142 events at 72 locations in 18 districts: This is the result of the Literaturhaus Berlin until the end of 2025, which has been touring Berlin since September 2024 under the charming motto “Li-Be for the city”. The reason: the traditional house, the famous dignified property on Fasanenstraße 24, has been undergoing renovation and being made accessible since then. “Well, accessible,” says Janika Gelinek at a press breakfast on Tuesday morning in the interim office of the Literaturhaus in Moabit. “As much as we look forward to our old home, it will remain a challenge for many,” she adds.
In this respect, the tour was the best thing that could have happened to the Literaturhaus since co-directors Janika Gelinek and Sonja Longolius took over in 2018 and have brought a breath of fresh air ever since. Because on their tour, they have successfully played in the most adventurous places: from the art gallery to the Tieranatomisches Theater, from the Prinzenbad to the Grünen Bühne in Hellersdorf.
“We had the same number of audience at fewer events,” says Gelinek, looking forward to the restart in the old house, which is expected this summer. Because only then will it be clear: “Have we lost an audience? Are new ones coming? Or will it be as if nothing had happened after some time?”
Anyone who has attended any of the Li-Be events in the last year and a half, either live or through streaming, will lament the end of the houseless era. Whether rapper AMEFU read Paul Celan’s “Todesfuge” at SO36 on the day of the book burning or Mikael Ross presented his Graphic Novel “Der verkehrte Himmel” in Lichtenberg: literature often waits too long to be discovered, instead of going out to meet people.
However, when asked if a literature house without a house would be an idea for the patent office, the always spirited Janika Gelinek responds with a deep sigh. Like many other cultural institutions, Li-Be also suffered from the Senate’s austerity measures – even though such a tour in terms of logistics, personnel, and money is of course much more complex than normal operations at a fixed location.
“Did you know that there are no power outlets in the art gallery?” she laughs, mentioning the 1,800 kilometers that the house’s rental car has racked up by now.
After these sentences, the word exhaustion is no longer needed. Therefore, it is only natural that the team at the Literaturhaus is looking forward to the end of this exile period.
They will be on tour until the end of February, then they will head to the Circus Cabuwazi on the Tempelhofer Feld until the summer break – a place that will surely influence the program as strongly as other venues before it. And then the renovation will be completed. They hope to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the house in September back in the old villa on Fasanenstraße. Let’s see what remains of this great journey.
