Reading List # 87
An entirely subjective list of things happening in Berlin
May 7
Rachel Kushner »See der Schöpfung«
In her new novel, award-winning US author Rachel Kushner sends her young protagonist Sadie Smith to the south of France. Smith is a former CIA agent working for an unnamed client to infiltrate a commune of anarchist environmental activists suspected of carrying out attacks. In the French countryside, she meets a group of idealists and their mastermind Bruno Lacombe, whom she initially despises as supposed do-gooders and do-gooders. But then doubts arise in the hard-boiled Sadie and her view of things begins to waver.
With “Creation Lake”, Rachel Kushner ventures into completely new territory and updates the classic spy novel with such pressing issues of our time as climate change and political activism. The author talks about secret agents and saving humanity at the Spy Museum with climate activist and co-organizer of Fridays for Future in Germany Carla Reemtsma. The conversation will be held in English, the German translation of the text will be read by Marc Oliver Schulze.
(EN/DE)
7 pm | Deutsches Spionagemuseum, Leipziger Platz 9
May 7
Berlin Review: Critically Yours – Bar Reading #2
No one likes to be criticized—join Berlin Review authors as they take down recent books, movies, and exhibitions. Short readings, quick questions. Drinks & mingling.
With Clara Miranda Scherffig, Maxi Wallenhorst, Birthe Mühlhoff, Frederik Tidén, and the Editors of Berlin Review.
This is the second instalment of our Bar Readings series. Free entrance, limited seating. Donations suggested.
(EN)
7 pm | Schmetterling, Ohlauer Straße 42
May 8
»In dieser Zeit« – Lesungen zum Tag der Bücherverbrennung
Poetry meets hip-hop: six outstanding artists - Amewu, BRKN, Conny, Alice Dee, Malonda and Ebow - give the words of persecuted poets a new voice. From Bertolt Brecht to Mascha Kaléko - their poems, banned and suppressed during the Nazi era, become the lyrics of this special reading. The artists explore the political potential of words and set an example against forgetting the book burning by the National Socialists on May 10, 1933.
The evening will be curated by rapper Ebow, who was a fellow at Villa Aurora in Los Angeles in 2023.
(DE)
7 pm | SO36, Oranienstraße 190
May 9
Berlin Launch: “Elegy, Southwest” by Madeline Watts
Join us on May 9th for the launch of "Elegy, Southwest", the hotly anticipated second novel by Australian-born Berlin author Madeleine Watts.
Watts will be joined by local critic and essayist Alexander Wells for a reading and discussion followed by Q&A and a book signing over drinks.
In November 2018, a young married couple named Eloise and Lewis set off to drive across the American southwest. As they go, they trace the course of the Colorado River, the aquatic artery on which the Southwest depends for survival. Lewis, an artist working for a prominent land art foundation, is grieving the recent death of his mother; Eloise is an academic researching the past and future of the southwest’s failing waterways. Over the course of their trip, Eloise, beginning to suspect she might be pregnant, helplessly witnesses Lewis’s descent as he struggles to find a place for himself in the desert where he never quite felt at home.
"Elegy, Southwest" skilfully interweaves a story of relationship breakdown with deeply-researched essayistic investigations into water management, colonial history, climate change, and the landscapes of the American West. It is a moving tale of loss—an elegy for humans and the world.
Free entry.
(EN)
8 pm | Lettrétage, Veteranenstraße 21