Trained in the German-language poetry slam scene, Jean-Philippe Kindler is a satirist, performance poet, author, presenter and political thinker. He grew up in Düsseldorf, the son of a social worker who, among other responsibilities, ran a reception centre for refugees. In 2018, Kindler won the German-language National Poetry Slam Championship and, between 2021 and 2023, wrote and presented content for the radio station WDR 5. His shows have received several awards, including the Prix Pantheon and the German Cabaret Prize. Co-founder of the left-wing podcast collective Studio Rot, he hosts the podcast Studio Kindler and has worked as an adviser to the German political party Die Linke. In 2023, he published the Der Spiegel bestseller Scheiß auf Selflove, gib mir Klassenkampf, a critique of capitalism that champions political thought over psychological individualism. In 2026, he will publish his first novel, Hier ist der Beginn und das Ende ist dort.

Photograph: Marie Köhler.