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EUTERPE Spring School Lecture Series Date and Time:  Wednesday 21 May 2025, 5pm–7pm Location:  BS/005, Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, Campus West, University of York (In-person and online) Admission:  Free, booking required → Book tickets Photo credit:  Efe Ersoy “Gaza does not propel people to cool contemplation; rather, she propels them to erupt and collide with the truth.” – Mahmoud Darwish, Silence for Gaza  (1973) In collaboration with Comma Press , the EUTERPE project  is proud to present A Collision with Truth , a powerful panel event amplifying Palestinian British voices  in literature and lived experience. This timely and urgent discussion will feature writers and performers Nada Shawa , Mohammed Ghalayini , and Azhar Herez , in conversation with moderator and EUTERPE doctoral researcher Ninutsa Nadirashvili . Together, they will explore the role of writing, storytelling, and transnational authorship amidst the trauma and injustice of ongoing violence in Gaza. Through a blend of testimony, creative reflection, and critical insight, the panel will ask: What does it mean to write under siege? To speak for and within a community facing genocide? How do we bear witness on the page and in public? A Q&A will follow the panel, offering audience members the chance to engage directly with the speakers. About the Speakers Nada Shawa  is a Palestinian writer and dancer who moved from Gaza to Scotland as a child. Her work fuses personal experience, disability activism, and solidarity with Palestinian resistance. Her latest publication, Indigenous Soul: Gaza and Me , supports the Gaza Culture and Development Group. Mohammed Ghalayini  is a writer, translator, and co-author of the play Light in Me Don’t Die , which brings to life the words of Palestinian survivors and martyrs. His work bridges journalism, science, and literature, with extensive reporting from Gaza and translations published widely by Comma Press. Azhar Herez  is a poet of mixed Palestinian and English heritage whose father’s family is from Gaza. She began publicly performing her work in response to the ongoing violence, offering her voice as both protest and solidarity. Ra Page  is the founder and CEO of Comma Press , an award-winning publisher committed to global, political, and socially conscious fiction. He has edited over 30 anthologies and is a leading figure in the UK publishing scene. Venue Map:   View map Enquiries:   Contact us This event is part of the EUTERPE Spring School Lectures — a space for critical engagement, creative resistance, and transnational literary dialogue. Join us in person or online for this vital conversation.

16–23 May 2025 | University of York The University of York is delighted to host the EUTERPE York-Coventry Spring School 2025 , a week-long event welcoming doctoral candidates, scholars, and creative practitioners from across Europe. Taking place from 16 to 23 May 2025 , the Spring School is part of the EUTERPE  project (European Theatre Performance Research), a transnational initiative exploring the intersections of literature, performance, translation, gender studies, and political memory. This year’s programme brings together an exciting range of workshops, seminars, public events, and collaborative activities designed to support early-career researchers and foster international exchange. Programme Highlights Creative workshops  with renowned scholars including Dr Juliana Mensah , Prof. Derek Attridge , Prof. Birgit M. Kaiser , and Prof. Anthony Vahni Capildeo , engaging with themes such as power and agency in research, the translocal, multilingual poetics, and feminist theory. Public evening events , including a conversation and multilingual poetry reading on Translation as Deep Reading and Creative Practice , and a roundtable titled A Collision with Truth: Palestinian British Voices , held in collaboration with Comma Press . Keynote address by Prof. Kimberly Campanello  on poetic language, vulnerability, and resistance. Hands-on experiences , such as a typesetting and printing workshop with Thin Ice Press , and a career development session tailored for doctoral researchers. Participants will also visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park  and join evening dinners and networking opportunities designed to cultivate ongoing collaboration and community. The Spring School represents a unique opportunity for doctoral candidates to exchange ideas across disciplines and national boundaries, deepening their engagement with socially and politically engaged research practices. For further details, or to register for public events, please contact euterpe-project@york.ac.uk .

Date & Time:  Tuesday 20 May 2025, 5pm–7pm Location:  The Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, Campus West, University of York & Online Admission:  Free, but booking is required → Book Tickets Photo credit:  Olivia Braggs Use the words you have to get the words you need Susan Stanford Friedman Keynote Performance-Lecture With this poetic invitation, the University of York welcomes Professor Kimberly Campanello for the Susan Stanford Friedman Keynote Performance-Lecture — a powerful and evocative exploration of language, feeling, and form. Join us on Tuesday 20 May  for an evening that promises not just a talk, but a transformative experience. Campanello, Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds and an internationally celebrated writer, invites us into a space where words are not simply spoken but felt , passed , resurrected . This performance-lecture will experiment with language as a living, moving force — an “unmapping” of land and memory, a choreography of phrases that dignify, open, and ask. With fragments that brush against Gertrude Stein, Dante, Lorca, and beyond, Campanello’s piece traverses poetic terrain that is urgent, raw, and beautiful. It’s a space where a sentence becomes a gesture, and a wound becomes a bridge. Where syntax isn’t a cage, but a key. “A word is a seed. It’s not like one. We know this is true when we tend one, and we know it even more when we don’t.” This lecture is part of the EUTERPE series  honoring feminist scholar and theorist Susan Stanford Friedman. A wine reception will follow the event. About the Speaker Kimberly Campanello is the author of An Interesting Detail  (Bloomsbury Poetry) and Use the Words You Have  (Somesuch Editions), the debut novel from the BAFTA- and Oscar-winning production company’s literary imprint. Her work spans poetry, fiction, and hybrid forms, with recent pieces appearing in Poetry Ireland Review , Still Point , and Notre Dame Review . Her current project, This Knot , reimagines Dante’s Commedia  in radical and resonant new ways. For more on Kimberly’s work, visit: www.kimberlycampanello.com

The aim of EUTERPE: European Literatures and Gender from a Transnational Perspective is to offer an innovative approach to rethinking European cultural production in the light of complex social and political negotiations that are shaping European spaces and identities at present. Latest Publications Reading for Each Other Creative book reviews that facilitate an exchange of literature between doctoral candidates, allowing them to better understand each other's lives and work. Publications by Doctoral Candidates A collection of writing – papers, articles, peer-reviewed publications, books and other media produced by the doctoral candidates. Project Updates A Collision with Truth – Palestinian British Voices Panel Use the words you have to get the words you need EUTERPE York-Coventry Spring School 2025 Translation as Deep Reading and Creative Practice: A conversation and a poetry reading Throwback #1: Over Two Years Since the EUTERPE Kick-Off in Vienna Throwback #2: EUTERPE Doctoral School in Oviedo All news (8) 8 posts

Prose and Counter-history: Review of Bernadine Evaristo's ‘The Emperor's Babe' Evaristo boldly challenges the prevailing notion of Britain as a white man’s nation by interweaving Roman history with elements of contemporary Black British culture and fiction, offering alternative visions of London. In doing so, she skilfully illuminates the often-overlooked histories of the African diaspora within both Roman and British contexts, while exercising creative license to craft a compelling counter-historical narrative. by Uthara Geetha 3 March 2025 Review: Evaristo, Bernardine. The Emperor's Babe: A Novel . (London: Penguin, 2001). Bernardine Evaristo's second book, The Emperor's Babe , intricately weaves a counter-historical narrative of the Black community’s presence in Britain, specifically London, against the backdrop of Londinium (Roman London) circa AD 211. Transporting readers to Evaristo’s Roman Britain, the novel explores the captivating and turbulent life of Zuleika, a young Black girl born to immigrant parents from ancient Nubia (present-day Sudan). At eleven, Zuleika is married off by her father to a wealthy, elderly Roman senator. What follows is a life of solitude—until she disrupts it by engaging in a romantic affair with Septimius Severus, the Roman emperor of African descent. Defiant and restless, Zuleika refuses to conform to the life imposed upon her, seeking excitement beyond the confines of her husband's chambers. Though Zuleika's brief nineteen-year life is rich with complexity, the novel’s historical backdrop and verse narrative style take centre stage, making The Emperor’s Babe an immersive and compelling read. Evaristo’s exploration of Londinium through Zuleika’s eyes is enriched by her stylistic experimentation with language and form. The novel employs a hybrid style, blending prose, verse, and slang, mirroring the multifaceted linguistic milieu of ancient Rome—a realm largely shrouded in mystery. Evaristo’s language is both lyrical and contemporary, infusing the narrative with vitality, immediacy, and humour. This stylistic approach vividly transports readers to Londinium, where aristocrats flaunt Armani, Gucci, and Versace. Another striking juxtaposition lies in the title itself, pairing the colloquial babe with the authoritative emperor. These choices not only challenge traditional literary forms but also disrupt conventional perceptions of Roman heritage. Evaristo acknowledges her own defiance of literary norms through Zuleika’s words: ‘Theodorous says I shouldn’t write poetry until I’ve studied the last thousand years of the canon, learnt it off by heart and can quote from it at random, and imitate it.’ [1] Furthermore, Zuleika’s identity as The Emperor’s Babe—both in her race and her status—serves as a focal point, often drawing more attention from readers than the plot itself. Evaristo boldly challenges the prevailing notion of Britain as a white man’s nation by interweaving Roman history with elements of contemporary Black British culture and fiction, offering alternative visions of London. In doing so, she skilfully illuminates the often-overlooked histories of the African diaspora within both Roman and British contexts, while exercising creative license to craft a compelling counter-historical narrative. As in her other works, Evaristo strategically engages with readers’ racial perceptions to her advantage. Unlike typical historical novels where Black characters are often depicted as slaves, Zuleika is a wealthy woman who owns two Scottish girls, exercising patronage and power over them. Evaristo clarifies this historical accuracy in an interview, stating, ‘the Romans took slaves from all over the Roman Empire which covered 9000 kilometres at its greatest extent, and it wasn’t conditional upon race. In fact, the Romans practiced no anti-black racism as far as we know.’ [2] This approach serves as a powerful critique of contemporary understandings of race and identity. By depicting Londinium as a cosmopolitan hub without imposing anachronistic racial constructs, Evaristo prompts readers to reconsider historical narratives beyond present-day racial frameworks. Through this method, The Emperor’s Babe not only reconstructs a marginalized past but also engages with broader discussions on migration, identity, and belonging in contemporary discourse. While depicting an ethnically heterogeneous Roman past, she also crafts compelling characters with feminist tendencies and contradictions. By examining Zuleika's relationships with individuals of different genders, the novel explores the dynamics of sexual autonomy and exploitation, highlighting how desire, in its many forms, can simultaneously empower and oppress. Zuleika's interactions with men from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds reveal the inherent power imbalances in her world, challenging the idealized depictions of love and desire often found in historical fiction. Evaristo's stylistic experimentation in this verse novel—structured as an epic—is undeniably bold and innovative. However, this unconventional form may pose challenges for some readers. The fragmented couplets and rapid shifts in tone and style can be disorienting, requiring active engagement to piece together the narrative threads. Additionally, the use of colloquial language and slang may present obstacles for readers unfamiliar with the various dialects and linguistic norms embedded in the novel. Despite these potential hurdles, Evaristo’s stylistic choices ultimately enhance the storytelling, creating a vivid and immersive experience of Zuleika’s world. In summary, The Emperor's Babe offers a rich, multifaceted narrative that defies simple classification. Through its exploration of identity, language, power, and desire, Evaristo prompts readers to reconsider their perceptions of history, literature, and human experience. While its stylistic innovations may challenge some readers, the novel’s thematic depth and socio-political commentary make it a compelling and thought-provoking work. By crossing boundaries of language, time, and genre, The Emperor’s Babe stands as a trans-literary work, resonating with contemporary discussions on migration, race, and identity. [1] Evaristo, Bernardine. The Emperor's Babe: A Novel . (London: Penguin, 2001), 83. [2] Collins, Michael. "My Preoccupations Are in My DNA’: An Interview with Bernardine Evaristo." Callaloo, vol. 31, no. 4 (2008): 1199-1203.

Medea, Medes, Marjane and Me: Reflections on colonialism, war, and migration in Marjane Satrapi’s 'Persepolis' While reading Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, three major questions emerge. First, who can colonize or be colonized? Second, is war anything but a personal matter? And third, is the idea of a return just as much of a myth as the Golden Fleece? by Ninutsa Nadirashvili 23 July 2025 Medea, Medes, Marjane and Me: Reflections on colonialism, war, and migration in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis Between the years of 2000 and 2003, Marjane Satrapi published a quartet of autobiographical comics about growing up in Iran, experiencing the 1979 revolution and dealing with its aftermath. Once translated into English and combined into a two-volume work, it became Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return . Centuries earlier, in 431 B.C., Euripides – tragedian of classical Athens – produced a trilogy of plays.[1] Medea – the only surviving work – is often summarized simply as the story of a woman who murdered her two children to make her husband suffer.[2] Yet, like all women, Medea had a complex history of her own before, during and after her marriage to Jason, a prominent hero in Greek mythology. In some ways, just like Marjane’s protagonist, Medea presents a fascinating case study of how conquest, war, and migration can affect an individual; how they can erase our comfortable notions of home, belonging and safety. In Euripides’ text, Medea laments: Let it go! What profit in staying alive? No country, no home, no way to turn from evil. I made a mistake when I abandoned my homeland, trusting in the words of a Greek man. Now he will pay me justice, gods willing.[3] My personal interest in Medea is because I was born in Georgia. In the accounts of her myth, Medea lives in Kolkheti[4] – a very real polity, active between the 13th and 1st centuries B.C., that is considered as the first Georgian kingdom.[5] After being put under a love spell by the gods, Medea assists Jason in getting the Golden Fleece, betraying her family and kingdom in the process, and sails away with him, eventually settling in Corinth. There, after ten years of marriage, Jason decides to abandon his wife and marry the local king’s daughter. Though retellings differ, Euripides has Medea murder her two children as revenge against her disloyal husband.[6] After this, she flees Corinth and, according to Herodotus, ends up in the Iranian plateau among the Aryans who, in her honour, eventually change their name to Medes.[7] So, in one version of history, a Georgian princess, tricked, taken and then abandoned, spends the last years of her life on the same land that will later give birth to Marjane Satrapi, who, in turn, gives life to Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return . Persepolis , like Euripides’ play, is the story of one woman. Marjane is only ten when revolutionaries sweep through Iran, collectively devolving into an oppressive regime upheld by religious fanaticism. This eventually leads to a war between Iran and Iraq, forcing Marjane’s parents to send their daughter away. Marjane spends nearly a decade in Austria, lost and aimless, eventually ending up on the street. Unable to go on, she returns to Iran only to become severely depressed, even attempting suicide. Here, she echoes Medea again, writing, “I was a Westerner in Iran. An Iranian in the West. I had no identity.”[8] In other words, “No country, no home, no way to turn from evil.”[9] Migration – especially one that is forced – forever alters the migrant’s position from an “insider” to someone in the in-between. This is so painful that both women are driven to extremes. Understanding her survival from the suicide attempt as a miracle, Marjane obtains a degree in graphic design, marries, divorces, and finally decides to leave for Europe again – understanding that, in her mother’s words, “You are a free woman. The Iran of today is not for you.”[10] While reading Satrapi’s work, three major questions emerged for me. First, who can colonize or be colonized? Second, is war anything but a personal matter? And third, is the idea of a return just as much of a myth as the Golden Fleece? The answers, simply put, are: everyone, no, and yes. Still, I would like to delve deeper into Marjane’s story and explore these questions while keeping the author, myself, and Medea in mind. In 1980, Marjane’s father hoped that after centuries of “tyranny and submission”, the revolution was finally waking Iranians up.[11] Since Persepolis is a graphic novel, this statement is followed with a visual depiction of Iranian history: first, subjugated by their own emperors, then the Arabs, followed by Mongolians and finally, the modern imperialists of the global West. Here, the first set of questions come to mind – Who can colonise, who can be colonised and who benefits from the claim that this must be an unchanging dynamic? For example, while Satrapi’s Iran is presented as a colonised territory, the nation where I was born considers Iran a coloniser. In the 4thand 5th centuries, Persians controlled the Georgian Kingdom of Iberia, only to be replaced by Arabian tribes.[12] Ten centuries later, Persians re-conquered Georgia, ruling over the country until 1800s, only ceding power to the Russian Empire which continues to oppress Georgians and currently occupies approximately 20% of our territory.[13] Persepolis is a novel that understands the possibility within all nations to become the “evil” that Medea has no way to turn from. This is why Satrapi begins to tell the country’s 2,500-year story by pointing out that the people were subjugated by their own emperors – the same ones who demanded expansion to foreign lands. This is also why, when Marjane is in Austria, she comes to the realisation that “In every religion, you find the same extremists.”[14] This is why, to Marjane’s old Iranian schoolmates, “making themselves up and wanting to follow Western ways was an act of resistance.”[15] Satrapi, by allowing for her personal story to be the focal point of the novel, manages to get this point across. Everyone can be an oppressor, and anyone can be oppressed. The only group that benefits from the establishment of rigid rules around colonisation is the one that decides to become a conqueror next as it makes it easy to claim innocence that way: “Us? No, never! We’ve been the victims before; how could we?” Empires obliterate others and themselves, there are no set guidelines for who can be the “bad guy.” After all, Jason is supposed to be a hero; and yet he fails at it spectacularly. Once Persepolis proposes that anyone can turn into a tyrant, the novel shifts its focus to the consequences of tyranny – mainly war. In a chapter titled “The Water Cell”, Marjane is told a story that is eerily like one I have heard from my own mother. The reader finds out that Marjane’s grandfather was the son of Iran’s last emperor, subject to frequent threats, and jailed on several occasions.[16]In one of the illustrations, we see a young girl (Marjane’s mother) opening the door to police officers looking for her dad. This is how my mother’s story starts as well, though she rarely tells it. After she opens the door, her father – my grandfather – is taken away by police. His crime was nothing more than having the same last name as a high-ranking politician who opposed the government. This type of intimidation can only foster political unrest, eventually culminating in a war. Marjane and I were both 10 when war took us by surprise, as it always does.[17] In her novel, Satrapi highlights the direct nature of violence, especially when it reaches proportions of such magnitude. The writer tells us about a classmate who writes a eulogy to her father, the refugees who flood Tehran from the South, the maid whose son is given a golden key and told to die for his country in exchange for paradise.[18]When Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, our nanny came to my mother in panic because her son had just been drafted. I remember vividly that she worried about him leaving before dinner, how they had taken him in a hurry, and she had only found time to put a bar of chocolate in his pocket. Satrapi’s focus on the fates of individual citizens answers the second question – No, war is never anything but personal. So then, once Medea has betrayed her father, started a war in several cities, and killed her own children, can she return to Kolkheti? After all, Persepolis is in ruins, and I have not been truly fluent in Georgian since the age of thirteen. We will never know how much of Euripides’ play is based on facts, but I would argue that the act of returning is entirely mythological. In Austria, Marjane denies her heritage, refuses to watch the news about Iran, and tries desperately to fit in.[19] Instead, she is repeatedly discriminated against, tokenised, isolated, and ultimately ends up on the street with no one to care for her. Soon after, unable to assimilate because much like returning, assimilation is a myth, she flies to Iran. She writes, “After four years living in Vienna, here I am back in Tehran. From the moment I arrived at Mehrabad Airport and caught sight of the first customs agent, I immediately felt the oppressive air of my country.”[20] Welcome home, indeed. In chapters to follow, Marjane compares her city to a cemetery, is labelled a whore for having sexual experiences in Austria, discovers the duality of revolutionary men who preach about freedom while refusing to let their wives speak.[21] If Herodotus is telling the truth, Medea only goes home as a conqueror. Meanwhile, Marjane is barely recognisable to her own parents. As for me, after living in Georgia for a year during my twenties, I know I will spend the rest of my life trying to find the same feeling of “home” that I had at thirteen, only to fail. (Though it was not always good, I once belonged to that place, and it belonged to me). There is no rest for the migrants. And belongings get left behind. Then again, as Satrapi points out on the final page of the novel, freedom has a price.[22] Bibliography Euripides. Euripides’ Medea: A New Translation . Translated by Diane Rayor. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Herodotus. Herodotus . Translated by A. D. Godley. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920. Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return . London: Vintage, 2008. Rayfield, Donald. Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia . London: Reaktion Books, 2019. [1] Euripides, Euripides’ Medea: A New Translation , trans. Diane Rayor (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2013), xiv. [2] Ibid., xiii. [3] Ibid., 37. [4] Or Colchis. [5] Ibid., 69. [6] Ibid., xiii. [7] Herodotus, Herodotus , trans. A. D. Godley (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920), 7.61. [8] Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return (London: Vintage, 2008)., 118. [9] Euripides, Euripides’ Medea: A New Translation , 37. [10] Ibid., 343. [11] Ibid., 11. [12] Donald Rayfield, Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia (London: Reaktion Books, 2019). [13] Ibid. [14] Satrapi, 180. [15] Satrapi, 261. [16] Ibid., 18-25. [17] Ibid., 81. [18] Ibid., 86 – 99. [19] Ibid., 157-246. [20] Ibid., 248. [21] Ibid., 248 -339. [22] Ibid., 343.