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In March, doctorate candidate Maria Auxiliadora Castillo Soto was invited to participate in an event titled “Feminism in the Global South: Shedding a Light on Underrepresentation,” organized by UNICEF Student Team Utrecht and Feles in Felium (FIF) at Utrecht University. Castillo Soto presented her experience as a Latin American early-career scholar in the Netherlands, where she is completing her PhD trajectory. She talked about her research and the Euterpe project and the different output that the consortium has developed so far. The stage was shared with Ana Maria Miranda Mora, an Assistant Professor of Gender and Postcolonial Studies, and Vinícius Garcia Fonseca, a PhD candidate in Gender Studies. On the one hand, Miranda Mora presented her work on different feminist groups in Mexico, positioning structural violence and imperialism as undeniable players in violent acts against women. She explained how different feminist groups raise their voice and act against these social and governmental oppressors. On the other hand, Garcia Fonseca presented her personal experience and connections to feminism in Brazil, his home country, and how the work he does on memory studies focuses on uncovering stories and voices purposely left out from hegemonic historical accounts. At the end of the evening, there was a panel discussion where participants asked questions to the three speakers. The conversation was fruitful and engaging around the topics of transnational feminism(s), academia, legislation, and important topics around the event’s main theme.

When the planning for the EUTERPE Project started in 2021, one of the first people we reached out to for support and participation was Susan Stanford Friedman (1943–2023). Known for her research in literary and gender studies, whose wide interests included women’s literature, modernity, migration/diaspora studies, global and transnational literatures, and postcolonial studies , Susan Friedman was an author whose work was seminal for the research done in EUTERPE. We were happy and honoured when she accepted our invitation, looking forward to four years of cooperation. However, unfortunately, soon after the start of the project she passed away. It was a hard blow for many of us gathered around EUTERPE, because for us Susan was much more than a highly respected and influential scholar. She was a special friend known for her warm personality and intellectual generosity. She selflessly shared her knowledge, supported the work of her colleagues and engaged in teaching and promoting young scholars.  This lecture series was created in her honour, to celebrate her legacy and to keep her presence alive. Thank you to Susan’s friends, colleagues, students, and admirers who hosted and delivered these memorial lectures. And thank you to Susan, a dedicated feminist who has touched our lives and who will continue to inspire us in the years to come.  Lecture Titles:  Reshuffling: Feminist Collaboration and Transnational Solidarity with Rebecca L. Walkowitz “Use the Words You Have to Get the Words You Need” with Kimberly Campanello Ruins, Fragments, and the Word: War, Memory, and Utopian Vision in H.D.’s Late Poetry with Raffaella Baccolini The three lectures were delivered at one of our biannual EUTERPE Doctoral Schools hosted by participating universities.  The lectures can be accessed on our website, youtube channel, and soundcloud: https://www.euterpeproject.eu/podcast-library https://youtube.com/@euterpepodcast?si=nZT7Q6iRLvWSigYN https://on.soundcloud.com/khGxy7GFM6JDJ2TeuF

In September, doctorate candidate María Auxiliadora Castillo Soto organized and delivered a workshop as part of her internship with ILFU. ILFU  is the International Literature Festival in Utrecht, who hosts and organizes the biggest literature festival in the Netherlands. This year’s festival lasted two weeks and presented over 200 authors from different countries to an audience of +20,000 who attended the different events offered. Aside from the festival, ILFU also organizes other public events and offer a range of writing and reading courses through their ILFU Academy platform. It was in this platform that our doctorate candidate hosted the ILFU Academy Workshop on Life Writing . The workshop was open to the public. Auxi Castillo Soto introduced varied concepts on transnational life writing and provided different prompts to practice free and speed writing on a topic of the participants’ preference. Participants shared their writing experience and their written texts with others. In subgroups, they listen to each other, provided feedback and generated discussions. Life writing serves as a healing process of expression, more so, if done in communal spaces. Auxi Castillo Soto make sure to provide participants with a safe space to experiment and practice with life writing as a tool to find their own voice and share their stories. Besides the participatory aspect of the workshop, participants discussed the topic of life writing with  Alejandra Ortiz  and  Chérissa Iradukunda,  two first-time authors who published their migratory journeys to the Netherlands. First, the authors read excerpts from their transnational life writing narratives, and later, participants asked them questions about their books, their stories, and their experiences as life writing authors. This Q&A session was recorded and it can be found as a podcast in EUTERPE’s Podcast Library . This was a great experience for Auxi Castillo Soto who learned about the Dutch working environment and acquired important soft skills to enhance her professional profile and CV. We want to thank for becoming a project’s partner and allowing the doctorate candidate the space to develop such an enriching workshop.

Petra Bakos Central European University Researcher and Project Coordinator Petra Bakos is an interdisciplinary literary scholar, arts writer, and embodied writing facilitator. Her research focuses on the South Pannonian borderlands, and the floating debris of empires and other high-hope state formations in the tsunami of market-driven populism. Presently she is the scientific coordinator of the EUTERPE project, as well as a researcher of EUTERPE’s Work Package 1: Transnational Turn in Literary Studies: Looking from Central and Eastern Europe, writing biocritical entries on Judita Šalgo and Katalin Ladik, among others. She is also a long-standing affiliate of CEU Romani Studies Program. Publications: Lykke, Nina, Redi Koobak, Petra Bakos, Kharnita Mohamed and Swati Arora (eds.) 2024. Pluriversal Conversations on Transnational Feminisms – And Words Collide from a Place . London and New York: Routledge.

Podcast Library A Conversation with Marta Olivi on Translation In this podcast, doctoral candidate Evangeline Scarpulla speaks with translator Marta Olivi. During the conversation we discuss Marta’s four major English to Italian translation projects: Canta Ancora, Ragazza (2022), a translation of Jacqueline Roy’s The Fat Lady Sings (2000); L’Antropocene Inconscio (2022), a translation of Mark Bould’s The Anthropocene Unconscious (2021); Paradiso Terrestre (2024), a translation of Laura Vandenberg’s State of Paradise (2024); and selected poems from Molly Brodak's The Cipher (2020). Olivi also talks about her approach to translation work, the intersections between translation and academic research, and the importance of translation in today's transnational literary landscape. We hope that you enjoy listening to this podcast. Libros con L de Latinas In this episode, Séamus O’Kane interviews Roxana Aguilar and Diana Cruz, two of the founding members of the Libros con L de Latinas book club. They discuss the importance of establishing a Spanish-speaking book club for Latin American women living in Glasgow which allows for migrant women to connect and form a community. The conversation explores how the book club can serve as an inclusive space for expression, solidarity and connecting literature to lived experience. Ruins, Fragments, and the Word: War, Memory, and Utopian Vision in H.D.’s Late Poetry with Raffaella Baccolini This episode features a lecture delivered by Raffaella Baccolini, a professor of Gender Studies and American and British Literature at the University of Bologna, Forlì Campus. Baccolini completed her PhD under the supervision of Susan Stanford Friedman, and has since published widely on women’s writing, H.D., modernism, dystopia and science fiction, trauma and memory, and Young Adult literature. The episode also includes a short introduction given by Jasmina Lukić, Professor with the Department of Gender Studies at Central European University in Vienna and the Principal Leader for the EUTERPE project. This lecture is dedicated to the memory of Susan Stanford Friedman. “Use the Words You Have to Get the Words You Need” with Kimberly Campanello This episode features a lecture given by Kimberly Campanello, which weaves together her recent published and unpublished writing and her reading in neuroscience and literary criticism, including Susan Stanford Friedman’s writing on H.D., who has significantly influenced Campanello's work. This lecture is dedicated to the memory of Susan Stanford Friedman. Reshuffling: Feminist Collaboration and Transnational Solidarity with Rebecca L. Walkowitz This episode features a lecture delivered by Rebecca L. Walkowitz, Claire Tow Professor of English and Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Barnard College. The episode also includes an introduction given by Jasmina Lukić, Professor with the Department of Gender Studies at Central European University in Vienna and the Principal Leader for the EUTERPE project. The lecture pays tribute to the legacy of Susan Stanford Friedman as a scholar and mentor by reflecting on the concept of “reshuffling,” which Friedman developed in her later work as a way of thinking about feminist collaboration across differences of generation, nationality, race, religion, and class. This lecture is dedicated to the memory of Susan Stanford Friedman. A Conversation with Eugenia Seleznova In this episode, doctoral candidates Tamara Cvetković and Samriddhi Pandey interview Eugenia Seleznova, an author, researcher, and cultural manager from Ukraine. Currently, Eugenia is a PhD Candidate at Central European University, where she conducts a research on queer Ukrainian relationalities during the war. In conversation with Tamara and Samriddhi, Eugenia shares how the contexts of the post-Soviet, then revolutionary, and then, finally, wartime Ukraine have shaped her experience as an author, and directed her own shifts and transitions: between identities, regionalities, languages, genres, occupations — and ways to love and write. The conversation also touches on transnational and translingual experiences of writing through displacement, and on finding one's way as a "peripheral researcher" amidst the Western academia. Stories of Survival: South Asian Voices in Vienna What does it mean to translate one’s story, language, and labor across borders? In this episode of the EUTERPE podcast series, host Samriddhi Pandey speaks with three South Asian scholars based in Vienna whose work deals with migration, identity, and artistic practice. Moiz Rehan reflects on queer asylum and bureaucratic violence, Rameeza Rizvi explores the “gray zones” of consent and the politics of intimacy in Lahore, and Fattima Naufil Naseer discusses the fading craft traditions of Lahore’s carpet weavers. The conversation moves through stories of navigating European academic spaces and finding ways to keep one’s voice alive inside these institutions. "I am not a sedentary person; I am peacefully restless": A Conversation with Elvira Dones How does an artist listen to the pain of others? How can writing represent and respect their voices? In this episode, Albanian Italian author, and English PEN Award winner, Elvira Dones talks to Alice Flinta about her process of writing, and how her life experiences inform the creative process. From life in Albania and her escape in 1988, to the asylum experience in Switzerland, to the documentary work across borders (Albania, Italy, Kosovo and the U.S.) that informs her literary endeavours, Dones offers intimate and thought-provoking insights into being transnational and living transnationally. A Conversation with Author Chérissa Iradukunda In this podcast, doctoral candidates Evangeline Scarpulla and Maria Auxiliadora Castillo Soto, converse with transnational author Chérissa Iradukunda, a first time published author who recounts her migratory experience from Burundi to the Netherlands in her book titled Broken Object. Her book was published in 2023 by Austin Macauley Publishers, and it presents readers with the difficulties experienced by a teenage girl while adapting to her new home and Dutch culture. Throughout their conversation, Iradukunda talks about what being a transnational author means to her. She also discusses the process of publishing her book, and her motivation for choosing English as the language of publication. Lastly, they discuss specific themes related to the plot and characters of her creative novel. Georgia, Caucasus and Beyond: A Conversation with Author Nana Abuladze When Nana Abuladze – Georgian author of novels such as "Akumi" and "The New Perception", who has received many prestigious awards for their work exploring the themes of gender, sexuality, identity and spirituality – visited the United States, Ninutsa Nadirashvili (EUTERPE doctoral candidate) was privileged enough to record a conversation with the writer about all things Georgia, Caucasus and beyond. In this podcast, they talk about isolation, Georgia’s history and how it’s been shaped by imperialism as well as internal strife. Additionally, they discuss transnational experiences and the merging of global and local life. We hope this podcast will encourage you to learn more about Nana’s work and Georgian literature. Postcolonial Europe and Its Intellectuals: Feminist and Transnational Perspectives with Sandra Ponzanesi This episode features a lecture by Sandra Ponzanesi. Sandra is a member of the EUTERPE consortium and the Principal Investigator for Utrecht University. She is Chair and full Professor of Media, Gender and Postcolonial Studies in the Department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University, where she is also the Founding Director of the Postcolonial Studies Initiative (PCI). In this lecture, Sandra Ponzanesi discusses how Europe is not just a continent, a mere geographical space that continually redefines its boundaries and peripheries, but an ideal. It is the cradle of Enlightenment and scientific revolutions, and therefore of Western modernity and democracy. Minal Sukumar on Performance Poetry In this podcast, doctoral candidate Evangeline Scarpulla speaks with performance poet and PhD researcher Minal Sukumar. Minal’s humorous and engaging poetry explores themes of identity, selfhood, and coming of age. In this episode, she gives a reading of some of her poems including #OOTD, If History Catches Up and The Women I House. These readings are followed by a conversation about the origins and inspiration for her work, the meaning of transnationalism in her life and writing, and some of the specific imagery and themes found in her poetry. Decolonisation and Caste: Untold Hierarchies In this episode of the EUTERPE Podcast, doctoral candidate Uthara Geetha (University of Oviedo) speaks with Dr. Malavika Binny (Kannur University) and Dr. Tintu Joseph (Mahatma Gandhi University) about the long history of caste as a system of hierarchy and exclusion. Beginning with B.R. Ambedkar’s seminal insights, the conversation traces caste from its Vedic origins and the Aryan migrations to its intersections with patriarchy, slavery, colonialism, and Christianity in Kerala. The episode examines how caste was reinforced under British rule, compares it with racial apartheid and white supremacy, and shows how it continues to structure oppression today. Listeners are invited to rethink caste as central to both colonial histories and decolonial futures. Interdisciplinarity and Interpretation: Concepts, Boundaries, and Contradiction with Ato Quayson This episode of the EUTERPE podcast features a lecture by Ato Quayson, the Jean G. and Morris M. Doyle Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies, Professor of English, and Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies at Stanford University. The lecture was delivered at the third biannual EUTERPE Doctoral School, held at Central European University in Vienna, Austria. A Conversation with Author Alejandra Ortiz In this podcast episode, doctoral candidate Maria Auxiliadora Castillo Soto and transnational author Alejandra Ortiz took a walking tour around different places in Amsterdam that are important to the author. Ortiz is the author of the book De Waarheid zal me Bevrijden , published in 2022 by Lebowski Publishers. In her book, Ortiz recounts her migratory experience from Mexico to the United States and Netherlands and her varied experiences in these countries as a trans migrant woman. Multi-layered Approaches: A Conversation with Filmmaker Zuza Banasińska This podcast is a conversation between EUTERPE doctoral candidates Ninutsa Nadirashvili and Olga Fenoll Martínez and the transnational filmmaker Zuza Banasińska. Interested in the reproduction of images, systems, subjects and bodies, Zuza looks for ways to embody and queer existing archives. In this interview, they discussed their essay films, installations, multi-layered approaches that incorporate found and recorded footage, intricate ecosystems, and how they strive to interrogate and de-stabilise entrenched notions of identity, gender, and representation. Kimberly Campanello: "I don't want to be the poet who never thought about the meanwhile" On overlapping chronologies, intersecting geographies, translation and how writing can bring this all together. Kimberly Campanello - poet, performer, writer and professor at the University of Leeds - converses with Alice Flinta about her transnational belongings between the US, the UK and the south of Italy, and how this all comes together in her most recent project, a rewriting of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

A Conversation with Marta Olivi on Translation In this podcast, doctoral candidate Evangeline Scarpulla speaks with translator Marta Olivi. During the conversation we discuss Marta’s four major English to Italian translation projects: Canta Ancora, Ragazza (2022), a translation of Jacqueline Roy’s The Fat Lady Sings (2000); L’Antropocene Inconscio (2022), a translation of Mark Bould’s The Anthropocene Unconscious (2021); Paradiso Terrestre (2024), a translation of Laura Vandenberg’s State of Paradise (2024); and selected poems from Molly Brodak's The Cipher (2020). Olivi also talks about her approach to translation work, the intersections between translation and academic research, and the importance of translation in today's transnational literary landscape. We hope that you enjoy listening to this podcast. Since recording this episode, Marta Olivi has completed three additional translation projects: Dolce il Frutto, Aspra la Terra (2025), a translation of Rebecca Ley’s Sweet Fruit, Sour Land (2018); Isabella Nagg e il Vaso di Basilico (2025), a translation of Oliver Darkshire’s Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil (2025); and Dungeon Crawler Carl: Il Giorno del Giudizio (2026), a translation of Matt Dinniman’s Carl's Doomsday Scenario (2021). The episode transcript can be accessed here . This episode is part of the EUTERPE podcast Library on European Literatures and Genders from a Transnational Perspective. The podcast is powered by the European Union, UKRI, and the Central European University Library. Grant Agreement: 101073012 EUTERPE HORIZON-MSCA-2021-DN-01 Project. For more information about the EUTERPE project please refer to the official project webpage https://www.euterpeproject.eu/ , or follow us on Instagram @euterpe_project_ or Facebook at EUTERPE Doctoral Network Project . This episode was produced and edited by Evangeline Scarpulla . Thank you to Alexander Walker for the music and to Alice Flinta for the voice over. Thank you also to Ninutsa Nadirashvili, Evangeline Scarpulla, and Kris Orszaghova for designing the podcast covers.