Studio 9. The Day with Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre. Deutschlandfunk Kultur - live from the Humboldt Forum in Berlin

Mechanische Arena – Mechanische Arena

For a pretzel, for a word. Deutschlandfunk Kultur invites you to the live radio show from the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. Be there when we welcome a prominent guest from culture, science, media or politics to the Mechanical Arena. Have an engaging conversation together about the issues of our time. Chat, argue or think out loud together.

Here you can experience radio up close, to watch and also to join in the discussion. An engaging conversation about the issues of the day, broadcast throughout the republic, made in the new old centre of Berlin, in the rebuilt City Palace.

Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, the Bremen-born writer worked as an editor for the German edition of Rolling Stone and as a writer for the Harald Schmidt Show, amongst other roles. His breakthrough came in 1998, when his debut novel Soloalbum became a bestseller. Many now regarded Stuckrad-Barre as a “pioneer of new German pop literature”. Following numerous further publications, his autobiographical novel Panikherz was published in 2016, dealing with drugs, bulimia, and a supposed end to his career. His “saviour in his hour of need”: Udo Lindenberg. Stuckrad-Barre had already dedicated the book Udo Fröhliche! to his friend ten years ago. In 2026, to mark the Panikrocker’s 80th birthday, it was published in an updated edition. One story in it: the secret behind “Udo’s eternal sunglasses”.

Further information:

- free of charge

- from 11.50 a.m. to 1 p.m. (start of live broadcast at 12.05 p.m.)

- Talk

- Language: German

- Mechanical Arena in the Foyer

Deutschlandfunk Kultur

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 30/April/2026 11:50
• Venue Humboldt Forum: Mechanische Arena im Foyer, EG
• Address Schloßplatz, 10178 Berlin-Mitte