Back home! 40 years of the Literaturhaus Berlin »Homecoming & Anniversary«
Dear guests,
The time has finally come! No more longing glances over the hoarding. After two years of building work, we are opening the doors and gates at Fasanenstraße 23 and celebrating our homecoming and anniversary! Happy 40th birthday, dear Literaturhaus Berlin! Congratulations on your new accessibility, the completion of the refurbishment, the digitised Li-Be archive and the opening up of new spaces for literature!
We want to spend three days celebrating our wonderful old building and the city’s most beautiful garden with you. Together with our fantastic guests, we’ll be discussing literature on stage – yesterday, today and in the future – as well as courage and defiance, unity and that pesky discord.
Find out more about the history of Fasanenstraße 23 through 9½ exhibits; join us on a cinematic journey of discovery, from the villa’s first residents, through the founding of the first Literaturhaus in the German-speaking world, to the ‘Li-Be für die Stadt’ tour across Berlin. Take the lift with us, marvel at the new stage, get to know Kamin’s room and relax in the light-filled atrium. We’re back home! And who knows, perhaps »every now and then a white elephant’«* will pop in.
We look forward to seeing you!
Yours, Janika Gelinek and Sonja Longolius
with the team at Literaturhaus Berlin
*Rainer Maria Rilke »Das Karussell« 1907
- 5.00 pm
Welcome to Fasanenstraße 23!
Together with the Friends’ Association, we warmly invite you to join us in the garden for drinks and light refreshments from the Café im Wintergarten, and to browse through the Kohlhaas & Company bookshop.
Alongside, Francesco Angelico, Filippo Boldrini, Ludovica Cordova and Arianna Di Martino will bring the house to life with their cello music.
- 6.00 pm
Exhibition opening: »The History of 23 Fasanenstraße in 9½ Objects«
With Sebastian Januszewski
Li-Be is back at Fasanenstraße 23! We were on the move for two years whilst the building was being renovated and are now back in our home base. The exhibition ‘The History of Fasanenstraße 23 in 9½ Objects’ presents 9½ items from the building’s history. We’ll start with our tour ‘Li-Be for the City’, which began in September 2024 and ended in June 2026, taking us through all 18 Berlin districts – to more than 80 venues.
PS: And why ½? As exciting as our time away from the building was, something was missing: our other half – Fasanenstraße 23!
- 6.30 pm
Anniversary opening
With Janika Gelinek & Sonja Longolius and opening remarks by Alexander Straßmeir, Franziska Giffey and Britta Jürgs
»Fasanenstraße 23« Film premiere
With film director Dorothea Nölle
The Literaturhaus Berlin opened on 26 June 1986. Eighteen months ago, it had to make way for a building site. For 18 months, the team toured 18 Berlin districts. Today, it returns. To mark the reopening and its fortieth anniversary, the Literaturhaus Berlin presents ‘Fasanenstraße 23 – The Elephant in the Room’: a documentary about the history of the building, a polar expedition, a team on the move, and a white elephant made of polystyrene. Fasanenstraße 23: Welcome back!
Director: Dorothea Nölle — Cinematography: Dirk Lütter — Sound: Lorenz Brehm — Editing: Claudia Spoden — Animations: Wolfgang Morell / kawom
»Chief Inspector Popov & the Elephant in the Room’. A monologue«
With Vidina Popov
She had been missing since the ‘Last Home Game’ in June 2024: Berolina – our white elephant! For two years, Chief Inspector Popov (alias Vidina Popov) investigated this missing person case and searched all over Berlin for our beloved mascot. But Berolina remained missing. Today, as she moves back into our home, we’re hoping for her return and counting on the combined detective skills of Chief Inspector Popov.
»Literature on Stage 1986, 2026 & 2066« discussion
With Eva Horn, Johannes Franzen, Nora Haddada, Janika Gelinek & Sonja Longolius
What was being discussed on stage at the Literaturhaus in 1986? What literary questions will be on our minds in 2026, and will we all be smoking on stage again by 2066? We would like to explore these pressing questions of literary history and futurology through brief presentations and a discussion with our guests – cultural and literary scholar Eva Horn, Germanist Johannes Franzen and author Nora Haddada.
- 9.00 pm
»Celebration!« Music & Champagne
Cheers!
Let’s raise a glass to Fasanenstraße 23, the Li-Be and literature set to music by presenter and music journalist Fanny Tanck.
