#1 Inaugural Post: Berlin Literary Events-February 3-28, 2025

What is happening in the English Language Literary scene in Berlin?

Greetings Berlin literature fans, writers, and event organizers.

The time has finally arrived.

I have started this newsletter for you. By popular demand of myself—and other writers I know who live in Berlin and don’t write in German. There are many of us, and for whatever reason, there is still no central location/method of learning about all the English language literary events happening in this wretched city. I will attempt to fill that gap. Bear with me as I learn the mysterious ways of informational Substacking. I want to provide a service that I wish existed when I first arrived with Nabokov in hand, so I may need your input as to what is helpful.

You can sign up for free here:

Just like Lucy Jones taught me in her course for newbies in the Berlin Lit scene, the first thing to distinguish between is the 'official' and 'indie' scenes. The main difference is there is money in the official scene. The rest is all a big passion project. If there are various sponsor logos from the Berlin Senat, etc. on the sites of events, they are more on the spectrum of ‘official’, if it’s an open mic or other informal event, they’re more on the ‘indie’ side of the spectrum.

For now, these are the categories of primarily English language literary events that I have identified, and February events for each, listed by date.

Events with a * were added later, after the initial publish button pressed.

—Open Mic: Berlin Spoken Word
6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th February 2025 - Update from the source: All year, no breaks!
Each Thursday at 7 pm, doors and performer sign-ups open at 7 pm (get there early, I’ve seen it fill up crazy fast)
Location: Das Gift, Donaustraße 119, 12043 Berlin
Entry via donation: 2-5 €

—Workshop for Women: Women Writing Berlin-Editing & Feedback Writing Workshop
Saturday, 8 February 2025 11:00 am to 3:00 pm
Cocoon14 Exerzierstraße Berlin, BE, 13357
Ticket €8.00

—Writing Meetup: Read Editing-Monthly Writers Meetup. Info also here: www.instagram.com/readwedding
Monday, 10 February 2025 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (Every 2nd Monday of the month until March 31, 2025)
Vagabund Brauerei Kesselhaus Oudenarder Str. 16-20, 13347 Berlin. Free admission.

—Reading Group: Listening, Sounding, Resisting
Friday, 14 February 2025, 18:30, Neun Kelche Pasedagplatz 3-4, 13088 Berlin. Signup here.
A reading group event hosted with diffrakt | center for theoretical periphery in the context of the exhibition 'To want the world in a glass hat.' by Bethan Hughes & Dominique Hurth and co-curated with Marie DuPasquier from Display. Free admission.

This first issue is in honor of Katy Derbyshire, who has been instrumental in my literary path in Berlin. Oh, and she’s the one who encouraged me to start this newsletter! She is many things, such as a literary translator and activist, but also the founder and co/host of The Dead Ladies Show podcast about women who’ve achieved things against all odds. This is her event:

—Lit Event: The Dead Ladies Show #38
Sunday, 16 February 2025 19:00 at Lettrétage in Veteranenstraße 21, Admission €10/€4

—Open Mic Storytelling: SmutSlam Berlin.
Berlin’s only community dirty storytelling open mic is back, with this month's theme of "GREAT EXPECTATIONS."
Monday, 17 February at Crack Bellmer, Revaler Str 99, Berlin
Tickets: €15-20 sliding scale donation per person (adv purchase), or €20 cash at the door. Covid test required.
Advance tickets available at Eventbrite.

—Meetup for Women: Meetings of the Books Around the World Club
Wednesday, 19 February 2025 19:00
Contact joanna@beelingotheka.com Meetings of the Books Around the World Club are part of the Berlin project SprachCafé im Ohr and are held in English at SprachCafé Polnisch, Gotenstr. 45, 10829 Berlin. Free admission, buy a drink.

—Open Mic: Kinky Soul Reading Night is an open stage that provides an inclusive space for kinky self-expression through literature and performance. Register as a reader beforehand.
Thursday, 20 February 20:00 Womanizer&Co, Torstr 161, 10115
Contribution: Reader 10€/ Master.ess 15€ / Sugar 20€

—*Book Club: Book club meeting monthly
Thursday, 20 February. Every 3rd Thursday 7:30 PM at Curious Fox Books
Lausitzer Platz 17, 10997, Berlin-Kreuzberg, free admission.
Join us to discuss the book of the month in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Newcomers always welcome. Registration not necessary, just turn up at the right time and be prepared to discuss the book! You can find a list of the forthcoming books on the site or our social media pages. February book: Stoner by John Williams.

—*Panel Talk/Book Launch: "Disruption in Action: 7 Inside Storied of How Global Companies Take On Digital Transformation" panel talk with co-author Adrian Hornsby and Berlin entrepreneurs
Sunday, 23 February at Shakespeare and Sons, Warschauer Str. 74, 10243 Berlin. (Turns out this was in 2023 but didn’t have a year listed, so nevermind….)

—Lit+ Event: UKRAINE, FEB 24TH/TO COMMEMORATE A DAY NOT PASSING
Monday 24 February 2025 20:00 Lettrétage in Veteranenstraße 21, Admission free Video Art, Performance, Zines, Readings. Free admission.

—Open Mic: Read Wedding Open Mic #26 Hosted by Brook of Read Wedding
Monday, 24 February 2025 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM Sign up at the door between 19:00-19:30 Hank Chinaski Koloniestraße 32, 13359 Berlin. Donations welcome.

—Lit Event: The Erotic Album: Sound Poems from the Body
Friday, 28 February 2025 20:00 at Lettrétage in Veteranenstraße 21, Live performance with poetry, music and visual art. Admission €10

—Storytelling: THE BEAR presents RESET - stories about fresh starts
Friday, 28 February 2025 8:00 PM doors open 7:30 PM Theatersaal im Danzigerstr. 50, 10435 Berlin (follow signs, on first floor) TICKET DONATION: 12.50 € General; €10.00 reduced I; 2 volunteers gratis tickets

—Lit Reading: PARATAXE Doppelwumms – Vernissage and Book Launch mit Graham Hains, Joey Bahlsen, Milenko Goranovic und Aurélie Maurin
An evening mainly in German with short passages in English, Bosnian or French.
Friday, 28 February 2025, 7:00 PM
Kunsthaus KuLe Auguststr. 10, 10117 Berlin Admission 5/3€ – box office only.

I can recommend this organization for their efforts to showcase the non-German literary talents of Berlin. Full disclosure, I have published texts in their lovely Stadtsprachen Magazin.

—Calls for Submissions: Stadtsprachen is accepting non-German literary text submissions deadline is 27 February 2025
Send here: info@stadtsprachen.de

Writing Courses:

Berlin Writer’s Workshop, February Classes

—Creative Writing I (Online)
Wed, 5 Feb, 2025 7:00 PM Wed, Mar 26, 2025 10:00 PM
taught by Kannan Mahadevan

—Creative Writing I Intensive (In-Person)
Sat, 15 Feb, 2025 11:00 AM Sun, 16 Feb, 2025 4:30 PM Neukölln,
taught by Alexander Lumans

—Nonfiction Writing II (In-Person)
Tue, 18 Feb, 2025 7:00 PM Tue, 15 Apr, 2025 9:00 PM Mehringdamm
taught by Ben Miller

—The Reader - lovely people and great courses, but they fill up way ahead of time, so check out their website early! I’ve only listed on here, the rest are full:

—Writing the Feature Film
starts 4 February 2025 Tuesdays 19:00-21:00 at Another Country Bookshop Riemannstraße 7, 10961 Berlin
Cost: €200

Email hello@thereaderberlin.com to sign up

—Writing Meetup: Shut Up and Write Berlin. This is a trademarked meetup with events almost every day of the week in different neighborhoods of Berlin. You need to create a Meetup account to access the various subgroups (over 3,900 people are in the SUAW Berlin group!).
How it works: There is a volunteer organizer, and you’re expected to show up, and buy a beverage in the hosting locale. Then—you got it—you sit down, shut up, and finally write that screenplay or novel you’ve been procrastinating on. It works, I can testify.

Now is where I need your help already. Please spread the word about this Substack in your network. Tell your writer friends, your lit-house, poetry-jam pals, your curmudgeonly or friendly literary friends. Tell them to subscribe. Encourage them to share or send me their events: bettinarolyn@gmail.com or here. We can all win here, even if the Berlin Senate doesn’t think we need their money!

Next issue is planned for the end of February—unless there are so many new events that I need to put out a new one before then.

All good things,

Bettina

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