Max Czollek in conversation with Mely Kiyak and Necati Öziri

In the face of climate crisis, authoritarian tendencies, hostility and militarism, Max Czollek sets discourse with his series of talks. Pop. Love on the power of friendship. For each issue, he invites two people who are friends, work together or encourage each other in their actions. With them, he discusses the importance of community in political and artistic work.

Mely Kiyak is an author and has received numerous awards. Among others, the Theodor Wolff Prize, the Kurt Tucholsky Prize and most recently the Heinrich Mann Prize from the Academy of Arts. Last published by Carl Hanser Verlag Mr. Kiyak thought now the good part of life begins (2024); will they deport us with FlixBus? (2022); Being a Woman (2020) and Thomas Mann. German listeners! (2025) published by S. Fischer Verlag. Good Moments (2025) and This Garden (2024) were published by Mikrotext Verlag.

Necati Öziri is a writer and curator. He studied philosophy, German literature and new German literature in Bochum, Istanbul and Berlin. As curator, he directed the International Forum of the Theatertreffen der Berliner Festspiele and the Studio я of the Maxim Gorky Theater, where he was also part of the dramaturgy. As a playwright, he writes for the Maxim Gorki Theater, the Nationaltheater Mannheim, where he was in-house writer, and the Schauspielhaus Zürich, among others. His debut novel Vatermal (2023) was published most recently. Öziri lives and works in Berlin.