Workshop-Poetry Lab: Other Forms of Understanding Language

In this workshop the focus is our language, our mother tongues, and translation. It consists of two parts. During the first hour, Daniela Vicherat Mattar and Ting Ting Hui will talk about translation. After this introductory part, Nanne Timmer will lead a poetry lab in which “misunderstanding” is the starting point for our literary creations. Among others, our starting point will be a poem by the Chinese poet Zhou Zan. Participants will experiment with very different strategies of translation and contagion as sources for creative inspiration. All types of linguistic backgrounds are welcome, and the aim is to create your own poem and a collective, instant publication.

Event Picture — As a result of the workshop, we created a collective publication based on all of the participants' poems. This publication was presented to Zhou Zan as a gift at the event From Underground to Overground, from Print to Digital: A Symposium on Unofficial Poetry from China. Click on the image to view the full event page. Held on 8 November 2024.