Live Event and Releases: February at Kollo Media

Hey everyone, Ben here. My second son was born in January, and I came back into the studio feeling so good. It’s that daddy-energy boost, that anti-catastophizing, that optimism that hanging out with babies gives you. Or maybe it’s second-hand hormones of strength and energy from my wife Ines (who rules obvs). Either way, there is so much going on! And it’s all really exciting, multi-format, English <> German, live / online, #community-first projects to share from Kollo Media in February.

Here’s a TL;DR with links you can check out already, then I’ll write more context for each below:

This will be our longest newsletter so far, but it’s exciting to share all our updates with you…

One of the reason we built the studio at Chapters was the idea of having our own space for collaboration within the literary <> ideas ecosystem. Our first collaboration was with author Ralph Tharayil, recording his book “Nimm die Alpen weg”.

The book has a unique form: It’s a coming of age novel, but also a sort of narrative poem in 100+ short chapters, and it’s also written in first-person plural. So there’s a kind of voice and pace inherent to the book, and translating it into audio needs a proper treatment.

Ralph wrote the book with a particular voice in his mind, but having spent 3 years on tours and events performing readings of his book, he honed a voice, a pace, and a perspective that enhances the text and actually adds meaning.

Tomorrow night we’ll play a few excerpts from the audiobook to mark the launch. And Ralph will be joined by writer Theresia Enzensberger to talk about what that translation between text and audio needs. And then they’ll talk about translating that voice and perspective between languages: We’ll be the first audience to hear excerpts from the forthcoming English version of the book.

So come hang at the bookshop tomorrow. Some of you were at our previous events and know that every Kollo Media event has a lot of space for discussion and connection - it’s a good time.

We’ll save a few guestlist slots for Kollo Media followers - reply to this email by 15 Uhr Tuesday to save a spot. Signed books by Ralph and Theresia will be available for purchase.

Simplify is back, bringing important ideas to people directly from the authors and experts who practice them. Here’s a quick look at the last 4 episodes:

Amazingly - and thanks to the work Caitlin did the past weeks while I was on parental leave - we’re already hitting the download numbers we used to get when publishing regularly. I can only take that to mean that the ideas in the episodes are resonating.

Thank you for listening! You can keep supporting us by sharing episodes, rating and reviewing the show, and staying connected: Follow Simplify on Instagram, sign up for Caitlin’s essays in the newsletter, and subscribe to the feed wherever you listen to podcasts. We’re publishing episodes every other week.

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Episode 5 of BAD COUSINS was published today. Find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the web, and anywhere you listen to podcasts.

This episode is a little harrowing. We’ve seen all along how toxic this Abraham thing can be, but this time we get into quite a lot of the nastiness.

We start off by looking at how the Crusades took up an identification of Sarah when slaughtering Jewish and Muslim infidels, and then we talk about how nineteenth-century British Christians became enamored with the idea of bringing the Jews back to Zion. Next we find ourselves face to face with a sort of Muslim Zionist, King Faisal, who offered to upgrade the Jews from cousins to brothers. This pissed a lot of other Arabs off, which brings us to discuss ways in which people in the modern region try to deny the kinship relation and/or the obligations it entails.

In the final section, we bring in literary and political theorist Liron Mor to talk about how the impossible Jewish/Arab dichotomy plays out in Israeli politics, paying particular attention to one song in a rock opera, Mami, in which a Middle Eastern Jewish heroine tries to convince Palestinian attackers to let her alone because “Isaac and Ishmael were brothers.” We also talk about the reading of Sarah as some sort of badass nationalist, and how little justice that does to the deeply patriarchal setting in which she acts.

It does get quite dark. But as we’ve been trying to say all along - the stakes are real. Come along and think it through together with us.

In 2026, our goal is to publish a new audiobook monthly.

In January, we published Gerd Schöller’s Spiegel-Bestseller “Unter Hochspannung” (German) about the energy transition in Germany. For all German-speakers, I recommend it as an even-keeled look at the current status, from someone working on the inside. Schöller is CEO of Schönenergie, a company offering batteries, solar - I guess basically everything for individuals and businesses wanting to use green energy sources. He’s frustrated with ALL the political parties, and makes clear, concrete, helpful suggestions. Listening to this made me, for the first time, want to get a small solar cell to power our fridge or cell phone chargers.

In February, well you know about that. See you tomorrow for the official launch of the “Nimm die Alpen weg” audiobook.

We have releases planned through June, but would love some recommendations from the community. If you know of a print book you’d love to see an audio version of, let me know!

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