The Berlin Journal
Published annually, the Berlin Journal gathers essays, fiction, interviews, and artist portfolios by the Academy’s fellows and guests—a record of the ideas taking shape at the Hans Arnhold Center.
Featured articles from past issues
Essays, fiction, and artist portfolios from the recent issues of the Berlin Journal.
When the Arctic Melts
What the fate of Greenland means for the rest of the Earth
Past Issues of the Berlin Journal
Browse the full archive, from the first issue to today—more than two decades of writing and artwork by fellows of the Academy.
Issue 39 (2025-26)
The Berlin Journal #39 features work by the 2025-26 class of Berlin Prize fellows, including a Focus section on “Conflicts and Culture,” with articles by Hugh Eakin, Oona Hathaway, Derek Penslar, and Ross Perlin. Fiction by Jamaica Kincaid, Maaza Mengiste, and Justin Torres. Artist portfolios by Nora Krug and Dawoud Bey. Feature articles by Rachel…
Issue 38 (2024-25)
The new Berlin Journal has arrived, featuring articles, essays, fiction, and artwork by the 2024-25 class of fellows, including a Focus section (“Transparency and Visibility”) on the metaphor of transparency and political visibility, with essays by Daniel Jütte, Peter Christensen, Jefferson Cowie, Nell Irvin Painter, and Zachary Shore. Feature essays include those by Adam Shatz on…
Issue 37 (2023-24)
The 2023-24 Berlin Journal — the twenty-fifth anniversary issue — features a range of essays and stories by this year’s class of fellows: Mariana Candido on colonial West Africa; Mabel O. Wilson on nation and race in Jefferson’s America; Leigh Raiford on photos of Dawoud Bey; artist portfolios by A.K. Burns and Liana Finck; fiction…
Issue 36 (2022-23)
The 2022-23 Berlin Journal features a range of essays and stories by this year’s class of fellows: Joshua Sellers on American democracy’s polycrisis; Suzanne L. Marchand on the remarkable diversity of Biedermeier porcelain; fiction by Lauren Groff and Alexandra Chreiteh; Cymene Howe on rising water levels; Alexander Rehding on Earth’s greatest hits, and essays on…
Issue 35 (2021-22)
The 2021-22 Berlin Journal features a range of essays, stories, and artwork by this year’s class of fellows: Channing Joseph on America’s first drag queen; Yanni Kotsonis on the Greek Revolution; fiction by Lan Samantha Chang and Ladee Hubbard; reporter Alec MacGillis on the rise of Amazon; Tess Lewis on her translation of Lutz Seiler’s…
Issue 34 (2020-21)
This issue of the Berlin Journal (covering the academic year 2020-21), features articles by journalist and fall 2020 fellow Mosi Secret, who writes about an experiment to desegregate white private schools in the 1960s South; Harvard University professor and spring 2021 fellow Robert Reid-Pharr on the surprising life of one of James Baldwin’s high-school teachers;…
Issue 33 (2019-2020)
This issue of the Berlin Journal (#33) opens with a suite of related essays on the fragility and composition of democracy: Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky from their new book, How Democracies Die; Steven Klein on the role of debt in the political economies of post-WWII democracies; and Laura D’Andrea Tyson on how Germany is…
Issue 32 (Fall 2018)
Issue 32 of the Berlin Journal opens with a focus on “extraction and its afterlives,” with essays by fellows Rosalind C. Morris, Ronald Radano, Herman Mark Schwartz, Emily Apter, and Priscilla Layne, and by Distinguished Visitor Michael Sandel. Feature articles are by Tung-Hui Hu, on the pre-history of cloud computing; P. Carl on becoming a white…