How do we construct truth in an age where everything is digitally shaped: identity, desire, power, intimacy? If the internet is our mirror room, which reflection do we still believe? We explore how identity is built, distorted and devoured online. What happens to intimacy when algorithms are listening in? What remains of a city, a body, a relationship, when everything becomes a feed? A sharp, vulnerable and sometimes ironic dive into the friction between our real lives and the version we show.

In this conversation with Daniëlle Zawadi, writer Sheena Patel (UK) and poet Maxime Garcia Diaz (NL) examined how digital spaces guide our gaze: how we curate ourselves, how we project others, how desire clings to images that are never entirely ours. The programme zoomed in on the tension between what we share and what we conceal, between the control we think we have and the logic of systems that guide us. What does closeness mean in a world that is always online but rarely truly present?

Real Or Not Real - The Reality of Virtual Lives was curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2026 by Mojdeh Feili.