Printer Matters - Fireflies, The Reader and Round not Square

On the 28th November we are hosting Printed Matters #1 - a celebration of Berlin’s indie publishing scene that we are very proud to be a part of. We are also very much aware than many of our readers are not in Berlin, and so we want to use the opportunity to present some of our friends here on the website. Here are three more very different publishing projects based in Berlin:

Fireflies

With two homes, Fireflies is a print film magazine with one foot in Melbourne, Australia, and the other with us here in Berlin. Each issue brings together an international group of writers, artists and critics to celebrate the work of two extraordinary film directors through personal essays, creative responses and exclusive interviews with the filmmakers. Fireflies passionately expands the possibilities of film criticism, inviting audiences to discover and explore treasures of world cinema, and past issues have explored Pier Paolo Pasolini, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Béla Tarr and Abbas Kiarostami. The upcoming Issue #3 celebrates the cinema of Claire Denis and Jia Zhangke.

The Reader Berlin

We have known Victoria Gosling and The Reader Berlin for a long time, have benefited from her editorial advice, been involved in The Reader’s workshops and seminars, enjoyed the results of the short story competitions, and are now really pleased to be able to present the Streets of Berlin anthology at Printed Matters. This collection of ten award-winning short stories was published in September 2015 and it showcases the distinctive voices of ten emerging talents. United only by the city that inspired them, they bear witness to one of the world’s greatest, most mutable cities: Berlin.

Round not Square

Of all the projects we have presented on the blog over the past week or so, it is Round not Square that makes us most sad for the people that won’t be able to experience the project in person. Round not Square is devoted to the reinvention of scrolls, reviving a format that was the main means of reproducing content back before the invention of bookbinding and other publishing methods we take for granted. Why do they do this? Well the good folks at Round not Square argue that this allows them to eliminate pagination and create a real flow of storyline, allows them to print imagines larger than book formats would allow, and of course, because of the aesthetic quality of such a striking object. If you can join us in Berlin on Saturday, you can see for yourself!

Printed Matters - SAND, mikrotext and GIER

On the 28th November we are hosting Printed Matters #1 - a celebration of Berlin’s indie publishing scene that we are very proud to be a part of. We are also very much aware than many of our readers are not in Berlin, and so we want to use the opportunity to present some of our friends here on the website. Today we bring you three very different publishing projects from Berlin:

SAND Journal

With twelve issues under their belt, SAND is something of an institution in Berlin’s English-language literary scene. Published twice a year, SAND features prose and poetry as well as translations, art and photography. At the same time, they collaborate with musicians, literary festivals and artists cooperatives - and now us! - to hold regular events in the city. Their stated aim is to offer a printed space for art and literature in Berlin’s international community and beyond. Not only will the good folks from SAND be at Printed Matters with copies of their journal, author Lucy Renner Jones, who appears in issue 11 of SAND, will be joining us on stage for a reading

miktrotext

Every three months mikrotext publishes two ebooks that are thematically linked, focused on literary texts that comment on contemporary questions and offer insight for the future. The texts reflect global debates and are published in German, with selected titles also available in English. But what is an ebook publisher doing at Printed Matters? Well, they are also moving into print and will have some printed versions of their books available at the event. We are also extremely pleased that they will also be reading for us: Wie man mit einem Mann glücklich wird with Ruth Herzberg, and The Smartest Guy on Facebook by Aboud Saeed, read by Nikola Richter.

GIER Magazin

The brainchild of Diana Arnold and Natalie Stypa, who met in Berlin in 2003, GIER Magazin is a bilingual publication (German and English) that is dedicated to “opposing oppositions”, a cultural studies magazine interested in art, gender and feminism (among other topics) that intends to question binary thinking. In the words of their manifesto: Binary oppositions – e.g. Mann | Frau (man | woman) – function as categories that are filled with texts, images etc. which question or deconstruct the opposition. GIER starts with 3 such opposing pairs. More pairs will be added. Each pair will be filled with new contents (i.e. the categories aren't limited to only one text, image etc. each). We are extremely pleased to be welcoming GIER to Printed Matters, and we are sure there will be some interesting conversations to be had on Saturday afternoon!

Printed Matters - Slow Travel Berlin and Readux Books

On the 28th November we are hosting Printed Matters #1 - a celebration of Berlin’s indie publishing scene that we are very proud to be a part of. We are also very much aware than many of our readers are not in Berlin, and so we want to use the opportunity to present some of our friends here on the website. Today we bring you two projects that are very close to our heart:

Slow Travel Berlin

What is Slow Travel Berlin? First of all it is a website, filled with incredibly informative content that over the last five years has become the indispensable resource dedicated to a deeper and more intelligent exploration of the city, not only for the inquisitive visitor to the city but for locals alike. Second it provides a guide to what’s on in the city, and guides to different corners of Berlin via a series of walks, tours and workshops. And third it is a publisher, producing a number of books and other print projects including 100 Favourite Places, Mauerweg: Stories from the Berlin Wall, and recently Stories From The City, an anthology from the first five years of Slow Travel Berlin

Elsewhere and Slow Travel Berlin are strongly linked. Marcel, Paul and Julia have all contributed to various parts of the project, from articles for the website, work on the books, and leading tours through the streets of the city. So there was no question that we would approach Paul Sullivan, the founder and guiding light of Slow Travel Berlin for Printed Matters #1, and we are really looking forward to seeing him and many other members of the Slow Travel community on the 28th November.

Readux Books

There were many inspirations when it came to launching Elsewhere: A Journal of Place, and Amanda DeMarco was certainly one of them. With energy and commitment, as well as good taste, Amanda founded and runs Readux Books, a publisher of short works of (mostly) translated literature. These tiny books fit in your pocket, cost the same as a beer and are better for you. Published in sets of four, the first set was released in October 2013 and recently the sixth series was released. Titled ‘Weird Sex’, the four books explore the essential strangeness of sex and offer their seductive genre of literary pleasure.

Over the course of six series Readux have also published a number of titles related to the city of Berlin, including David Wagner’s Berlin Triptych, Arthur Eloesser’s Cities and City People: Berlin, 1919, Annett Gröschner’s City Spaces, and The Idea of a River, by Elsewhere editor Paul Scraton. At Printed Matters #1 Paul will speak with Amanda about the project and another Berlin book published by Readux, In Berlin by Franz Hessel. Amanda translated the Hessel book herself, and after the conversation will share with us a reading from the work.

Printed Matters - archiv/e, Heimat Zine and No Dice

On the 28th November we are hosting Printed Matters #1 - a celebration of Berlin’s indie publishing scene that we are very proud to be a part of. We are also very much aware than many of our readers are not in Berlin, and so we want to use the opportunity to present some of our friends here on the website. Today we bring you three very different publications from our home city:

archiv/e magazin

Bring digital to print. That is the philosophy behind archiv/e, the first edition of which was published this September following a successful crowdfunding campaign. The idea of this German-language publication is a relatively simple one: to turn a particular blog into an object you can hold in your hands. The editors take the words and images from the blog which are in turn arranged and connected in new ways, and the whole thing is introduced by the blogger themselves. For the first issue of archiv/e, which you will be able to hold in your hands at Printed Matters #1, the focus was the blog stepanini, her thoughts, book reviews and recipes.

Heimat Zine

The German-word Heimat is of course interesting for us at Elsewhere, dealing as we do with the concept of place. Heimat is often translated into English as ‘homeland’, although that is not completely accurate as it misses the sense of belonging attached to this specific connection to place. Heimat Zine is an independent, handcrafted magazine with a small print run that aims to relocate the reader through its pages. The first issue deals with the idea of Heimat itself and what emotions the word can provoke (from the kitsch to the sepia-toned), while the second issue deals with the link between food and heimat, and the third is dedicated to secrets.

 No Dice Magazine

This English-language magazine is also firmly rooted to the idea of place, being as it is dedicated to football and football culture within the city of Berlin. Eleven issues old, No Dice explores Berlin’s football scene from the Bundesliga in the Olympiastadion to the local fixtures watched by one man and his dog (plus the intrepid reporter) and through the articles uses sport to get to grips with many of the issues of our city, from immigration to troubled history, as well as of course the thrill of the last-minute derby winner and the melancholy of a nil-nil draw in Lichterfelde. The team from No Dice will also be hosting a reading at the Printed Matters event and we are looking forward to hearing them talk about Berlin football culture… and if you see them, don’t forget to ask them where the name comes from.

Printed Matters - hidden europe magazine

On the 28th November we are hosting Printed Matters #1 - a celebration of Berlin’s indie publishing scene that we are very proud to be a part of. We are also very much aware than many of our readers are not in Berlin, and so we want to use the opportunity to present some of our friends here on the website. First up, hidden europe magazine:

It is not really surprising that we are fans of hidden europe. Not only is this magazine an inspiration - published three times a year they have just released their 47th edition - but the editors Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries have been a great source of support over the past year as we have tried to get Elsewhere off the ground. And beyond that, there is a philosophical link as well, for the writing contained within the pages of hidden europe is intended to conjure a sense of place as they probe “the curiosities of the continent’s diverse cultures.”

The current edition, released last week, is no exception. As you might be able to guess from the name, hidden europe is a travel magazine in the best sense, taking the reader to the corners of Europe that perhaps you have never heard of. In issue 47 this includes the Saxon villages of Transylvania and the mountain bothies of Scotland, but they also delve into the secrets of more familiar haunts, such as a Berlin suburb or a Vienna train station. What this means is that hidden europe is a journey of discovery each time it arrives in your letterbox, thanks to the editors and their small band of contributors.

Sometimes it is possible to spot a thread running through the articles of any given issue, although this is not always made explicit. For issue 47 however, the editorial gently points us in the right direction, and it could not be more timely:

Displacement is the word of the moment. And the refugees who have moved in their thousands across Europe these past months compel us to reflect on the experience of the displaced. The most compelling images of migrants on the move have actually been devoid of movement: the remarkable patience of refugees trapped at Budapest Keleti station in late summer, and more recently the hapless situation of refugees stranded in driving rain on the border between Croatia and Slovenia.

Exile and displacement feature in various ways in this new issue of hidden europe. We consider Geneva, a classic city of refuge. We examine a suburb of Berlin which has, over the years, received refugees in tens of thousands. And we explore villages in Transylvania to discover what happens to these places when everyone leaves. We also explore the question of links severed through past or present strife and conflict. What happened to all those trains which once ran between Zagreb and Sarajevo? And why has it now become impossible to take a train across the Perekopsky Isthmus to Crimea?

And this is the key to hidden europe, and why they are proud to claim to be “more than just a travel magazine.” This is writing that informs, entertains but also leads you to ask questions. Questions about specific places or moments in time, but also about our own relationships with place and their stories. This is similar to what we are trying to do in the pages of Elsewhere, and it is no wonder then that not only has Paul written for hidden europe and will do again soon, but Nicky Gardner’s short essay on Mitrovica appeared in Elsewhere No.01.

This exchange of ideas exists not only in the pages of our respective journals, but on a personal level as well, at a favourite table in Berlin’s Joseph-Roth-Diele. We are looking forward to more conversations on the 28th at Printed Matters, and many more future editions of hidden europe.

hidden europe 47 is available now through the online shop on the hidden europe website. Make sure you sign up on the website for their regular Letters from Europe email newsletter that, like the magazine itself, is always worth a read.

If you are in Berlin, you can get a copy of Hidden Europe, Elsewhere, or one of the other wonderful indie publishing projects in the city at our Printed Matters event.

Printed Matters #1 at Jää-äär - Saturday 28th November 2015

At the end of the summer we were in Hamburg for the indiemagday Free Trade Zone in an old harbour warehouse. It was a great day, meeting lots of fellow magazine-makers and readers, and as we packed away our things ready for the journey back across the northern plains to Berlin, we wondered to ourselves whether or not we could do something similar in Berlin.

We batted some ideas back and forth and decided that we would like to create a relaxed and friendly event in a nice place, where people could come and get their hands on copies of independent magazines and books and listen to some readings and conversations from those writers and editors behind the publications. And as we already knew a number of people involved in such projects in Berlin, our idea for Printed Matters (as we decided to call it) developed fairly quickly from there.

So on the 28th November 2015 we will be gathering for an afternoon at the wonderful Jää-äär cafe and creative space in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen, where you can enjoy Estonian treats a handful of steps from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city. We will have a book stall in operation all afternoon so you can buy copies for yourself or perhaps Christmas presents, and Elsewhere editor in chief Paul Scraton will also take those interested on a cultural-historical exploration of the neighbourhood, on both sides of the former dividing line, inspired by the walks he does for Slow Travel Berlin. Jää-äär will also be hosting an exhibition from the London-based Estonian artist Anu Samarüütelfirst.

The final schedule for the reading has not been confirmed yet, but we will be announcing who will be talking and reading in the coming days on the Facebook event page. And most importantly, we will be presenting our fellow magazine and book publishers that will be joining us at Jää-äär here on the Elsewhere blog in the run-up to the event… at the time of writing, the roll of honour includes archiv/e, hidden europe, No Dice,  Readux, SAND and Slow Travel Berlin… and if any other Berlin-based independent publishers or magazines would like to join the fun, then they can get in touch with paul@elsewhere-journal.com.

We are really looking forward to the event and if you happen to be in or around Berlin on the last weekend of November, we would love to see you there.

Elsewhere and the Fort Gorgast Festival

(Image: Julia’s sketch for the Fort Gorgast Festival page in Elsewhere No. 01)

We are extremely excited and proud to be joining three hundred like-minded souls in the grounds and the bowels of Fort Gorgast at the eastern edge of Germany for a weekend of camping, culture, music, art and fun from July 23rd to 26th. Elsewhere editor in chief Paul Scraton will be hosting two place-writing workshops at the festival, and he will be joined by books editor Marcel Krueger in conversation about the Oderbruch and the history of Fort Gorgast, as well as readings from Elsewhere No. 01. That’s what we are doing, but there is lots, lots more...

Co-hosted by The Reader Berlin and Slow Travel Berlin, the festival promises to be a weekend to remember. Just an hour from Berlin by car or regional train, yet a world away from the bustle of the Big City, the festival will take place in the magical, moat-encircled Fort Gorgast. Throw your tent up amongst the atmospheric ruins and lush green meadows and explore the fort’s tunnels and woodlands.

Our long weekend will kick off on Thursday, from which point on we’ll be hosting a fantastic array of creative, artistic and cultural events. A variety of workshops ranging from photography and writing to massage and drawing will stretch you creatively; or you can literally stretch yourself at one of our morning yoga sessions, sprawl out in front of a film screening or author reading, or take part in the treasure hunt, pub quiz or open mic session.

After dark, gather around The Forest Stage to check out our carefully curated selection of live acts, and then later, the unique sounds of our guest DJs; we promise something for everyone. There’ll be plenty for families and kids this year too, including workshops, games and activities, kids’ film screenings and fairy-tales around the campfire. And with onsite catering taken care of by Berlin hotspot The Dairy and a well-stocked bar, you certainly won’t go hungry or thirsty.

While we can’t guarantee a sun-tan, our strong emphasis on community and creativity will ensure you’ll make plenty of new friends and enjoy lots of great experiences. Come join us for an unforgettable weekend in a unique location, surrounded by nature, history and smiles…

All kinds of links, including… Tickets… Fort Gorgast Festival Website… the Facebook Page… and Twitter

In the meantime… Elsewhere No. 01 will be published on 12 June 2015. 
Pre-order your copy here.