Timo Feldhaus is a journalist and writer who has lived in Berlin for over 20 years, witnessing and tracing a period of transition in the city. During that time, he has become known for his incisive writing, whose diverse subjects encompass art, music, literature, fashion, and political and social concerns.

From 2014 to 2016, Feldhaus served as an editor at Spike Art Quarterly, developing and overseeing the art magazine’s influential and provocative online platform. Following this role, Feldhaus became Editor-in-Chief for the Volksbühne, where he published videos, texts and interviews that explored the role of the theatre in contemporary life. Until 2020, he was editor at the German weekly newspaper Der Freitag. Feldhaus articles and essays have appeared in Monopol, Süddeutsche Zeitung, De:bug, 032c, and Frieze, among other outlets.

During his residency at Callie’s, Feldhaus finished writing his first novel, Mary Shelleys Zimmer (Mary Shelley’s Room). The book’s jumping-off point is the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The eruption caused a global climate anomaly: as much of the northern hemisphere was plunged into darkness, temperatures dropped drastically, and summer saw frosts and snow. The loss of crops and cattle generated the most extensive famine in the 19th century, which resulted in over 90,000 deaths. The 1810s remains the coldest decade on record. This period of turbulence and existential uncertainty gave rise to a particular kind of speculative art-making. Most famously, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein—generally regarded as the world’s first science fiction novel—while spending this period on Lake Geneva. Feldhaus describes his ambitious book as “a historical panorama at the apex of the first climate catastrophe of modern times.” Mary Shelleys Zimmer was published by Rowohlt Verlag in April, 2022.