Lavinia Frey, born in Hamburg in 1969, studied history, theater studies, philosophy, and dance in Zurich, Bern and London.
Since 2023, she is the director of the international literature festival berlin.

After her studies, she worked as a director, choreographer and dramaturg at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Staatstheater Schwerin, and Stadttheater Hildesheim, among others. In 2007, she became a co-founder and managing director of the cultural and concept agency Graf & Frey. As such she designed and implemented cultural events, festivals and symposia at the interface of politics, business, and science. In 2016, Lavinia Frey was appointed Board Member for Culture at the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss and as Managing Director of Humboldt Forum Kultur GmbH. From 2018-2023, she led the Programs and Projects Department at the Stiftung Humboldt Forum as Managing Director, and was thus responsible for the international temporary exhibition program, artistic events, “History of the site”, and individual projects that she curated herself. From 2017-2023, she was also a co-project leader in the national collaborative project “museum4punkt0. Digital Strategies for the Museum of the Future”. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Akademie Deutscher Sachbuchpreis Lavinia Frey is also engaged in organizational development and is certified with the Neuwaldegg Curriculum for Systemic Organizational Development.

Simone Schröder, born in Frankfurt am Main in 1986, is the director of the ilb’s evening programme. She studied General and Comparative Literature, Hispanic Studies and Political Science in Mainz. She then lived in London for several years and received her PhD in 2017 from the University of Bath with a thesis on nature essayism. In 2019, her book »The Nature Essay: Ecocritical Explorations« was published by Brill/ Rodopi. In addition to her work for the festival, she is a translator, editor of various anthologies and essayist. She has been awarded the Edit Essay Prize and the Essay Prize of Merkur magazine for her texts, among others, and was a scholarship holder of the LCB and the Jürgen Ponto Foundation.

Tatjana Gridnev, born in Russia, is Head of Administration at the international literature festival berlin since 2020 and is responsible for finance, cooperation and staff, among other things. She studied cultural studies with a minor in economics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and cultural management at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). Before joining ilb in 2016, she worked in publishing and (book) marketing agencies.

Nora Rohde, born in 1998 in Solothurn (CH), is Student Assistant in Administration, Logistics, and Production at ilb. She studied German Language and Literature, and History at the University of Bern (B.A.) and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Applied Literary Studies and Contemporary Literature at Freie Universität Berlin. During her studies, she gained experience in local journalism at Stadtradio RaBe in Bern and at a local newspaper, where she was able to publish her first smaller contributions and articles. In 2023, she already completed an internship in the Young Program of ilb.

Henrike Schmidt, born in Lüneburg in 1994, is deputy head of Young Program, where she is also responsible for school communication and production. She studied Cultural Studies with a focus on literature as well as Business Psychology at Leuphana University Lüneburg and Applied Literary Studies – Contemporary Literature at Freie Universität Berlin. In Lüneburg, she worked as a student assistant at the Institute of English Studies as well as at the Institute for Historical Studies and Literary Cultures. She worked in publishing after moving to Berlin and subsequently started her master’s degree. In 2022, she joined the ilb as deputy head of Young Program.

Nora Mengel, born in Berlin, is head of the ilbDIGITAL program and program manager. She holds a PhD in Eastern European History from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität [LMU] Munich, studied Eastern European Studies at LMU Munich and Cultural Studies at Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt [O .], Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Lomonosov State University Moscow. She gained her first professional experience in intercultural communication and political development cooperation at the Goethe Institute in Minsk [Belarus] and at the Federal Foreign Office in Moscow as well as at the Deutsch-Russisches-Forum e.V. in Berlin. After numerous research stays in Vienna and Saint Petersburg, she completed her dissertation »Biograph(i)en of the Empire« – a comparison of imperial consciousness in the Habsburg and Russian Empires at the end of the 19th century – at the Institute for European History in Mainz, for which she was awarded the Research Prize of the Institute for Personal History in 2020.

Lena Klinkenberg, born in Lower Rhine area, is Communication’s associate and assistant to the Program department. She studied German Language and Literature, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, and Art History at the University of Bonn. During her studies, she gained experience in PR and events in the book industry. After finishing her master’s degree in Modern German Literature, she completed a traineeship at the publishing house KiepenheuerWitsch. She then worked there in the events department and subsequently in a PR agency.

Helene Zinnecker, born in 2001 in Berlin, is a student assistant at the Young Program. She studied French and German Language and Literature at the University of Bonn and the Sorbonne Université Paris. Thanks to multiple internships during her studies, she was able to gain experiences in publishing, press relations and in the management and production of cultural events, among others at the Book and publishing office of the Institut français Germany. In 2024, she first began working as an intern and later as an assistant in the Young Program.

Toni Andres, born in 2000 in Berlin, is a student assistant at the Young Program. He studied Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of St Andrews and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature at the Freie University Berlin. During his studies, he volunteered at the StAnza International Poetry Festival and gained experiences in organising cultural events in St Andrews. In 2024, he worked as an intern in the team of the Young Program.

Katharina Höttemann, born in 1999 in the Ruhr area, is a student assistant in the administrative department of the international literature festival berlin (ilb). She completed her Bachelor’s degree in German Literature and Classical Archaeology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and is currently pursuing a Master’s in German Literature. During her studies, she gained extensive experience in book trade, event management, and interdisciplinary research. In 2023, she interned in the production and logistics department at ilb.

Senta König, born in Berlin in 2007, has been doing an FSJ Kultur at the ilb since September 2024.

Lena Scheitz, born in 1991 in Münster, studied German Studies, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, and German Literature in Bonn, Berlin, Paris, and Lomé. Since 2019, she has worked as a project manager and production lead with a focus on cultural education for various literary and cultural initiatives, including at Haus für Poesie. She has also led her own literary education projects in schools, at the Heinrich Böll Library, and at other cultural institutions, serving as a workshop facilitator. As a writer, she contributed to the film “PERSPEKTIV:WECHSEL”, which addresses diversity in children’s and youth theater. From 2022 to 2024, she worked in the Young Theater department for Theater o.N., where she also organized the FRATZ International Theater Festival. Additionally, she publishes reviews for the platform “Der rote Elefant” by LesArt. In 2020, she served as interim head of the ilb’s Young Program.

Simon Ivčević, born 2000 in Boston, MA, in the United States, joined the ilb team as a working student for the Program department in January of 2025. He holds a BA degree in Liberal Arts with a focus in Literature & Rhetoric from Bard College Berlin and is pursuing an MA in Comparative Literature from the Peter Szondi Institute at the Free University of Berlin. Alongside his studies, he has worked in interdisciplinary research, academic and science communication, and print production.