Category Archives: Current Events Berlin

Harvard Club Invite: Dinner with Author Jamaica Kincaid


Hello all!

The Harvard Club of Berlin invites us to an evening discussion with renown author Jamaica Kincaid on November 5 at 6:30pm at Restaurant Luther & Wegner, Charlottenstr. 56 10117 Berlin.

The invite is below.

Cheers!  

Carl Kruse
Ivy Circle and Berlin Chair, Princeton Alumni Association in Germany

P.S.  Stammtisch, Tuesday, Nov 4 at Fredericks in Potsdammer Platz.

Dear members and friends of the Harvard Community in Berlin,

The Harvard Cub of Berlin is honored to invite you to a Leadership Dinner with Jamaica Kincaid.

Jamaica Kincaid will begin with a short reading followed by a conversation on her experiences as a writer and professor at Harvard University as well as her impressions so far as an American Academy Fellow in Germany.

The evening will be moderated by Clara Péron, the club’s vice president.

About Jamica Kincaid:

Jamaica Kincaid is a writer and Professor Emerita of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She holds honorary degrees from Amherst College, Tufts University, Middlebury College, and the University of the West Indies, among others. Celebrated for her evocative reflections on family, memory, gender, colonialism, her native Antigua, and gardening, Kincaid is the author of numerous award-winning and widely translated essays, short stories, and novels, including At the Bottom of the River (1983), Annie John (1985), Lucy (1990), A Small Place (1988), The Autobiography of My Mother (1996), My Brother (1997), Mr. Potter (2002), Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalayas (2005), See Now Then (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), and most recently An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children (with Kara Walker; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024). Her “Talk of the Town” columns for The New Yorker appeared in Talk Stories (2001). She is the winner of the 2022 Paris Review Hadada Prize for Lifetime Achievement, 2017 Dan David Prize, a 2014 American Book Award and 2000 Prix Femina Étranger, among many other awards. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.

We look forward to seeing you at our Leadership Dinner.

When?: Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at 6:30 pm

Where?: Restaurant Luther & Wegner

Charlottenstraße 56, 10117 Berlin

Dresscode: Smart Casual

Tickets:

Members & partners: 45 € p.p.

Non-Members: 55 € p.p.

Welcome drinks and two course menu are included.

Drinks with the meal will be charged separately.

30 tickets are available for this event.

Please register via the following link: Registration  until October 29, 2025.

Payment options:

  1. Bank transfer: Please transfer the ticket to our bank account:

Harvard University Alumni Club of Berlin e.V.

IBAN: DE33 1007 0848 0036 7532 00

BIC: DEUTDEDB110

Reference: your name & HLD Kincaid

  1. Paypal: frohn@pwwl.de  family and friends

Reference: your name & HLD Kincaid

Ivy Circle Berlin Stammtisch

by Carl Kruse


The Ivy Circle Berlin Stammtisch takes place every first Tuesday of the month.

For our Tuesday, Nov 4, 2025 gathering we meet at from 6-9 pm at FREDERICKS, located at Bellevue Str 1, 10785 at Potsdammer Platz.

Frederick’s is an upscale restaurant-and-bar housed in the historic Kaisersaal of the former Grand Hotel Esplanade. The space blends Belle-Époque details—soaring ceilings, chandeliers, ornate marble—with contemporary art and a dramatic, wraparoud bar. It feels at once grand and playful.  Fredericks’ is happy to welcome the Ivy Circle for after work cocktails.

Complimentary wine while it lasts.  Cash bar.

Come meet old and new friends alike.  It will be good.

See you at Fredericks on Tuesday, November 4!

While the last several Stammtischs have taken place at the Telegraphenamt, we expect to rotate the Stammtisch location through various locations in Berlin.

Cheers,
Carl Kruse
Ivy Circle Berlin

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Former events include Champagne and Art with Jade Cassidy, and the Boros Bunker Sammlung Tour.

Theater Reading Group in Berlin

by Carl Kruse

Niraj Welikala, a member of both the Oxford and Cambridge alumni societies in Berlin, founded a play-reading and theater group in Berlin last summer and is looking to expand the group to fellow thespians and those who love the theater.

The group’s objective is recreational play reading and perhaps putting on a production one day.  Details from Niraj below. You can contact Niraj directly at niraj.welikala@gmail.com or fellow co-founder Nigel Luhman at nigel@luhman.de

Cheers,
Carl Kruse
Ivy Circle

P.S. Carl Kruse ia also involved with Renselear Polytechnic Institute’s Milkyway@Home project.

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An Actor Prepares…

Calling actors and theatre enthusiasts!

We are a play reading group (in English), originally formed from members of the Oxford and Cambridge alumni clubs in Berlin and we are looking for new people to join us. We meet every 2 weeks on a weekday evening from 6-8 pm (usually on a Monday) at the Theaterhaus Mitte Berlin (https://www.theaterhaus-berlin.com/).

We aim to select and read a diverse range of plays. Plays we’ve read so far include Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, J. B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’,  ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ and we are currently in the middle of ‘The Crucible’.  We usually start with a few minutes of warm-up exercises. During the reading, we switch characters to give people a chance to explore different roles and also experiment with different acting and directing techniques.

The play readings are meant to be recreational although we hope to put on a production as well. We have a range of experience in the group (from little or no experience to some with years of acting and directing experience). If you are interested, please email Nigel or Niraj mentioning any previous acting experience (but this is not required) and we will send you more details including our WhatsApp group that we use to organise readings. You are welcome to come to a session and see if it’s for you.

Hope to see you there!

Niraj, Nigel, Kaya and Justin 

The Berlin Play Reading Group committee