In "Wir," Through Detours, Amid Branches – A Literary Encounter Between the U8 Collective & Das ad hoc

Four poets from two Berlin literary collectives meet to exchange ideas and experiment. They explore and inquire. Between Nahverkehr and Kurz vor knapp, Cryptopad and Caligariplatz, a multi-layered text emerges, which is presented in a performative reading.

The subsequent discussion about the writing process and working in collectives also addresses poetic points of contact, detours, divergences, and the friction encountered along the path to the text.

An evening with Laurence Ermacova and Neïtah Janzing from the U8 Collective and Johanna Hühn and Manuel Irmey from Das ad hoc.

The U8 Collective explores questions of writing in public spaces, multilingualism, and poetic visual languages. Das ad hoc focuses on forms of (poetic) collectivity and performativity, as well as mutual inspiration and support within the literary scene.

Laurence Ermacova lives and writes poetry in Berlin. Her texts emerge from the intersection of languages and the observation of everyday life. She leads poetry workshops in schools and libraries and is active in literary collectives, including the network of French-speaking female authors in Berlin and Literatur für das, was passiert. Her first poetry collection, *États de mes lieux*, was published in Paris in 2024. Her second collection is scheduled for release in September 2026.

Neïtah Janzing (she/her) is a Quebec-German artist. After arriving in Berlin in 2019, she joined the network of French-speaking female authors in Berlin, with whom she organized several reading events and writing workshops. In 2022, she was a fellow at Stadt.Land.Text and in the artists’ village of Schöppingen. Her writing style is shaped by travel and landscapes in motion, delves into memories, and thrives on encounters.

Johanna Hühn writes poetry and occasionally translates. She studied Comparative Literature, Political Science, and Political Theory and currently works as a language coach for German as a second language. In 2021, the long poem “mein körper, der da wäre” was published in the DOCK 11 EXPANDED series.

Manuel Irmey (no pronouns/they) writes texts that blend poetry and spoken word, mostly in German and English. In addition, Manuel leads various workshops in the fields of theater, creative writing, queerness, and anti-racism. Their work has appeared in PS – Poltisch schreiben, Parabolis Virtualis, and Glitter. In 2025, Manuel co-curated the reading series textOUR.

IN GERMAN