Lex Bernsdorf, a student of Cultural Studies and Gender Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU), is this year’s second City Writer for the Berlin Student Services Organisation. Lex impressed the jury with the piece lesbenphantasien oder i <3 bush (not the president), which, according to the jury’s statement, “tells a direct and witty story of changing bodies and desires”.
When applying for the role of City Writer, Lex submitted their own writing for the first time, in order to “share all the ideas in my head with other students who can relate to chaotic city life”. Lex, aged 25, grew up in Berlin and, having moved house several times, knows the city’s most diverse corners and facets. Lex also processes these experiences through their writing: “Places from my past and present keep cropping up in my writing, in all sorts of corners of Berlin, from the Forum Köpenick to Tropical Island and the Akazienkiez in Schöneberg.” Lex experiences and describes Berlin in all its contradictions: “tough but warm-hearted, honest but passionate”. As a city writer, Lex adopts a voyeuristic perspective and writes about queer eroticism, lesbian life and fantasies in everyday city life.
Experience the City Writers live
The Student Services’ City Writers programme has been running since 2018. As part of the project, Berlin-based students write literary pieces from their own perspective, focusing on themes related to Berlin. This year, for the first time, three City Writers will be appointed. Lex succeeds Ayşe Kara, who also studies at HU. In October, Lex will hold a closing reading, at which the new City Writer will also be introduced. At the end of the year, there will be a joint reading featuring all three City Writers of 2026. Event details will be published on Berlin Stories.