Talk : Taal en identiteiten

Talk

Saturday 19 September
16:30 - 17:30

Price: Gratuit - Gratis - Free Language: Dutch Location: Maison des Arts

with

Ruth Lasters, Yasmin Namavar & Katelijne De Vuyst

Presentations

In this discussion moderated by Katelijne Devuyst, the two poets will talk about their work and language as a bridge to our multiple identities—a bridge between the inner and the outer world, between our intentions in writing and the social role of poetry, and between identity and the way language shapes our perception of ourselves and others. Ruth Lasters, Belgium’s Poet Laureate for 2026–2028, seeks the ultimate reconciliation between classical and modern poetry. Yasmin Namavar, author of verblijf, depicts the quest for ways to bring different worlds closer together and bridge distances through powerful, sensory, and polyphonic imagery.

a talk in Dutch about two poets who talk about their work and language as a bridge to our multiple identities

"Writing for me simply arose from an insane crush on words, on the mechanism of language. When they told me that the alphabet only has twenty-six letters, I became suspicious because my mother read to me whole books of Roald Dahl every night and those sentences just kept coming, strikingly different from each other.

So, twenty-six letters, I thought it was one of those things they try to make you believe as a child. The alphabet, such an almost ridiculously meager tool that offers incredible combination possibilities. That challenges me every day. I totally fell for that."

ben je in de regen
brokkelt uit je benen gesteente
ook je lichaam heeft spelonken, wist je dat?

sta je in je plassen van water en keien
bouwen druipsteenkegels zich op
tot je oren en daarboven

hoor je de kerkuil niet krassen terwijl je telt
hoeveel druppels vallen
tussen je grote teen en de tweede
rollen de kiezels in lawines naar beneden

maakt het uit of de wespen nog cirkelen
je stenen verliest en voetstappen of je lichaam
hetzelfde is als je gedachten en wat zie je met je ogen

verblijf, Yasmin Namavar

Our speakers

Yasmin Namavar

Yasmin Namavar writes poetry and essays. She was a finalist for the El Hizjra Literature Prize (2022) and won the Hollands Maandblad Schrijversbeurs in the poetry category (2023/2024). Her debut collection verblijf was published in March 2025 and had previously been nominated for the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize (2026) and the Herman de Coninck Prize (2026). Namavar works as a psychiatrist in Amsterdam.

Ruth Lasters

Ruth Lasters (Antwerp, 1979) made her debut with the novel Poolijs/Polar Ice for which she received the Flemish Debut Prize 2007. Her poetry debut Vouwplannen/Folding Plans was awarded the 2009 Debut Prize Het Liegend Konijn. Her second collection of poetry Lichtmeters/Light meters was published in 2015, for which she received the Herman De Coninck Prize and was nominated for the VSB Poetry Prize. Lichtmeters has meanwhile been translated into German (Lichtmesser, Parasitenpresse, Köln, Germany, translator: Stefan Wieczorek) and Spanish (Fotómetros, Viento de Fondo Argentina, Córdoba, translator:Micaela van Muylem).

Katelijne De Vuyst

Katelijne De Vuyst (1958) has been translating prose and poetry from French, English, and Modern Greek since 1996, including works by Louis Aragon and Anne Sexton. She is an editor at Poëziekrant and leads literary translation workshops.