Airlift from Berlin Review

A writer grows up poor, escapes her circumstances and writes about it with a mix of shame, guilt and pride. It’s one of the most classic tales in modern literature, and Claudia Durastanti thinks the story stopped being true just as the genre boomed. In this conversation, she and Lauren Oyler talk about autofiction, transfuge de classe narratives and what could be written instead.

Loneliness is no longer a luxury problem for philosophers and artists. Anthropologist Biao Xiang discusses how it became a mass condition and what gossip, Hannah Arendt, and hummingbirds reveal about a way out of this crisis.

In May 2026, an award-winning short story turned out to be likely written by AI, and none of the editors who published it noticed. Lauren and Tobias talk about the scandal and what most writers, even good ones, get wrong about the technology and what it takes to keep writing human.

Florian Meinel, Professor für Staatstheorie an der Universität Göttingen, erklärt, wie das strafrechtliche Regime der Bundesrepublik entstanden ist und warum es heute zu einem dysfunktionalen System geführt hat, das niemanden mehr schützt, aber viele bedroht. Im Mittelpunkt steht der Streit um „From the River to the Sea," die Verpolizeilichung des Meinungsregimes und was Walter Benjamin damit zu tun hat.

Recorded live at Chapters Bookshop in Berlin, novelist Maaza Mengiste talks with Meret Weber about photography and war, the research that reshaped The Shadow King, and her new novel set among the Black Germans and Africans living in Berlin as the Nazis came to power.

A conversation on two new films about modern love: Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama and Anna Roller’s Allegro Pastel. Lauren Oyler and Tobias Haberkorn discuss open relationships, commitment, and the strange emotional logic of dating in an age of endless options and shrinking futures.

Palestinian writer Alaa Al-Qaisi reads her Berlin Review essay “Better Than Berlin,” a diary of exile, Wannsee, and the public reading that was cancelled.

In this Berlin Review Audio episode, Tobias Haberkorn and Lauren Oyler discuss the scandal involving comedian Christian Ulmen and TV presenter Collien Fernandes, examining allegations of digital identity theft, misogyny in German comedy culture, and the blurred boundaries between autofiction, media spectacle, and real-life harm.

In this Berlin Review Audio episode, Tobias Haberkorn speaks with political economist Zoltán Ádám about the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election and the defeat of Viktor Orbán, examining whether Tisza Party and Péter Magyar can dismantle Orbán’s system and restore liberal democracy in Hungary.

In this Berlin Review Audio episode, Lauren Oyler speaks with Deborah Feldman, author of the memoir Unorthodox, about her essay “For the Love of Jews,” exploring German philo-Semitism, media visibility, and the complexities of Jewish identity in contemporary Germany.

Tobias Haberkorn spricht mit Deborah Feldman und Nora Haddada live vor Publikum auf der Leipziger Buchmesse über Minderheiten, Vergleiche und die Tücken der Solidarität.

In this Berlin Review Audio episode, Tobias Haberkorn and Lauren Oyler discuss Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, exploring its portrayal of millennial life in Berlin, its Booker Prize shortlisting, and why the novel has become so polarizing among readers and critics.

In the first episode of Airlift, a new show from Berlin Review, Tobias Haberkorn and Lauren Oyler discuss two films nominated for nine Academy Awards each: Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme.

Seit Anfang 2026 dominiert der Iran die Nachrichten. Wie wirkt sich diese Situation auf die iranische Diaspora in Deutschland aus? Zu Gast ist Damon Taleghani, Musiker und Autor in Berlin. Er spricht mit Berlin Review Editor Tobias Haberkorn über seinen Essay «Tod dem Tod. Es lebe das Leben», der zeigt, wie sich der Protestslogan «Tod dem Schah» aus den 1970er Jahren unter den Anhängern des im Exil lebenden Schah-Sohns in sein Gegenteil verwandeln konnte.

In this Berlin Review Audio episode, Lianna Mark reads “Better Living Through Self-Curation,” an essay responding to Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection, exploring authenticity, literary markets, and how self-curation shapes contemporary storytelling and global cultural narratives.

In dieser Episode spricht Tobias Haberkorn mit der ukrainischen Autorin und Fotografin Yevgenia Belorusets über ihre Heimatstadt Kiew im dritten und bald vierten Kriegsjahr.

In this Berlin Review podcast episode, Nigerian poet Logan February reads from “Sans Souci,” an essay written during a DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Fellowship, and discusses exile, colonial inheritance, and the limits of language with translator Miriam Stoney.

On the launch night for Berlin Reader 3, Editor Samir Sellami sat down with two Berlin writers, Samanta Schweblin and Ricardo Domeneck to discuss literary magazines and the relationship between writers and readers.

Tobias Haberkorn speaks with critic and writer Lauren Oyler about her turn to poetry, attention as a literary practice, fleeting intimacy and what it means to not go home at all.

Esra Akkaya und Onur Erdur sprechen über die Wiederentdeckung der Schriftstellerin Tezer Özlü (1943–1986) –und über existentielles Schreiben zwischen der Türkei und Deutschland, Istanbul und Berlin.

Omer Bartov discusses the extraordinary consequences of October 7 and the annihilation of Gaza for the world’s moral order with Berlin Review Editor Tobias Haberkorn—live from Li-Be Literaturhaus Berlin, recorded on Oct 12, 2025.

Zwischen Cancellings, Polizeigewalt und gestoppten Waffenlieferungen: Jürgen Kaube, Daniel Marwecki und Berlin Review Editor Tobias Haberkorn diskutieren den Zustand von Deutschlands israelbezogener Staatsräson im Herbst 2025.

Clemens J. Setz über das Prompten der KI als Kunst des Wünschens, gesteuerte Unzufriedenheit als Plattformgefühl — und über den bedeutendsten Amazonrezensenten aller Zeiten.

This episode features a conversation between writer Tash Aw and Tobias Haberkorn, publisher of Berlin Review. It was recorded in front of a live audience at daadgalerie, Kreuzberg, on November 30, 2024.

Eine Gegenrede zum 8. Mai zu Ehren aller Displaced Persons von Erhard Schüttpelz, gelesen von Hanns Zischler, aus Berlin Review No 11, Mai 2025 — Hörfassung

Moshtari Hilal und Diedrich Diederichsen im Gespräch über Solidarität, Verrat und Vereinnahmung, moderiert von Emily Nill.

Berlin Review Editor Tobias Haberkorn speaks to Ryan Ruby and Lauren Oyler about expats, emigration, the politics of nostalgia – and why they still believe in Berlin.

BLNR editor Samir Sellami speaks with Cristina Rivera Garza and Alan Pauls about the politics and aesthetics of inflation

Yevgenia Belorusets spricht mit Tobias Haberkorn über ihren Essay «Kein Ende des Krieges» aus Berlin Review Nr. 1, Februar 2024