Nicoletta Asciuto University of York researcher Nicoletta Asciuto is Senior Lecturer in Modern Literature at the University of York. Her main research interests are in modernism, poetry, and translation. In her research, Nicoletta uncovers the gendered nature of cultures of light in the early twentieth century, and discusses the work of many modernist women poets and artists, such as Mina Loy, Lola Ridge, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, Georgia O’Keeffe, Rosa Rosà, Růžena Zátková, Maria Ginanni, Natalia Goncharova, and others. One of her more recent collaborative works was a cluster for Modernism/modernity on the topic of ‘Modernist Periodical Studies and the Transnational Turn’, co-edited with Dr Francesca Bratton (Maynooth University) and Dr Camilla Sutherland (Groningen University). She was also the recipient of British Academy funding for two independent projects, ‘Radio Pioneers and Forgotten Voices, 1924-1939’, with Professor Emilie Morin (University of York), and ‘Cities of Modernism’, with Dr Nan Zhang (Hong Kong University). Nicoletta has also published several literary translations from Italian, Spanish, and Slovenian into English, including, more recently, those for Early Radio: An Anthology of European Texts and Translations , edited by Emilie Morin (Edinburgh University Press, 2023). Nicoletta also acts as Contributing Editor for Translated Literature at the Fortnightly Review . She is currently at work on the first Italian-language translation of Hope Mirrlees’ Paris: A Poem (1920), a neglected masterpiece of modernist poetry. She is an enthusiast polyglot, with knowledge of ten languages. She has given various invited talks nationally and internationally, both on the topic of modernism and on translation. In EUTERPE, Nicoletta is Co-Investigator for York, on the strand ‘Translational genres: crossing borders in gender, form, space, and identity’. She is also a member of EUTERPE’s Supervisory and Editorial Boards Publications: Asciuto, N. (2025). Brilliant Modernism: Cultures of Light and Modernist Poetry . Johns Hopkins University Press. Asciuto, N., & Minta, S., (TRANS.) (Accepted/In press). Marinetti Meets Cavafy: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's The Greek-Egyptian Poet Cavafy , and Atanasio Catraro's Meeting with Marinetti . PMLA .

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.

Review of 'Sexe et mensonges' by Leïla Slimani Slimani’s interlocutors navigate their secret, but rich sexual lives, being constantly at risk of losing their social position and freedom. Their testimonies are often deeply saddening, but also witty and humorous. Most of them stress the society’s hypocrisy over sexuality, pointing out that the system promotes the exploitation and commercialization of the female body, while pretending to support “virtue”. Slimani leads the reader through these stories bringing different voices into a conversation by providing examples from Moroccan public life, scholarly articles, and her personal experiences. by Tamara Cvetković 17 March 2025 Review: Slimani, Leïla. Sexe et mensonges. Leïla Slimani’s first non-fiction book Sexe et mensonges: La Vie Sexuelle au Maroc (Sex and Lies: Sexual life in Morocco) is a collection of essays based on the interviews the author conducted with Moroccan women of different ages and classes, as well as on the analysis of social and political events, laws, art works, and media reports on (repressed) sexuality in contemporary Moroccan society. Sexe et mensonges was first published in 2017 in French,[1] translated into Arabic in 2019, and into English in 2020 as Sex and lies: True Stories of Women’s Intimate Lives in the Arab World . The book is divided into eighteen chapters/essays, the core of which are interviews with women who wanted to remain anonymous, but also with public figures such as feminist writer and journalist Fedwa Misk, Islamic feminist Asma Lambert, and with men such as Nabil Ayouch, a filmmaker who made a documentary on prostitution, and Mustapha, a policeman with 25 years of experience in law enforcement. Through personal stories, the book offers a detailed overview of the harsh consequences of the state ban on extramarital sexual relations, including homosexual practices. In addition, it showcases Moroccan society’s public morality that allows everything if it is kept secret, nurturing the “culture of silence” concerning sexuality, female pleasure, abortion, STDs, sexual violence, and harassment. According to the testimonies, among the harshest consequences of the morality legislation are prison sentences for the most vulnerable citizens (the poor, women, LGBT persons) who were caught having extramarital sexual relations; unsafe illegal abortions; unreported cases of rape, which occasionally force the victims to marry their rapists; public humiliation and exclusion; denial of the basic rights and citizenship to children born out of marriage, which ultimately leads to the most extreme consequences such as infanticide or suicide. Among these circumstances, Slimani’s interlocutors navigate their secret, but rich sexual lives, being constantly at risk of losing their social position and freedom. Their testimonies are often deeply saddening, but also witty and humorous. Most of them stress society’s hypocrisy, pointing out that the system promotes the exploitation and commercialization of the female body while pretending to support “virtue”.[2] Slimani leads the reader through these stories bringing different voices into conversation by providing examples from Moroccan public life, scholarly articles, and her personal experiences. From the beginning of the book, the author’s position is clear. Slimani self-identifies as a middle-class person from a liberal background. This self-identification is important, as the author sees it as the source of her values and privilege within Moroccan society. Namely, Slimani argues that her background allowed her not only to nurture self-respect, bodily autonomy, and a belief that hatred, violence, and misogyny cannot be justified by any religion, but also to remain safe.[3] From that position, she draws attention to the class dimension of sexual repression, arguing that the poorest are the mostly affected by the morality law,[4] as law enforcement is selective and arbitrary, and targets the most vulnerable citizens. Importantly, she further argues that people who are not as privileged as her in terms of education, class, and family background, nor raised according to “liberal values”, can be just as well aware of their rights: But I have to say that in Morocco I have met hundreds of people who have not had all this and who, nonetheless, believe that we should live and let live, that every human being has a right to dignity and to safety. [5] By pointing out the class dimension, Slimani argues that the right to dignity and safety is not an exclusive feature of middle-class morality or Western cultures, but also a right aligned with the core principles of Moroccan culture.[6]I find this claim important for understanding the different sides of public debate in Moroccan society. Namely, Slimani emphasizes the role that the binary opposition between West/modernity/“universal Enlightenment values” and “traditional” Islamic societies plays in debates about sex in Morocco. Talking from within this binary, Slimani seems to anticipate critique from both sides of the spectrum, claiming that privileged French liberal scholars will accuse her of Orientalism, reinforcement of stereotypes about Arab societies and Islamophobia, while Moroccan conservatives will accuse her of promoting “westernized decadence and liberalism of its elites.”[7] She argues that people suffering in prisons are not her Orientalist fantasies but reality, and calls for the ending of this opposition:[8] We need to stop pitting Islam and universal Enlightenment values against each other, stop opposing Islam and equality of the sexes, Islam and sensual pleasure.[9] While her call for dismantling this binary opposition is an important step in further building her arguments, Slimani does not problematize the values of the “liberal West”, nor middle-class morality, which sometimes leads to contradictory statements. For example, recalling the public outrage that accompanied the concert by Jennifer Lopez in 2015, who was criticized for sexually “provocative” dancing and outfit, Slimani remembers being “shocked” by the fact that Moroccan middle-class liberals called Jennifer Lopez a “whore.”[10] She further expresses similar, but affirmative shock when her housekeeper, whom she considered a conservative woman, expressed “progressive” attitudes by stating that the silence about sexuality is oppressive towards women, but also bad for Islam.[11] Unfortunately, Slimani remains “shocked”, instead of questioning the foundations of liberal middle-class morality, which has a lot in common with the “culture of silence” she argues against. In addition to that, while her conversations with the interlocutors stress the need for emancipation, and the importance of the education of youth, especially boys, about sexual rights, and women’s rights for overcoming the challenges within Moroccan society, Slimani does not extend her critical approach to the contradictions of European societies. For example, she often makes comparisons with Europe, particularly France as a place where the challenges that Moroccan women and girls are facing are non-existent and/or hardly imaginable, without mentioning the challenges that Muslim girls and women face in France, and without addressing the oppression of women in Europe.[12] I argue that an explicit critique of middle-class morality and complexities within Europe would allow the author to build a stronger argument against the binary opposition of Western modernity/Islamic traditionalism. Together with that, the book offers a valuable analysis of the debate on sexuality and women’s rights within Moroccan society. Slimani argues that Moroccan authorities are also ambiguous regarding the opposition of (Western) modernity vs. (Islamic) traditionalism, as testified by the psychiatrist Jalil Bennani, who participated in a series of public debates organized by Moroccan state authorities on abortion in 2015. Bennani claimed that politically liberal “modernists” were more hesitant to advocate for legal access to abortion, while “hard-line Islamists” were more open for discussion and negotiation,[13] revealing that these debates are more nuanced and complex than expected. In addition, even though in most of the chapters Slimani takes the Enlightenment and Western liberal values as universal and non-problematic, she also provides valuable insights for critiquing these values and dismantling the binary division Western modernity/Islamic traditionalism. In the chapter “All the religions are the same when it comes to sex” Slimani analyzes the works of scholars of Islamic culture to reveal that there is a centuries-long tradition of thematizing eroticism and sensuality in Islamic literature. According to this analysis, in Islamic literature faith was not confronted with desire, but rather intertwined with it, and sexual pleasure was seen as divine, while orgasm was compared with the “delights in paradise.”[14] She argues that the arrival of “puritanical” views on sexuality coincides with the decline of political and economic power in Arab countries at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and with the region’s subsequent colonization by Europeans. According to her the imposition of puritan views primarily served as a means of prevention of sexual relations between settlers and native women.[15] Slimani points out that the Moroccan morality law that bans homosexuality originates from the French penal code that was repealed in 1982. Further, Slimani provides important information about rich Islamic traditions that are neither conservative nor sexually repressive. She introduces the views of Avbdelwahab Bouhdiba, a scholar of sexuality, who argues that sexual freedom cannot be a copied Western model, but rather achieved through faith, relying on Islamic traditions.[16] Slimani also interviews pathologist and theology scholar Asma Lamrabet from the Centre for Women’s Studies in Islam, who goes back to close reading of Quran to support her feminist arguments. Lamrabet points out that the Quran does not deal with matters of sexuality and that virginity is not even mentioned once in the whole text. In her interpretation, women are conceptualized as free human beings in the Quran. Moreover, Lamrabet argues that over time rigidity took over the place of compassion, affection, and intimacy that were historically present in Islamic societies.[17] Lamrabet advocates for a decolonial model, rather than the Western, and points out that the liberation of women to make their own choices requires a non-hegemonic strategy, a development of a new approach.[18] I find this chapter central to the whole book, as it offers a critical approach to the traditions, as well as possible paths for analyzing social and historical complexities instead of reinforcing hierarchical binary oppositions. In conclusion, Sex and Lies offers brave, lucid, witty, and valuable testimonies about the sexual lives of Moroccan women of different ages, educational backgrounds, and classes, inclusive of lesbian experiences; then testimonies of young women who had no other option but to engage in prostitution to support their families; testimonies of married, divorced, and unmarried women who speak freely about desire and practice sexual pleasures despite of repressive circumstances. The book offers a convincing critique of Moroccan laws and public morality related to sexuality and provides an important argument that sexually repressive measures are not derived from Islamic tradition. By providing more details on the French colonial origins of the Moroccan repressive legislation, Slimani could build a stronger argument both against Moroccan conservatives who, according to her, would argue that sexual repression is an Islamic tradition, and against French liberal intellectuals whom she suspects would accuse her of Islamophobia and Orientalism. In fact, this book challenges the Orientalist stereotypes about Islamic societies, and especially about Muslim women in many ways. What I find missing from Slimani’s analysis is the critique of European colonialism and misogyny; a problematization of the strands of the Enlightenment that offered no rights or freedom to women; and ultimately, the critique of so-called middle-class morality. I argue that these elements, sorely missing from her analysis, are core to the contemporary rise of far-right movements in Europe, which are also oppressive towards sexual freedoms and women’s rights. In that sense, I consider that a critique of “universal Enlightenment values,” would allow Slimani to build a more convincing argument for overcoming binary oppositions and hierarchies. [1] The title of the French original is Sexe et Mensonges: La Vie Sexuelle au Maroc [2] Slimani, Leïla. 2020. Sex and Lies . Translated by Sophie Lewis. Faber & Faber. Society on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, p. 58 [3] Sex and Lies , pp. 68-69 [4] Sex and Lies , p. 2 [5] Ibid., p. 70 [6] p. 70 [7] p. 5 [8] p. 70 [9] P. 7 [10] p. 63 [11] p. 72 [12] p. 15, p. 19, etc. [13] p. 31 [14] p. 94 [15] p. 94 [16] p. 95 [17] p. 102 [18] p. 102 References: Slimani, Leïla. Sex and Lies. Translated by Sophie Lewis. Faber & Faber, 2020. Kindle.

Emilia M. Durán-Almarza University of Oviedo Researcher Emilia M. Durán-Almarza is Associate Professor of English at the University of Oviedo, Spain. She specializes in Caribbean and Afro-diasporic postcolonial writing and performance. She regularly publishes her research at international peer reviewed journals. In EUTERPE, she serves as leader of WP6, “The role of transnational literatures in the decolonization of understandings of gender within the European academe”, where she supervises Uthara Geetha’s PhD project. Her research focus includes excavating the presence of Anglophone African and Caribbean women writers in Europe. Publications: Durán-Almarza, E.M., Kabir, A.J., & Rodríguez González, C. (Eds.). (2019). Debating the Afropolitan (1st ed.). Routledge. Durán-Almarza, E.M., Rodríguez González, C., & Clisby, S. (Eds.). (2022). Performing Cultures of Equality (1st ed.). Routledge.

Central European University Jasmina Lukić Principal Leader Petra Bakos Researcher Noemi Anna Kovacs European Cooperation Officer Kris Országhová Project Administrator

Isabel Carrera Suárez University of Oviedo Principal Investigator Isabel Carrera Suárez is Professor in English at the University of Oviedo, her research centres on the intersections between postcoloniality and gender. She first taught at the University of Glasgow and has been a visiting scholar at the universities of Calgary, Flinders, Adelaide, Tsinghua and King’s College London, among others. She has been a keynote speaker at international conferences, such as the biennial meeting of the European Society for the Study of English, ESSE , and the Spanish Association for English Studies, AEDEAN. Her articles have appeared in international specialist journals such as Interventions, EJES, Journal of Canadian Poetry, International Journal of Canadian Studies, and Australian Literary Studies, and she has collaborated in and coedited many collaborative transnational volumes. Since 2017, she has been co-general editor of the European Journal of English Studies (EJES), a journal of The European Society for the Study of English (ESSE), and was Chair of EACLALS, the European Association for Postcolonial Studies (2017-2021), among other academic responsibilities. She leads the transnational research group Intersections/Intersecciones, recognised as an excellence group by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spanish QA), and the recipient of many R&D competitive projects. Publications: "Growing Up Multiply: British Women Write the Ampersand Experience". In Postcolonial Youth in Contemporary British Fiction , (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2021) "Negotiating singularity and alikeness". In Debating the Afropolitan (1st ed.). Routledge, 2019.

Jaya Jacobo Coventry University Researcher Jaya Jacobo is a transfeminine thinker and artist based at Coventry University where she currently does work on trans feminist pedagogies in literature, art and performance. She has worked alongside travesti and transsexual women artists, scholars and community workers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as well as with trans, queer and nonbinary Filipina/x/o performers from the Philippines and Filipino diaspora abroad. Jacobo was a former Board Member of the Society of Trans Women of the Philippines (STRAP), a former President of the Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle (YCC) of the Philippines, a Founding Co-Editor of Queer Southeast Asia: A Transgressive Journal of Literary Art and Co-Editor of BKL: Bikol/Bakla, Anthology of Bikolnon Gay Trans Queer Writing . Jaya is the author of Arasahas , her debut volume of poetry in Filipino from Savage Mind Publishing House. Publications: Jacobo, Jaya. 2024. “A Love That Burns Hot Enough to Last: Scenes from Trans Tropical Love”. ETropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics 23 (1):18-24. Adriany, V, Bong, SA, Curtin, B, Jacobo, J & Luther, JD. 2022. "Pedagogy of queer studies beyond empire." in S Tang & HY Wijaya (eds), Queer Southeast Asia. 1 edn, Taylor and Francis - Balkema, pp. 243-265.

Angela Harris Sánchez University of Granada Researcher Angela Harris Sánchez holds a BA in Art history (Granada University), an MPhil in Art Therapy (Complutense University), the GEMMA double Erasmus Mundus Master and a double International PhD in Women's Studies, Discourses and Gender Practices (UGR) and Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures (University of Bologna). She has been a National Research Fellow (FPU) and is now UGR-Postdoc and lecturer in the Archaeology Department. Publications: Queering Power: Affective Relational Anarchies, F(r)ictions and Disidentifications beyond Identity, Universidad de Almería, (2024). “Artherapy, Queer Failure and Horizontal Learning Experience in Students’ Postmemory Family Narratives” in Feminist Literary and Filmic Cultures for Social Action . Gender Response-able Labs. London and New York: Routledge (2024)

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. The episode includes an introduction to the lecture given by Sandra Ponzanesi, a EUTERPE Consortium member and the Principal Investigator for Utrecht University. Sandra is also a Chair and full Professor of Media, Gender and Postcolonial Studies and the Founding Director of the Postcolonial Studies Initiative at Utrecht University. In this lecture, Quayson explores the conceptual landscape of interdisciplinarity, identifying two central principles at its core. The first is the notion of integrative epistemologies that apply across all fields of knowledge – sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts. The second involves collaborative modes of knowledge production aimed at addressing real-world issues, such as environmental degradation, urban complexity, water scarcity, public health crises, migration and refugees, international security, and the vagaries of globalization. He argues that meaningful interdisciplinary work requires a clear understanding of the concepts, methods, and propositional protocols borrowed from other disciplines, and an understanding of how these shape one’s own configuration of interdisciplinarity. True interdisciplinarity, he suggests, demands familiarity with the methods of all the disciplines involved, as well as humility and a self-awareness of one’s own disciplinary limits. Quayson illustrates these ideas using examples from his own scholarship and from influential thinkers in the humanities and social sciences, including Hayden White, Christopher Norris, Gillian Beer, Edward Said, and Karen Barad. This lecture was originally delivered on 10/09/2024. 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 and Kris Orszaghova for designing the podcast covers.

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"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. For more info on Elvira Dones’s events and publications, see her official website http://www.elviradones.com/ Sworn Virgin is available in Clarissa Botsford’s English translation (And Other Stories, 2014). The episode transcript can be accessed here . The English translation 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: Alice Flinta. With thanks to the Creativity Lab and Podcast studio team at the University of York . Thank you to Alexander Walker and Lilu for the music and to Alice Flinta for the voice over. Thank you also to Ninutsa Nadirashvili and Kris Orszaghova for designing the podcast covers.

University of Lodz Dorota Golańska Principal Investigator Justyna Stępień Researcher