Fear is currently creeping into all our lives in many ways. For example, as fear of the global situation, fear of the economic crisis, fear of funding cuts or fear of technological disruptions that threaten the existence of many writers. Fear is an emotion and as such is neither good nor bad per se. But our fear wants to talk to us, and at the moment it obviously has a lot to say.
From May 15 to 17, the ninth Industry Meetup: Literature will take place at Refugio in Neukölln (Lenaustraße 3-4, 12047 Berlin), this time dedicated to the topic “My fear and me: finding security in insecure times”. Of course, we do not want to and will not eliminate all fears, nor (probably) solve all problems. Nor do we have a secret recipe on how to cope with competition from AI or the lack of funding by simply making an effort and keeping up to date professionally. Rather, we want to find ways together to face fear productively, not let it get the better of us and pave our way out of the crisis together and with each other’s support. Giving up is not an option!
To kick off the three days, we have invited the authors Hatice Açıkgöz, Dara Brexendorf and Zara Zerbe to record a live episode of their podcast “literarisch, solidarisch” in front of the industry meetup audience on Thursday morning. There will also be workshops on Thursday on topics such as stage fright, literary moderation, exposé writing, writer’s block, networking and writing comics. This will be followed on Friday by workshops on collaborative writing, fear of AI, orientation in the Berlin literary scene and several English-language writing and orientation workshops.
Over the years, we have also developed a few industry meeting standards that we don’t want to do without this year. These include our speedmatching on Friday: authors first learn how to present themselves and their literary project briefly and concisely in the elevator pitch workshop. They then meet real decision-makers from the book industry, apply what they have learned and receive feedback. Afterwards, the Lettrétage invites you to its annual reception on Friday evening with exciting guests from politics and the cultural scene. So please stay and raise your glasses with us!
And on Saturday, our Industry Meetup Barcamp will take place for the third time: Here, the participants themselves decide on the topics and share their knowledge and thoughts with each other. An ideal opportunity to network and find fellow campaigners and like-minded people for all kinds of (literature-related, of course) topics.
Details on the individual events can be found in our complete industry meetup program. Registration for the individual events is now open.
Lectures, workshops, discussions, gallery walks and much more, by and for literary creators since 2016
Since 2016, the Industry Meetup: Literature has brought together solo self-employed literary professionals once a year to discuss current issues in the literary scene and political developments. The focus of the working groups, panels, lectures and workshops of the past Industry Meetups was on alternative forms of work organisation, cooperation and cooperative models as well as the visibility of literature. At the 2023 Meetup we hosted a Barcamp for the first time, which has now become a central part of the programme. The literature industry meeting is aimed at freelance authors, translators, editors, literature organisers and literature mediators. This year we are already celebrating the seventh edition of this annual exchange and networking format for Berlin’s literary professionals, save the date! The Industry Meetup: Literature takes place as part of the project schreiben&lebenPLUS of the Literaturhaus Lettrétage e. V. and is funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Photo: (c) Maik Schulze – MIKA-fotografie | Berlin
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