Overview
Say I Refuse to Translate reimagines translation as an artistic and political practice rooted in care, resistance, and agency. Drawing from encounters with street art and poetry, and inspired by poets and translators such as Don Mee Choi and Sawako Nakayasu, this workshop invites participants to engage with translation as a lived practice—one that can express refusal as survival, reclamation, and imagination.

The session unfolds in two parts, moving from a listening-focused presentation toward active collective exploration.

Date: 17 March 2026

Facilitated by: Canan Marasligil

Duration: 2 hours (including a short break)

Format: Presentation, discussion, and creative workshop

Accessible only to students.

marwin vos krijgt de Charlotte Köhler Prijs uitgereikt uitgereikt op zondagmiddag 15 maart, de geboortedag van Charlotte Köhler, in de Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam.

De jury bestond uit de dichters Alara Adilow, Hannah van Binsbergen en Alfred Schaffer, winnaar van de Charlotte Köhler Prijs in 2017.

• Optredens van Nguyễn Thị Mai en Pelumi Adejumo

• Moderatie door Canan Marasligil

L’écriture inclusive : mode passagère ou révolution linguistique ?

L’Institut français NL et Platform Frans, en partenariat avec la bibliothèque publique d’Amsterdam (Oba), organisent le 13 mars 2026 le quatrième évènement du cycle La Fabrique de la traduction littéraire pour répondre aux enjeux de la traduction littéraire dans le contexte culturel franco-néerlandais.

La traduction littéraire joue un rôle essentiel dans la circulation des idées entre les langues, et elle est aujourd’hui confrontée à de nouveaux défis. L’écriture inclusive soulève des questions concrètes pour les traducteurset traductrices, ainsi que pour les enseignants·es-chercheur·euses, et reflète de profonds enjeux politiques dans la société française, liés à l’égalité, à la représentation des genres et à l’évolution de la langue.

Autant de questions qui seront au cœur des discussions de ce programme. Cet évènement se clôturera par l’annonce de l’auteurice lauréat.e Choix Goncourt des Pays-Bas 2025-2026, qui aura été désigné.e le même jour par un jury néerlandais d’étudiants.

Initié par l’Institut français NL, le Choix Goncourt des Pays-Bas permet de faire découvrir aux étudiants néerlandais des ouvrages de littérature francophone contemporaine, de participer à un comité de lecture, de choisirleur ouvrage préféré et d’argumenter leur choix.

Programme

14h00-15h15 :

Table ronde 1

« L’écriture inclusive en français : « péril mortel » pour la langue de Molière ou outil égalitaire d’aujourd’hui ? »

• Lila Braunschweig, maîtresse de conférences et chercheuse à l’Institute for cultural inquiry (ICON) de l’Université d’Utrecht

• Canan Marasligil, écrivaine, traductrice littéraire, artiste

• Benjamin Storme, maître de conférences en linguistique française à l’université de Leiden

15h45-16h15 :

Table ronde 2
«L’écriture inclusive à l’épreuve de la traduction et de l’interprétation : Hêtre pourpre de Kim de l’Horizon »

• David Matheus, doctorant en linguistique à l’université d’Amsterdam

• Thom Westveer, maître de conférences en linguistique française à l’université d’Amsterdam

• Barbara Westerveld, interprète

16h15 – 17h00

La Pérille Mortelle par Typhaine D, artiste

Performance artistique en visioconférence

Modération : Marion Claudel, attachée culturelle IFNL ; Pascale Fila, chargée de mission livre IFNL

17h00

Annonce de l’auteurice lauréat.e du Choix Goncourt des Pays-Bas 2025-2026

On 1st February 2026, poet and literary translator Nisrine Mbarki Ben Ayad was appointed Dichter der Nederlanden, Poet Laureate of the Netherlands. It was an immense privilege to host the ceremony in the Amstelkerk in the heart of Amsterdam.

Ik ben heel blij en vereerd om met Safae El Khannoussi in gesprek te gaan over taal en migratie, archieven en herinnering, en over hoe literatuur ruimte kan maken voor mensen die steeds opnieuw uit de geschiedenis worden geschreven.

Safae el Khannoussi is in 2025 writer in residence bij Wintertuin. Kom luisteren: Op zaterdag 29 november van 21.50 tot 22.35 uur in LUX 6 in Nijmegen, tijdens Wintertuin Festival.

I was part of the line-up programmed by writer and artist Rasha Hilwi at Mezrab, where I told a story on Coincidence. You can read my poetic essay in issue 43 of The Attention Span newsletter.

The exhibition Remembering Otherwise by artist belit sağ can be seen at Framer Framed until 12 November 2025. Conceived in close collaboration with curator Katia Krupennikova, the exhibition gives form to stories from a pivotal 1978 labour dispute in Veghel, North Brabant, led by migrant women workers from Turkey. These stories are brought together in a monumental tapestry, complemented by a multi-channel video installation and collages informed by the artist’s archival research process.

I will join belit, and photographer Çiğdem Yüksel on Thursday 16 October for "Beyond the Archival. Visual Memories of First-Generation Female Migrants from Turkey in the Netherlands".

The panel discussion will address the context of life and work in the 70s and 80s in the Netherlands in relation to the first-generation female migration from Turkey, as perceived through the eyes of, and translated into images by contemporary visual artists.

17:30 — 18:00 Doors open. Meeting in front of the tapest.
18:00 — 19:00 Talk with Çiğdem Yüksel (photographer, visual artist), Canan Maraşlıgil. belit sağ, moderated by Katia Krupennikova
19:00 — 19:30 Informal drinks

Join us!

https://framerframed.nl/en/exposities/expositie-remembering-otherwise/

The characters in “Boiling Point” (translation) by Nisrine Mbarki Ben Ayad live in Brussels. Algiers. Paris. Damascus. Casablanca. Cairo. Amsterdam. Seven people, seven lives that take place in different cities and countries. And yet they touch each other’s lives and thus tell the story of a fragmented world, in which people love deeply despite everything.

Nisrine Mbarki Ben Ayad is a multilingual and versatile writer, poet, literary translator and programme maker. In January 2022 she made her debut with her poetry collection Oeverloos. The collection was nominated for the C. Buddingh’ Prize and the Herman de Coninck Prize.

The evening begins with an opening speech by Evi Hoste, editor of Pluim
The following speakers will then take the floor: Canan Marasligil, Safae el Khannoussi, Nadia Bouras and Nisrine Mbarki Ben Ayad.

A programme in collaboration with Uitgeverij Pluim

https://readmyworld.nl/en/programma/dag/saturday/booklaunch-nisrine-mbarki/

In juni organiseert Wintertuin Creative Writing Academy samen met het Expertisecentrum Literair Vertalen de workshopreeks Literair Vertalen op Curaçao.

In deze reeks leren acht deelnemers wat er komt kijken bij het vertalen van een tekst in- of naar het Papiaments. Deelnemers gaan aan de slag met de basis van het vertalen van een (literaire) tekst. De workshops bieden een introductie in het vertaalvak en deelnemers werken aan een eindopdracht die van feedback wordt voorzien. 

Rol en positie van de literair vertaler
Lezing door Canan Marasligil
In breakout rooms aan eindopdracht werken olv Jeroen Heuvel

Join the book launch of Armed by Design: Posters and Publications of Cuba’s Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (OSPAAAL)on 16 April at Framer Framed. Armed by Design is a multilingual publication on the graphic and intellectual legacy of the OSPAAAL. It’s edited by Interference Archive (Lani Hanna, Jen Hoyer, Josh MacPhee, Vero Ordaz, Sarah Seidman, Common Notions, 2025).

During the launch, co-editor Lani Hanna will engage in conversation with associate professor Sanjukta Sunderason and artist Canan Marasligil on topics such as anticolonial design, translation as political praxis, social movement archiving, and the relationship between the book and the exhibition Past Disquiet, currently on view at Framer Framed. The event is moderated by Mikki Stelder.

OSPAAAL emerged out of the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, a meeting of national liberation movements and leftist political parties predominantly from the Global South. Operating out of Havana, OSPAAAL designed hundreds of posters, magazines, and books between the 1960s and 1980s. Until 2019, OSPAAAL remained a political organising combating US imperialism and supporting liberation movements worldwide through anti-imperialist design practices.

Armed By Design brings together artists and thinkers from around the world whose work has been impacted by the legacy of OSPAAAL. These contributions reflect on impacts of OSPAAAL’s work on regional movements, including in the Arab world and Korea, design iconography and the evolution of tricontinentalism. It also researches our present-day relationship to OSPAAAL posters as a commodity, authorship, and reproduction.

On Thursday 27 February, 2025, I will teach a workshop on “Combining artistry, reflection and activism” as part of a CELA masterclass week on Literature on the main stage.

Literary artists tend to work on paper, but writers and translators can also use their in-depth knowledge and creativity to fulfil a role in stage programming. In this course we will cover many different aspects of working behind and in front of the curtains: curating an event, developing and producing a format, cooperating with partners, performing texts, presenting, interviewing… We will also cover audio and online projects (and how to get funding).

It’s with great pleasure that I will be part of a conversation in the framework of the 60 years of migration to the Netherlands from Türkiye. We will first watch two films: Kara Kafa (Korhan Yurtsever, 2014) and Ellbogen (Asli Özarslan, 2024).

Based on these we will have a warm conversation and sharing of experiences. I am truly looking forward to this. Join us! Info below.

On 10 September 2024 you are invited to an evening at Framer Framed to celebrate the book launch of (Re)claiming, the second title in the publication series Archival Textures. The evening consists of two readings, a conversation between the co-editors of the book and several contributors, and a Q&A.

The book (Re)claiming presents ways in which various queer and feminist communities and initiatives in the Netherlands have (re)claimed the triangle — along with other symbols, words and stories — and in doing so take up an empowering position in a hostile society. The concept of (re)claiming can signify both a proud identification with and protest against the stigmatisation for which a symbol, word, gesture or story was designed.

Archival materials featured in (Re)claiming include a collection of buttons, a text by Karin Daan, the designer of the Homomonument in Amsterdam and short statements and flyers by queer groups such as SUHO, Sjalhomo, Roze Front, Roze Driehoek, Roze Gebaar, Van Doofpot tot Mankepoot, Interpot/ILIS, Lesbisch Archief Amsterdam, Strange Fruit Vrouwen and Groep Zwarte Vrouwen Nijmegen. With this selection, (Re)claiming brings together queer, trans, crip, feminist, Jewish and Black perspectives on (re)claiming as an activist strategy.

Most of these materials were researched at IHLIA LGBTI Heritage in Amsterdam, with additions found at the International Institute of Social History, the International Archive for the Women’s Movement (IAV-Atria) in Amsterdam and Lesbisch Archief Nijmegen (LAN). The materials are framed by an introductory essay by Noah Littel and an intergenerational roundtable conversation. Since roundtable conversations were held as a multilingual space, translations into English and Dutch are provided by Canan Marasligil and Shira Wolfe.

During the evening, co-editors Noah Littel and Tabea Nixdorff will be in conversation with contributors to the book: authors of archival material Anne Krul and Tieneke Sumter, translator Canan Marasligil and roundtable participant micah marissa schut.

Summer sees the publication of Real, a collection of poems by Karin Karakaşlı, translated by Canan Marasligil with the poet Sarah Howe. To celebrate the launch of this new World Poet Series book, Canan Marasligil will be on tour in the UK and dropping by to run a workshop on PTC favourite Karin Karakaşlı.

From 1996 to 2006 Karin Karakaşlı worked at the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos as editor, head of the editorial department, and columnist on both Turkish and Armenian pages. She has completed an MA in Comparative Literature, works as a translation instructor at the university and as a teacher of Armenian language and literature in an Armenian high school. She is currently a columnist at Agos and Radikal newspapers, and continues to write fiction and poetry.

There is no need to know Turkish to take part in this workshop. Everyone is welcome.

Poet Karin Karakaslı

Karin Karakaşlı was born in Istanbul in 1972. She graduated in Translation and Interpreting Studies. Her books include a children’s novel called Ay Denizle Buluşunca(When the Moon Meets the Sea), short story collections Başka Dillerin Şarkısı (Song of Other Languages), and Can Kırıkları (Splinters of the Heart), works of poetry, Her Kimsen SANA (Whoever you are this is FOR YOU), a novel is Müsait Bir Yerde İnebilir Miyim? (Can I Get Out Somewhere You Don’t Mind?).

She is the co-writer of the research book Türkiye’de Ermeniler: Cemaat, Birey, Yurttaş(Armenians in Turkey: Community, Individual, Citizen).

Poet-facilitator Chrissy Williams

Each season of PTC translation workshops is led by a poet, in this case we are delighted to be working with poet, editor and comic book writer Chrissy Williams. Her writing has been featured on BBC radio and television, and her full poetry collections are Bear (Bloodaxe, 2017) and Low (Bloodaxe, 2021). She edits the online poetry journal Perverse, and has run numerous workshops over the years. She has an Italian mother and English father, and was raised bilingually, and has run numerous workshops over the years. She has an Italian mother and English father, and was raised bilingually.

I will be performing in Labyrinth on Sunday 7 April. More info soon.

Op 14 november 2023 organiseert het ELV een studiemiddag in de Bibliotheek Utrecht genaamd 'De vertaler als professional'. Tijdens het programma worden de thema's professionalisering en zichtbaarheid van meerdere kanten belicht. Ondanks dat het beperkte aantal zitplaatsen reeds is volgeboekt, hebben we heuglijk nieuws! Bij deze willen wij literair vertalers uitnodigen zich aan te melden voor de livestream. Lees verder voor informatie over het programma en hoe je je kunt aanmelden voor de livestream.

As part of the international group “Poems for Palestine”, we will be hosting our first online recitation event.

More information about Poems for Palestine:

Workshop 1: Translation Clinic (three groups in-person or online)

Advance sign-up essential, on a first-come-first-served basis

12–1.30pm BST

Three non-language specific workshops (one in person, two online), with participants discussing current hurdles in their practice in a collegial setting, facilitated by established translators.

In-person clinic

Facilitated by Ros Schwartz, twelve participants bring a particular translation challenge they are facing – a word, a phrase, or a wider issue – to discuss with peers. In-person clinic participants must have a specific point they would like to explore in the workshop.

Online clinics (x2)

Facilitated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones and Canan Marasligil, six participants in each online clinic share and discuss challenges they are facing with a text they are currently translating. Online clinic participants must have a specific passage from a text they would like to explore in the workshop, and will be asked to send their translation excerpt to the facilitator in advance, and no later than 12 noon BST on Monday 25 September.

Sign up by clicking the button below (you must have a relevant ITD ticket to sign up).