Contributors
Aphra Adkins
is a self-taught photographer based in Takoma Park, Maryland. Her work portrays tablescapes that embody the visceral reactions various foods and everyday objects can elicit. Adkins hopes her work encourages the viewer to try something new. Find her on Instagram at @stilllifewithcake.
Aphra’s contribution: Iconic Foods – By Accident
Vanessa Allnutt
is a copywriter at Nouveau Projet, nominated Canada’s best magazine in 2019.
Vanessa’s contributions: A Manual for Deceiving the Experts, The Invention of the Color Purple, The Climate Deadlock, Fictional Entries and Spy Words, Climate Skeptics Versus Science
Nathalie Bachand
is an author and independent curator. She is interested in digital issues and the conditions of its emergence in contemporary art. Find out more about her work at nathaliebachand.com/about.
Nathalie’s contribution: AI Errors in Art
Sanyam Bajaj
is a professional photographer-cum-environmentalist. From working in 12 countries as a professional photographer to attending several conferences on sustainability at the UN & EU Commission, he tries to see the bigger picture and give back to the community.
Sanyam’s contribution: Unintentional Impressions in Delhi, Vox Pops
Thomas Böhm
is a mediator for literature and a cultural journalist. He has curated the guest appearances of Iceland (2011), Switzerland (2014) and Norway (2019) at the book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig. Together with Carsten Pfeiffer he published Die Wunderkammer der deutschen Sprache.
Thomas’s contribution: Old Relatives
Grégoire Boucher
lives in Montréal and works as a tour guide, organizing trips for students and teachers from all over Canada and the United States.
Grégoire’s contribution: “Treat the country like your grandmother’s house”
Alex Braden
is a sound artist, composer, and musician who has been featured in Hyperallergic, SPIN, NPR, and the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art. When not on tour or in residency, Alex can typically be found in Northeast Washington, DC. Find out more about his work at alexanderbraden.com or on Instagram at @braden.wav.
Alex’s contribution: FEHLER podcast jingle
Maximilian Buddenbohm
lives in Hamburg where he works as a management controller in the mornings and as a freelance author in the afternoons. He blogs on Buddenbohm & Söhne, tweets at @Buddenbohm, and is at @buddenbohm on Instagram.
Maximilian’s contributions: How We Make Headway, No Plan? That’s OK.
Véronique Chagnon
is deputy editor-in-chief at Nouveau Projet, nominated Canada’s best magazine in 2019.
Véronique’s contributions: The Fundamental Error of Lee Ross, Flesh, Blood, and Ego
Sylvia Cunningham
is the deputy editor at KCRW Berlin 104.1 FM where she co-hosts Studio Berlin and produces the monthly storytelling show The Bear on KCRW Berlin. She moved to Berlin from New York City in 2017 and has been with KCRW Berlin ever since.
Sylvia’s contribution: Bad Mistakes Make Good Stories
Katie Davis
is a writer and producer living in Washington, DC. Her work appears on NPR’s All Things Considered and on This American Life. Recently, she worked with community members in Anacostia, Washington, DC, helping them produce radio portraits of their neighbors for Anacostia Unmapped.
Katie’s contribution: Seeking and Blundering
Tom DiCillo
is an US-American film director and cinematographer, best known for his movies Johnny Suede and Living in Oblivion.
Tom’s contribution: “I think mistakes are divine”
Emanuelle Dufour
is a drawing-anthropologist based in Montréal, working in the fields of Indigenous education, diversity, and inclusion.
Emanuelle’s contribution: “I like to be a choreographer of mistakes”
Lucie Pantazopoulou Drahoňovská
studied German, literature, and sociology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. Today she works as a cultural editor for the monthly newspaper Das LandesEcho and as a permanent editorial member of the cultural society monthly Xantypa.
Lucie’s contribution: From Round to Square
Florian Falzeder
lives and works as a freelance journalist and author in Munich, Germany.
Florian’s contribution: FEHLER video trailer
Adam Fletcher
is a bald Englishman. After a decade in Berlin, he’d consider himself German, were it not for his continued inability to separate his Akkusativ from his Dativ, and his plastic recycling from his paper.
Adam’s contribution: “German is wie pudding”
Berthold Franke
is a social scientist and has been with the Goethe-Institut since 1988 with postings in Warsaw, Dakar, Stockholm, Paris, Brussels, and Prague. Since November 2018, he has been head of the South Asia region based in New Delhi.
Berthold’s contribution: Homo Erraticus
Catherine Genest
divides her time between her Chroniques culturelles at the French-language radio network Ici Première and her position as a journalist at 24 Heures in Montréal.
Catherine’s contribution: The Invention of the Post-It
Melissa Gerr
is an award-winning content producer in audio, video, and print. Currently, she is a producer/contributor for On the Record, a broadcast radio program at National Public Radio affiliate station WYPR in Baltimore, Maryland.
Melissa’s contribution: When Fate Unleashes a Rainbow
Marius Goldhorn
is an author and poet. In 2020, his novel Park was published by edition Suhrkamp and his volume of poetry Yin by Korbinian Verlag.
Marius’s contribution: Two Fires in One Hearth
Nirmala Govindarajan
is an author, journalist, and documentarian. She co-authored Mind Blogs 1.0. Nirmala curates literary events.
Nirmala’s contributions: Blunders, Inspiration, and Lasting Literature, Err Fashionably, and Look Hot!
Charlotte Greve
is an alto saxophonist from Hamburg. Based in New York for several years now, she plays mostly jazz.
Charlotte’s contribution: “Mistakes are allies, not adversaries”
Amitesh Grover
is a performer, director, writer, and curator based in New Delhi. His works are shown internationally in theaters, galleries, public spaces, and on the internet.
Amitesh’s contribution: “I like to be a choreographer of mistakes”
Hal Hartley
is an American film director and producer who is best known for his independent films, such as Henry Fool or The Book of Life.
Hal’s contribution: “I think mistakes are divine”
Leonhard Hieronymi
Leonhard Hieronymi was born in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe. He lives with his aunt, his uncle and his parents in the southern commercial area on the northern outskirts of Frankfurt in order to be able to afford the realization of a new art project. In July 2022 his non-fiction book "TRANCE: Amok, Drugs and the Sound of Frankfurt" will be published by Korbinian Verlag.
Frank Hissenkaemper
has been a captain in the Hamburg pilot fleet since 2006.
Frank’s contribution: “Sometimes scapegoats get fired”
Andi Hörmann
is a Munich-based radio journalist who works for Deutschlandfunk and other broadcasters.
Andi’s contribution: “Mistakes are allies, not adversaries”
Saskya Jain
is the author of Fire Under Ash, shortlisted for the 2015 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize. She has taught at Hong Kong University and Grinnell College. Her second novel is forthcoming.
Saskya’s contribution: Three Bidis Away
Aditya Mani Jha
is an independent writer and journalist living in New Delhi. His first nonfiction work, a book of essays about Indian comics, was published by Oxford University Press India in 2020.
Aditya’s contribution: Hinglish Mistakes and Bollywood’s Peter Pans
Kitty Kahane
is a Berlin-based illustrator and artist. She teaches, writes, and draws for publishers, companies, and organizations, including the Goethe-Institut worldwide.
Kitty’s contribution: The Cloudy Dictionary of Errors
Avalon Kalin
is a graphic artist who makes documentary and social art connected to everyday life. He often collaborates with his wife Posie Kalin, designing installations and products. Find out more about his work at avalonkalin.com.
Avalon’s contribution: Subconscious Art
Faizal Khan
is an art and culture writer based in New Delhi.
Faizal’s contributions: “Pray lodge in this unworthy place”, Hinglish - Where Singh is King
Natasha Khurana
is a Delhi native who works as a trained textile designer and a freelance writer. In addition, she is a co-founder and writer for the green initiative It All Starts With You, which targets action and awareness regarding the issues of sustainability.
Natasha’s contribution: Unintentional Impressions in Delhi
Sarah Klein
is a journalist and PR consultant. She is editor-in-chief of the Tea after Twelve online magazine and managing director of the Bunny Island communications agency.
Sarah’s contribution: On the Wrong Track
Christopher Kloeble
is a writer and professor and lives in Berlin and New Delhi.
Christopher’s contribution: “Treat the country like your grandmother’s house”
Hinnerk Köhn
is an author, moderator, dawdler, and stand-up comedian from North Germany. He lives to write and for a really solid mushroom pizza.
Hinnerk’s contribution: The Mandela Effect
Charlotte Krafft
is a founding member of the literary clique Rich Kids Of Literature and the discoverer of hyper-irony. She occasionally writes for Das Wetter, Metamorphosen, and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Her book Die Palmen am Strand von Acapulco, sie nicken was published in 2020.
Charlotte’s contribution: Praise Uncertainty
Priya Kuriyan
is a children’s book illustrator, author, comic maker, and chronic doodler. She lives and works in the city of Bangalore and in her spare time makes funny caricatures of its residents.
Priya’s contribution: Dictionary of Misinterpretations
Mike Maguire
is a photographer and writer who lives in Washington, DC. He enjoys regularly walking through the city and thinks of little mistakes as happy reminders of humanity.
Mike’s contribution: Disorder and Disrepair in Washington, DC
Anya Malhotra
has been working as a freelance conference interpreter and translator for over 25 years. She grew up trilingually (English, German, and Hindi) and lives in her hometown Delhi.
Anya’s contribution: “Sometimes scapegoats get fired”
Colin Marshall
writes and broadcasts on cities and culture. His projects include the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles and the video series The City in Cinema. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall.
Colin’s contribution: “Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better.”
Natalie Mayroth
works as a correspondent in South Asia. In 2018, she just happened to do a diving course when she really wanted to spend a week relaxing on an island in Malaysia. But after two days she was bored.
Natalie’s contribution: Chance in Sport – How India Discovers its Sporting Talents
Markus Mehr
is an experimental composer, musician, and producer from Augsburg.
Markus’s contribution: “Mistakes are allies, not adversaries”
Bilal Qureshi
is a radio journalist and culture writer whose essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Film Quarterly. He also contributes arts features to NPR’s broadcasts and podcasts, including Code Switch and Pop Culture Happy Hour.
Bilal’s contribution: The Art of Mistakes: Writing Wrongs
Pascal Richmann
studied social and cultural anthropology at the University of Heidelberg and literary writing in Hildesheim. He is a member of the Academy for Lethality and Solutions. His first book Über Deutschland, über alles was published in 2017.
Pascal’s contribution: The QR Codes from Coffee Filters Lead Nowhere
Jocelyn Robinson
is an Ohio-based educator and independent media producer. Jocelyn is engaged with national radio preservation efforts and serves on the African American and Civil Rights Radio Caucus of the Radio Preservation Task Force, a project of the Library of Congress.
Jocelyn’s contributions: Rediscovered Radio, Sorry, Wrong Number!
Kate Sammer
is a creative producer who specializes in audio, film, and motion graphics. She works for the Institute of International Finance and with cultural institutions, like the Goethe-Institut.
Kate’s contributions: The 92nd Scripps National Spelling Bee, What’s in Your Trail Mix?, 911 Misdials: A Mini-Case Study
Nimish Sawant
is a Mumbai-based freelance technology journalist. As part of the 2017 batch of the Robert Bosch Stiftung’s Media Ambassadors India-Germany program, Nimish lived and worked in Berlin, covering stories on a variety of topics.
Nimish’s contributions: DNA Discovery in a Kitchen, Mistakes that Force You to Keep Buying More
Alexander Schubert
is a professor at the Musikhochschule Hamburg and the artistic head of the electronic studio at the conservatory in Lübeck. He was a guest professor at Folkwang University in 2016. Mainly, he works as a freelance composer.
Alexander’s contribution: The Error Aesthetic
David Schulman
is an improvising violinist, composer, and audio producer. He’s composed original scores for dance companies including the Oregon Ballet Theater and for podcasts from NBC, APM, SLATE, and NPR. Some of his favorite music began by mistake.
David’s contributions: When Doomsday Came Calling by Mistake, Seeking and Blundering
Afsha Shaik
is a freelance tour manager in India. She has also worked as a yoga teacher, drama teacher, and for numerous NGOs in India.
Afsha’s contribution: “Treat the country like your grandmother’s house”
Florian Steffens
is a painter and illustrator. He works and lives with his family in Bonn.
Florian’s contribution: On the Wrong Track
Andreas Ströhl
is the director of the Goethe-Institut Washington and the regional director of North America.
Andreas’s contribution: “I think mistakes are divine”
Philip Szporer
is a Montreal-based writer, filmmaker, and lecturer.
Philip’s contribution: The Shape of Things to Come
Michael M. Thoss
is the director of the Goethe-Institut’s liaison office in Cuba. Before he moved to Havana in 2018, he led the Allianz Kulturstiftung in Berlin.
Michael’s contributions: The Blue Mauritius and its Companions, The Polish Failures Club
Brigitte Tousignant
is a freelance journalist from Montreal. Her work has appeared in Le Devoir and the National Observer. Brigitte was part of the collaborative investigation that uncovered high levels of lead in Canada’s drinking water, which was the recipient of Quebec’s Judith-Jasmin Award.
Brigitte’s contribution: Montreal, We Have a Problem
Thomas Venker
is publisher and editor-in-chief of Kaput – Magazin für Insolvenz & Pop and teaches music journalism and artist marketing at the Institute for Pop Music of the Folkwang University of the Arts.
Thomas’s contribution: “What are mistakes?”
Olivia Vieweg
was born in Jena, Germany. She studied graphic design in Weimar and has been publishing books ever since her time at university. Her graphic novel Endzeit was made into a film that debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018. Olivia lives and works in Weimar. Find out more about her work at olivia-vieweg.de.
Olivia’s contribution: Oh Heavenly Berry
Andreas Weber
studied biology and philosophy; he received his doctorate under Hartmut Böhme (Berlin) and Francisco Varela (Paris). He works as a writer and a lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts. In his literary nonfiction books, he advocates for a revival of the world.
Andreas’s contribution: Mistakes Mean Creation
Dominik Wendland
is a graphic artist and illustrator living in Munich. For over 10 years he has been working on narration through images and the medium of the comic book. He was awarded the Bavarian literature prize in 2018. In 2019, his latest book Egon won the Rudolph Dirks Award in the category of best science fiction.
Dominik’s contribution: Mistakes Proverbs
Christian Werner
is a Berlin photographer. He works for many magazines such as ZEITMagazin, 032c, SSENSE, and Numéro. His work focuses on long-term projects that have appeared in several books. Find out more about his work at christianwerner.org.
Christian’s contribution: Folded, Always a Mistake
Samuel West
is a licensed psychologist with a PhD in Organizational Psychology. His research focuses on creating climates for innovation by encouraging experimentation and exploration. In 2017, he founded the Museum of Failure, showcasing over 100 failed inventions from around the world.
Samuel’s contribution: Museum of Failure
Flawn Williams
spent decades making programs for NPR and taught audio journalism and music recording at Georgetown University. He was the Technical Director of the Goethe-Institut’s series The Big Pond. He lives in Maryland.
Flawn’s contribution: When Doomsday Came Calling by Mistake
Verónica Zaragovia
moved to Germany from the US in 2016 with a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship. Since then, she’s been living in Berlin on and off. A Pulitzer Center grantee, Verónica tells multimedia stories around the globe, including in Colombia, her birth country.
Verónica’s contribution: The Unintentional Development of Plastic
