{"id":24724,"date":"2026-02-25T22:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/24724\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T22:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:29:17","slug":"taking-refuge-in-words-the-berliner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/24724\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Refuge in Words – The Berliner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"\u00a9ShirleyHeim<\/p>\n

Hosted by Refuge Worldwide in their community space in Neuk\u00f6lln, Reading Room is a community of readers that organises monthly events for music and literature lovers alike. Everyone brings a book, posts up and gets reading while a carefully curated, usually ambient set plays, both live and on Refuge\u2019s radio station. Reading Room also has a digital side in the form of their newsletter and Instagram page, dedicated to bringing fellow book lovers together and to get them talking about, well, books. After celebrating their one-year anniversary in November, the team behind Reading Room \u2013 Deniz Everling, Teresa K\u00f6ster and Shirley Heim \u2013 tell us more about their event series, their origin stories and what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n

Reading Room is a community for readers and a space to share books. How do your events work?<\/p>\n

Everling: Our events usually start early in the evening. People arrive, settle in with a drink and get comfortable with the book they\u2019ve brought. Often, people assume we\u2019re a book club all reading the same book, but that\u2019s not the case. Everyone brings whatever they feel like reading that night, and all kinds of books (and genres) are welcome. After a short welcome and introduction to the evening, we begin the silent reading session, which is the most magical part of our events. You only hear relaxing (ambient) music and the sound of pages turning. It\u2019s our favourite part! We still can\u2019t believe you can create such an atmosphere with 50 to 70 people in one space. After an hour of silent reading, we slowly open the room for people to connect, chat with fellow readers and exchange thoughts, ideas or questions about their books. We always leave with warm hearts and a new list of books to read.<\/p>\n

You also have a radio show on Refuge. What inspired you to combine reading and music?<\/p>\n

Everling: For some reason, it was never a question whether or not music would play a role in Reading Room. It was very clear from the start that it would be part of our events. We feel that music can add so much to the overall experience: it can create a certain soothing or cosy atmosphere, evoke emotions or even act as a soundtrack to whatever you\u2019re currently reading. So having a radio show on Refuge felt like a natural step when we began hosting events there. We\u2019re very grateful for Refuge Worldwide\u2019s trust and for opening their doors to us from day one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\u00a9ShirleyHeim<\/p>\n

You also have a newsletter. What kinds of content do you aim to bring to the reading community in Berlin?<\/p>\n

K\u00f6ster: Since we currently only host events in Berlin, the newsletter has become a way to extend the Reading Room community beyond the city, reaching people in other places who want to stay connected to what we do. We usually publish a new newsletter edition every two months, bringing together a mix of content that reflects our community. Alongside event announcements and recaps, we talk to fellow readers from our cosmos and beyond, collect reading recommendations in our Community Reads series and every now and then we feature bookstores or reading spaces we love.<\/p>\n

You celebrated your one-year anniversary in November. How have the events evolved since you started?<\/p>\n

Heim: Yes, time really flew and we are amazed that we\u2019ve already had seven events. The events themselves haven\u2019t really changed in idea or sequence, but what of course is always changing is the vibe of the events. Every edition has its own character, shaped by the space, the moment and most of all by who shows up.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\u00a9ShirleyHeim<\/p>\n

What\u2019s special or unique about the Berlin reading community?<\/p>\n

K\u00f6ster: The people who join us at Reading Room represent just a small slice of Berlin\u2019s readers, of course, but this little micro-community is noticeably international \u2013 both in who shows up and in the books they bring. At every edition, you\u2019ll find people reading in different languages and across all kinds of genres, which naturally creates an interesting starting point for conversations afterwards.<\/p>\n

What we find especially unique is how open people are to connecting in this environment. Over time, we\u2019ve noticed how many guests come on their own, and it\u2019s always nice to watch conversations spark between people who had never met before. That openness, that ease of connecting across backgrounds, feels very Berlin, and we\u2019re grateful to be able to create a space where that can happen.<\/p>\n

Follow Reading Room on IG @reading_roooom for details on their upcoming events. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a9ShirleyHeim Hosted by Refuge Worldwide in their community space in Neuk\u00f6lln, Reading Room is a community of readers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[5800,112,3931,190,16244,16245],"class_list":["post-24724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-bars","tag-berlin","tag-books","tag-germany","tag-reading","tag-reading-room"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}