The reading will focus on texts from the bilingual anthology *Lepiej. Opowieści emigrantek* (*Better: Stories of Women Emigrants*), published by KLAK Verlag in 2025. Seven authors write about migration, identity, and self-determination, and explore what it means to find one’s own voice and become visible. Their texts offer both personal and societal perspectives on the lives of Polish women in Berlin.

The subsequent discussion with Beata Zuzanna Borawska will explore the experiences and themes behind the texts: women’s writing, migration, belonging, and visibility. How does migration change one’s view of oneself and the world? What does it mean to tell one’s own story? And what power can there be in becoming visible?

Moderator: Dr. Anna Mróz

The reading and discussion offer insight into a literary and artistic project that combines personal experiences with questions of social participation and women’s self-determination. At the same time, it stands for a history written from a female perspective—for a “Herstory” in which women tell their own stories and make their voices heard.

Beata Zuzanna Borawska is an author, cultural mediator, and director of the Club of Wonderful Women in Berlin. In her work, she focuses on women’s writing, identity, migration, and the personal stories of women. She creates spaces for exchange and storytelling and encourages women to put their own experiences into words and make their perspectives visible.

Dr. Anna Mróz is a linguist and expert on multilingualism. Her work focuses on language, identity, and the unique experiences of multilingual people. She is particularly interested in how language shapes our perceptions, our relationships, and our sense of belonging.

Exhibition at the Kulturschaufenster

Accompanying the reading, an exhibition will be on display at the Kulturschaufenster that explores female creativity, migration, and self-determination. Photography and collage enter into a dialogue of their own with the literary texts. Agnieszka Karaś created analog collages to accompany the texts by the seven authors—works that go far beyond mere illustration. They are an integral part of the book project and connect word and image, language and gesture in a unique way. The photographic portraits were taken during a joint photo session led by Karolina Bąk with the authors, supported by Agnieszka Ogrodniczak (makeup) and Aneta Jenis Dolega (production). The photographs reveal the character, energy, and uniqueness of each author while also capturing that special Berlin “something” that oscillates between lightheartedness and determination.

Together, the reading, discussion, and exhibition tell the story of women who take control of their own stories and, in doing so, make themselves visible.