Press release of 14 November 2025
»Who’s Gonna Clean This Up?« Cultural Congress 2025
We are pleased to provide you with the key information on this year’s PEN Berlin Congress:
Date: Saturday, 29 November 2025, from 1 pm, at Säälchen, Holzmarkt 25, Berlin
Motto: »Who’s Gonna Clean This Up?«
This year’s keynote speaker is the Finnish-Estonian author Sofi Oksanen. She follows Israeli writer Etgar Keret and Scottish writer A.L. Kennedy, who delivered the keynote speeches in the past two years.
Under the title »Power, Money, NGO«, journalist Jan Fleischhauer, Timo Reinfrank (Executive Director of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation), Ralf Fücks (Director of the Center for Liberal Modernity), Ulrike Winkelmann (Editor-in-Chief of the taz) and Holger Marcks (Head of the research unit Against Online Hate) will explore the question of how much subversion subsidies can tolerate.
Thomas Meaney, editor of the international literary magazine Granta, will speak with German-American author and illustrator Nora Krug on the question: »What’s next, America?«
On the panel »»Literature today: Can we throw it away?«, former KiWi publisher Helge Malchow and the authors Manja Präkels, Kristof Magnusson and Khuê Phạm will reflect on the current state of literature. Has it hopelessly overestimated itself? Or is it gaining dissident strength in times of growing restrictions on freedom?
Whether authors in exile are truly safe or whether power can reach you anywhere will be discussed by Basma Mostafa of Reporters Without Borders and political scientist and intelligence expert Noura Chalati.
The boundaries of permissible expression are becoming ever narrower. The idea that freedom of speech also includes the freedom to say foolish or offensive things seems increasingly hard to tolerate. Whether there is, however, a »right to hate?« will be explored by Wolfgang Kubicki and Renate Künast, who will also examine the issue from a legal perspective.
Nino Haratischwili will speak with journalist Doris Akrap about the current situation in Georgia and the question: »What if the transformation fails?«
To conclude, Katharina Franck – who is not only a remarkable solo artist but will soon also be touring again with her band Rainbirds – will perform a short concert.
Afterwards, there will be dancing!
The full programme as well as further information on the participants can be found on our website.