Expatica columnist Jacinta Nandi a.k.a Candi Girl details what's hot this month on the Berlin Spoken Word scene.

So 2008 started with a bang for me – or, to be totally honest, an emergency tonsil-removing operation. Yep, it’s true, kids, literally seconds into the New Year, I was whisked off to Vivantes Klinikum Friedrichshain to have my tonsils scraped out of my throat. Na ja. It could have been worse I guess – it could have been some part of my body which actually has a purpose, for example.

But January was, once I got out of hospital, real exciting. The Prison Sex Show was a sell-out success (literally), although that did only mean earning a measly 83 euros each after dividing the dosh up between us and covering costs. We are really not in this for the money, you know - we’re in it for the fame! And we got that, too – with a Tagesspiegel article! We’re not only terribly dirty and weird, we’re also "anspielungsreich wie die Simpsons, absurd wie "Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis und ekelhaft wie South Park." And you can’t say that about everyone.

Okay, so after all that excitement My English Class is having a tiny little bit of a break this month. However, check out the Exberliner’s website: www.exberliner.com and look at the Berlinale blog. Yes! Ben has met Boris Becker! Does life get any better than this? And, if you’re scared you might miss us a bit too much, then come along to this month’s Kafka Comedy – it’s on Valentine’s Day and I am going to be the special guest and yes, if you like, you can bring presents…And shocking news just in: James Harris is leaving Berlin at the end of March, so catch him while you can, okay.

Check out the following events this month:

Friday 9th February, 11.45 pm, Coffee Karma, Sonntagstraße 30, Friedrichshain

Poetry reading with Kerri Mullen, Rasto Raclawski & John Kriegsmann. In German and English. See www.midnight-poetry.net

FUEL poetry and performance night

Sunday Feb. 10, 9 p.m., SCHOKOLADEN, Ackerstrasse 169, U8 Rosenthaler Platz

Fuel is back after a January break – and Lady Gaby is celebrating the New Year with a brand new location. Yep, Fuel has moved – but it’s gonna be as eclectic as ever.

Thursday, Feb. 14, 8.00 pm, Cafe Sartre, Knobelsdorffstr. 34, U2 Sophie Charlotte-Platz

Yep, all those rumours are true. Berlin’s pioneering Deutsch/English comedy evening is soon to be no more. Founder member James Harris is off down south to study obscure Maltese dialects for two years and he’ll be packing his comedy evening up in his knapsack too. But before he goes, there’s time for one last hurrah: a Valentines Day special for all those lonely-hearted Kafka-ettes out there.

Featuring the fantastic MC JABBER, music from singer-songwriter Franz Kafka and, of course, your host, James Harris, doing the MC-ing in German and English. Plus your very own Candi Girl!

BLACK HISTORY MONTH II: Tears of Blood

Feb. 17 & 23, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Tickets 10/5 euros, Werkstatt der Kulturen, Wissmannstr 32

A theatre play about female circumcision in Africa, written by Obironke Olsoni, directed by Anthony Baggette

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 9 p.m., Free Entry, East of Eden Bookshop, Schreinerstr. 10, 10247 Berlin

A Crime Reading at the East of Eden: Robert Majzels and Claire Huot will be reading from their detective stories at East of Eden Bookshop.