Performative Literature in Berlin 2024, bringing together, for one last time, the emerging voices of three authors: Angélica Freitas opens the night with a vibrating and sharp performance on alopecia, sagging boobs, and menopause, pushing us to talk about how to survive the passage of time in a world made for men. Later, Franco Marcucci invites us to look through a deep cut into bacteria, fungi, & putrefaction, presenting living words that grow into network of breathing matter. Closing this last Panoramas, Cristian Forte brings us back to the stage with open ears, diving into the sound archives made of found footage-style-words-turned-into-poems.

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Lecture with  Maher Masoud
Moderation: Dr. Amany Alsiefy (Ibn Rushd Fund/Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).
The lecture will be held in Arabic and English.

The Ibn Rushd Fund for Free Thought invites to the lecture 'The Body and Ethics Philosophically'. The lecture will explore the concept of the body in its relation to both love and ethics, as well as the role of social norms and political forces in constructing and defining the identity of the body and our perceptions of it.

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Lesung & Performance mit Ioana Cristina Casapu, Ambika Thompson, Shlomit Lasky, Ruby Russell, ”Mire”, Sivia Laporta, Lili Khoury & Dana Berghes

How compelling must a woman be to meet society's expectations? Feminine, vulnerable, but also strong, skilled in a variety of tasks, able to manage both housework, freedom, friendship, family and career. Able to fix a washing machine, have negotiation skills, manage the emotional labor in a couple and at the same time accumulate wealth. Remember to defend her territory when necessary, be attractive and take care of her appearance. Don’t complain too much, smile more, be fully available while self-caring, and maintain an aura of mystery while enduring pain. Be leftist, powerful and determined while being demure. All these aspects seem incompatible, like the contrast between a lioness and a lily, between a motherly saint and a witch. The ripples of this contrast still spread far and wide. And are not sustainable.
In art, this contrast is perhaps most visibly represented. Cinema, literature, music, performance, as mirrors of society, have often been challenged for their stereotypical portrayal of women characters, often limiting them to superficial roles and to their physical appearance, instead of their ever-evolving, transformative, and perhaps uncomfortable bodies of work.

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Lesung, Filmvorführung, Gespräch, Eintritt frei

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We’re back! And we too can hardly believe that it’s already been a fall and a spring of workshops and writing! But all these poems have been composed, essays envisioned, and fiction imagined. Time must have passed! Join us and the rest of The Reader Berlin community to hear what everyone's been working on this past year—and to celebrate the summer’s advent. Our writers in Berlin have been penning personal essays and memoirs, spinning out speculative flash fiction, writing poetry, and polishing short stories for submission. Stop by for a listen.

Tutor and writer Sanders Isaac Bernstein will moderate the evening of readings.

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Reading and discussion with Jane Flett, Sarah Van Bonn and Ambika Thompson

It’s the summer of ’97 and the Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change.
Enter the Freakslaw – a travelling funfair populated by deviant queers, a contortionist witch, the most powerful fortune teller, and other architects of mayhem. It doesn’t take long for the Freakslaw folk to infiltrate Pitlaw’s grey world, where the town’s teenagers – none more so than Ruth and Derek – are seduced by neon charms and the possibility of escape.
But beneath it all, these newcomers are harbouring a darker desire: revenge.
And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that’s been simmering for centuries is about to be unleashed.

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Experimental and multi-sensory performances

KROSS COLLECTIVE presents: CONVERGENCE is an evening of immersive, multi-sensory performances which explore dialogues between sound, text, and visuals. Join us for our fourth edition which will include four short sets and two extended performances.

For the short sets we will present a literary performance by Felipe Sáez Riquelme, a collaborative sound, video, and text piece by Cristian Forte & [read more…]

Album Release Party & Poetry Concert with Shannon Sullivan, Simon Schmidt & Ali Hasan

»THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN F. & F.« is a musical collaboration between Shannon Sullivan (poetry, performance), Simon Schmidt (guitar, chromatic kalimba, xaphoon, effects), and Ali Hasan (percussion). In the »DIFFERENCE BETWEEN F. & F.« the skyscraper recurs as a metaphor. The poems question: who jumps off, who falls off, and why? Which lives are sacrificed in the course of erecting such an imposing monument? The listener is taken on a whirlwind tour through a world off balance: excruciating work schedules, environmental destruction, isolation, violence, war. [read more…]

Talk series in discussion form

Kilmé is a talk series dedicated to Palestinian artists, intellectuals,
and academics; a platform to present their work and speak about
subjects that are important to them. Kilmé means word in Arabic.[read more…]

Variety Show

Poetic Hafla is an event series that focusses on presenting middle
eastern/mediterranian artists based in Berlin.

The main aspect of the Poetic Hafla is creating a place to experiment and to share ideas. For this many artistic forms of expression are combined: readings, music, stand-up comedy, and performances.[read more…]

Discussion with readings

“I have long, indeed for years, played with the idea of setting out the sphere of life—bios—graphically on a map,” wrote Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) in 1932. Inspired by Marcel Proust, whom he was attempting to translate at the time, the German-Jewish intellectual was exploring his own memories of childhood in Berlin as fascism was transforming the face of the city and country that he once called home. The book he ended up writing (and constantly rewriting), Berlin Childhood Around 1900 (1938), set down the sphere of his youth as concrete experiences rooted in the specific spaces of his childhood city.[read more…]

talk series in discussion form

Kilmé is a talk series dedicated to Palestinian artists, intellectuals, and academics; a platform to present their work and speak about subjects that are important to them. Kilmé means word in Arabic. [read more…]

Reading and discussion

Martha and Finn’s marriage is hanging by a thread. Martha, crippled by paralyzing climate anxiety, finds herself at odds with Finn, who steadfastly refuses to confront the demons of his past.

In a desperate attempt to repair their relationship, they join a group of privileged tourists on a pilgrimage to The Salt Centre, a mysterious retreat nestled deep within the Bolivian salt flats.[read more…]

reading and discussion with Ryan Ruby and Alexander Wells

Ryan Ruby is a poet, novelist, translator, and one of the anglosphere's most admired literary critics. This November, the California-born Wahlberliner is publishing his newest book—a book that only he could, or perhaps would, write. Context Collapse: A Poem Containing a History of Poetry (Seven Stories Press) is exactly what it sounds like, a playfully discourse-hopping epic verse [read more…]

Three entertaining and inspiring presentations by Susan Stone, Florian Duijsens and Magda Birkmann (English/German)

The DEAD LADIES SHOW is a series of entertaining and inspiring presentations on women who achieved amazing things against all odds. Each show hosts passionate cheerleaders of too-oft forgotten women, inviting its loyal audience into a sexy séance (of sorts) celebrating these impressive icons, turbulent lives, and deathless legacies.[read more…]

talk series in discussion form

Kilmé is a monthly talk series dedicated to Palestinian artists, intellectuals, and academics; a platform to present their work and speak about subjects that are important to them. Kilmé means word in Arabic. The organizers are dedicated to presenting palestinian voices in all of their diversity and creativity, thus contributing to the cultural landscape of Berlin, a city with the largest Palestinian population in Europe.[read more…]

Interdisciplinary Performance and Reading

Kross Collective presents: CONVERGENCE V, an evening of immersive performances exploring dialogues between sound, text, and visuals.[read more…]

Discussion with readings

From Sinead O’Connor to Samuel Beckett, Ireland’s art has been associated with lyricism and musicality: its literature musical, its music full of book-smarts. The mini-festival Harping On, held over one evening, explores the contemporary forms of this. Two panels at Lettrétage Berlin will feature adventurous Ireland-based authors and Irish electronic musicians, exploring their work and its cross-currents.[read more…]

FLINTA* Literature Night, Christmas Edition

The second edition of Girl, show me that body (of work) will present a Christmas special literature evening of 6 FLINTA* authors, artists and performers of migration background. The event comprises literary readings and performative poetry .[read more…]