“I am a force of the Past,” Pier Paolo Pasolini famously wrote, affirming remembrance against ruthless modernization. Today, with new ruins rising, the question of who gets to define historical truth grows more pressing by the day. Berlin Review Reader 4 unites texts and photography on ailing families, the backrooms of neocolonial power, the rubble and tents of Gaza, bestselling “fascist romance” and the archival remnants of the British Empire.

Join us on an early summer night as we read and discuss our freshly printed Reader 4

Talks

— I Come From The Ruins, presentation of Reader 4

— The Golden Tooth, on the imagery of decolonial struggles in Malaysia and in the Congo. With Sim Chi Yin on her photographic contribution to Reader 4 and Eric Otieno Sumba on the US-led conspiracy against a sovereign Kongo, moderated by Eliana Kirkcaldy (En)

— Books in Flames, Sandra Hetzl on her translation of Mohammed Al Zaqzooq’s “Burning Books in Gaza” and the fraught work of mediating—linguistically, politically, existentially—between Arabic and German speaking worlds, moderated by Emily Nill (De)

— Fascism Fatigue, Claudia Durastanti on the deluge of mid-brow (anti)fascist representations in contemporary fiction, moderated by Tobias Haberkorn (En)

DOORS 7pm, free entrance, limited seating

→ klosteruine.berlin
→ blnreview.de/reader

Special thanks to Alin Daghestani and Eylem Sengezer for hosting us in their majestic location; and to Ba’al, Petrus, Iškur, Hadad and other weather gods for keeping it warm and dry⚡️