In the organizer's words:

On January 16, 2026, the Telegraphenamt Berlin will open its doors for the exhibition opening and book premiere of Mirna Funk's new novel Balagan. Curated in collaboration with Johann König Telegraphenamt, the exhibition presents contemporary Israeli and Jewish artists: Michael Liani, Dana Yoeli, Amir Fattal, Shai Azoulay, Zoya Cherkassky, Yom Omer, Alex Farfuri, Amitai Hayun, Noa Ironic and Klone.
The book launch will be moderated by Julia Encke, Head of the FAS feature section.

About the author: Mirna Funk, born in 1981 in East Berlin, studied philosophy and now works as an author and freelance journalist for the FAZ, SZ and Die Zeit, among others. Her monthly sex column has appeared in Cosmopolitan since 2021 and from 2018 to 2020 she wrote about Jewish life for Vogue online. Her debut novel Winternähe was awarded the Uwe Johnson Prize, and the non-fiction book Who Cares became an instant bestseller.

about the book: Mirna Funk: Balagan, novel, hardcover, 368 pages, to be published on 15.01.2026

A German-Jewish family story between Berlin and Tel Aviv. When Amira's grandfather dies, he leaves her an art collection from her Jewish family that was thought to have been lost since the Second World War. And now? Should Amira donate the artworks to a museum or sell them to an oligarch? Can she simply keep them? When doubts arise as to whether the collection was legally returned to her grandfather, Amira suddenly has to justify herself - and find a way through the chaos (Hebrew 'Balagan') that German-Jewish history in general and her family in particular has left her.

Balagan is set between Tel Aviv and Berlin and interweaves the story of a young woman with the political reality of the year 2024: the novel tells of right and wrong in the art world, of greed and envy in families and of the difficult search for stability in a world that is coming apart at the seams.

Price information:

Prize for the art exhibition and the moderated book premiere of Mirna Funk's new novel "Balagan"