Reading and European Release of “we need a breathing tongue between”, the new book of poetry by Katarina Gotic Join us for an evening of reading, gathering and walking through Katarina’s “we need a breathing tongue between”. We will talk about the borders, dwell in the no-man’s-land, tie ribbons in foreign territories, walk the bridge that is more than a bridge and read poems that emerged from the southern banks of Sava.Everyone is invited and everyone is welcome! Katarina Gotic is a Bosnian-born poet dwelling in the in-between: between poetry and conceptual art, English and her mother tongue, Bosnia and Germany, between now and then and then and further then. She recently published her first book of poetry “we need a breathing tongue between” (kith books), and has just completed her language/visual collage “leerlauf”. Katarina is the recipient of the 2023 Arbeitsstipendium für nichtdeutsche Literatur, awarded by the Berlin Senate, and a finalist of ZVONO and PAF awards for contemporary Bosnian-Herzegovinian art. She lives and works in Berlin.

Join us for the Berlin release of Travis Jeppesen's new book, Settlers Landing. There will be a reading and conversation with critic and curator Francesco Tenaglia, followed by a book signing. From 19.00, drinks and nibbles by donation.

Gar Cox will be singing songs about bookshops, adventures, and tales of the human heart. Some are well-worn and others pristine; some are crude, some even obscene. An evening of bawdy heartbreakers and a torchlight procession through badly remembered memories. " Beguiling .........Top-notch tunes” -Hot Press; “Brilliantly mixes humour, pathos and reflections of queer life” - GCN “You’re shite, do you know any Bob Marley” - Jason, Co. Wicklow https://open.spotify.com/track/6RHh3JNqR4NYItiZjd6JmC?si=11685e04e0044d04 https://garcox.bandcamp.com/album/support-your-local-bookshop-ep

Social Façades – exhibition with Silke Nowak and Norbert Witzgall, accompanied by books selected by Ilya Evdakov Please join us for a reflection on social façades – whether in architecture, society or self-presentation – within a display of new cement sculptures by Silke Nowak and portraits by Norbert Witzgall. Their work will be complemented by a selection of topical books, hand-picked by Ilya Evdakov. Drinks on donation will be served. And probably carrot cake.

Public reading of Erratum’s FAGGOT*S Faggot*s! Queens! Women loving Women! Fairies! you are all invited to the first public reading of Erratum’s upcoming show FAGGOT*S, an interdisciplinary adaptation of The Faggots and their Friends Between Revolutions, a book by Larry Mitchell, illustrated by Ned Asta. The reading is one step of a research and creation project, where drag will meet sound art in a peepshow. Adapted by Hadrien Daigneault-Roy, the text will be read by Hassan Dib, accompanied by soundscapes composed by Luke Nickel. After the reading, we want to open a discussion with the audience, welcoming comments on how we could improve the text for the upcoming production at Hošek Contemporary in October 2024. The event is open to all the book’s enthusiasts and their friends!

Alvina Chamberland will be reading from, signing copies of, and answering questions about her new existential trans feminist autofiction novel "Love the World or Get Killed Trying" - recently listed in the legendary Shakespeare and Company in Paris's 121 Best Books of the 21st Century!!! 💘Named a Most Anticipated Book in Nylon, Them, Ms. Magazine, Autostraddle, San Francisco Chronicle, Bay Area Reporter, LGBTQ-reads, and Write or Die-Magazine. “Perhaps some hearts are so big they must constantly burst and break.” Through playful poetic prose, sharp social commentary and self-deprecating gallows humor Love the World or Get Killed Trying dives into the mind of Alvina, a trans woman on the eve of turning 30. The reader is invited to follow her journey through the breathtaking wilderness of Iceland and busy city boulevards of Berlin and Paris as she probes questions of eternity, sexuality, longing, death, love, and how hard it is to remain soft when you’re a ceaseless target of straight men’s secret lust and open disgust. This novel tackles universal issues through a trans woman’s specific lens – insisting on these experiences speaking to far more than just issues of sexuality and gender.

The very popular Trans* and Gender non-conforming poetry night is back for a late summer night session.

Join three Berlin writers to discuss their debut novels, and how the three stories intersect at a place of belonging. Leaving home, finding home, defining home: is it a place, a person, a culture, a taste of spice on your tongue? A place of resistance or acceptance? Robinson, Finkemeyer and Flett and talk about getting in where you fit in / fitting in where you get in, and where it all started for the three: in a writing group in Berlin.

First fall reading featuring poets Patty Nash and Adrienne Raphel and novelist Gurmeet Singh. Patty Nash's first book of poems, Walden Pond, was published in August of this year. Adrienne Raphel is the author of the poetry collections Our Dark Academia and What Was It For and the nonfiction Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them. Raphel teaches writing at CUNY Baruch, and she is on faculty with the MFA programs at St. Joseph's University and the Mountainview MFA; she also teaches with the Berlin Writers' Workshop and is a mentor with the Periplus Collective. Gurmeet Singh is a writer and editor based in Berlin. His work has appeared in New England Review, Sand, Social Text Journal, and elsewhere, and was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. He was a 2022 CRIT participant and is the founder of Writers of Colour Berlin, which organises regular events and readings around the city. His first novel is currently under consideration in the USA. Berlin Writer’s Workshop organises workshops, seminars, readings, and meetups from Berlin's open international writing community.

CONEHEADS and HIGHBROWS Part 1. Word'n'voice: Alexander vom Dorp, Ilia Kitup, Alistair Noon, Felipe Sáez Riquelme, Jordan Lee Schnee. Part 2. Word'n'paper: Felipe Sáez Riquelme "Objetos públicos/ Public Objects" (Spanish/ English) Sparrow "Songs My Mother Taught Me" (English/ Russian) Part 3. Word'n'sound: Jordan Lee Schnee "Il concertino settembrino"

A frantic love letter to love itself, Romeo & Seahorse is a sexy, frightening, tender, and visceral rush through Berlin’s chemsex scene. Nikolaj Tange Lange will read from the book and talk about some of the themes; love, desire, and addiction, and why Romeo and Juliet has more to say about chemsex than it does about love. Copies are available for advance purchase at ivallan’s if you want to read them ahead of the event and be part of the discussion. Nikolaj will sign your copy if you bring it 💚

The veteran historian, freelance journalist, tour guide and author reads from his newest book Revolutionary Berlin, an anticapitalist walking guide. Few European cities can boast a history as storied and tumultuous as that of Berlin. For more than 150 years it has been at the centre of revolutionary politics; of era-defining struggles between the Left and the Right. It has been bombed, rebuilt and carved in two. In Revolutionary Berlin, you can stand in the places where this history was written, and to follow in the footsteps of those who helped write it. Through nine self-guided tours illustrated with maps and photographs, readers enter the heady world of 19th century anti-colonial struggles, the 1918 November Revolution and the 1987 May Day riots — encountering the city's workers, queer community and radical women along the way. The first English-language guidebook to tell the story of Berlin's radical history, this is a must-have for Berliners and visitors alike. We will have the book for sale at the shop. Already own it? Bring it to get it signed! Plus: How Revolutionary are you? History Quiz with ivallan’s prizes!