The German-Canadian Congress MB Inc. encourages and supports the practice of German language and culture in Manitoba. Our mandate is to promote and foster positive community connections with German-Canadians while preserving and celebrating German customs, traditions, and cultural heritage.

That is why we are so excited to announce our co-sponsorship of the Winnipeg book launch of German author Elina Penner's Nightberries (CMU Press) in English, featuring a conversation hosted by Andrew Unger. This book launch will be hosted live on Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at 7:00 pm in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park. The event will also be available as a YouTube stream.

Described as a hauntingly original, sometimes absurdly comic psychological tale from contemporary Germany, translated by Bradley Schmidt from the 2022 German novel Nachtbeeren and originally published by Aufbau Verlag, Berlin, Nightberries by Elina Penner is a dark modern fairytale about the enigma who is Nelli Neufeld. The quiet youngest daughter in a noisy, tangled German Mennonite family who fled from Russia in the 1990s, Nelli seems to be coping well in a traditional marriage. But what is going on in her memory? As we follow the events on two key days in 2020, we are asked riddles about Nelli that even she might not be able to answer herself.

Penner was born in 1987 as a Mennonite German in the former Soviet Union and moved to Germany in 1991. She is a successful personal essayist and blogger, with many of her non-fiction pieces gathered in the 2023 collection Migrantenmutti (Migrant Mother). Nachtbeeren was her debut novel in 2022. In 2025, her second novel, Die Unbußfertigen (The Unrepentant), was released in Germany.

To learn about more events sponsored or hosted by the German-Canadian Congress, gladly follow us on platforms such as Instagram (@germancanadiancongress), Facebook (German Canadian Congress MB Inc.) and LinkedIn (German-Canadian Congress Inc.), or stay up to date by joining our group on Meetup (German Meetup Winnipeg). If you are in Manitoba and interested in becoming a member or participating in our German-Canadian cultural events, visit our website at gccmb.ca for more information.