On June 1, the independent publishing house shell(f) released Written in West Berlin, the debut autofictional book by Larissa Muravieva — literary scholar, PhD in philology, and specialist in contemporary French literature, narrative theory, and media studies. This powerful text chronicles a fractured and reassembled identity in the context of emigration. The personal and the political intertwine as the narrator’s experience of crossing borders becomes a starting point for seeking grounding in language. The “I,” fragmented by displacement, is mirrored by the split geographies of Tel Aviv and Berlin, which serve as both external and internal landscapes. Through detailed observation, the narrator maps losses and turns personal experience into a field of inquiry.

Join us for the first presentation of the book on June 17 at 19:00 at Babel Books Berlin. Larisa Muravieva will be joined by the book’s editor, poet, writer, and critic Denis Larionov.