What Will They Say, Meltem?

Conversation based on a podcast series by Meltem Halaceli, about literature, poetry, feminism and violence. With live music by jazz singer and cellist Sanem Kalfa, inspired by Müesser Yeniay's poems. 
Concluded with a screening of the Writers' Monument, a digital monument for all journalists and writers who were murdered for their writing.

Information

Date and time Friday 17 June 2022 20:55 tot 22:10 uur
Location Paard Grote zaal
Price 29,50
15,- (CJP, Students, Ooievaarspas)

About literature, poetry, feminism and violence - with Müesser Yeniay, Çiler İlhan, Sanem Kalfa, Meltem Halaceli & Canan Marasligil (moderator)

In What Will They Say, Meltem?, Meltem Halaceli, Müesser Yeniay and Çiler İlhan discussed what role literature and poetry can play in bringing to light violence against women. This event was the live finale of a series of podcasts with the same title by Winternachten programmer Meltem Halaceli. Domestic violence against women and LGBT-groups has increased worldwide and femicide has become a growing problem. Struck by this reality, Meltem Halaceli went in search of her family's feminist values and made a podcast about them. Her mother's eyes were opened by novels and poetry by Turkish, Russian and American authors who wrote about the unequal status of women. In her podcast, Meltem spoke to writers, poets and experts and asked them how they use their knowledge and literature to bring violence against women into the open.

In this live event we first of all met Turkish poet Müesser Yeniay, who recited a number of new poems. In the introduction to her latest collection Sevgiliyle Daimi Konuşma (Endless Conversation with the Loved One) she wrote: "For many Eastern women, poetry is the only place she exists." What does that mean for her poetry? The second guest was Çiler İlhan, who moved to the Netherlands from Turkey in 2017. She spoke about her latest novel Nişan Evi (Engagement House), in which women are seen as commercial objects - a body and nothing more. Her earlier book Sürgün (Exiled) won the EU Literature Prize and was translated into 20 languages. Jazz singer Sanem Kalfa framed the conversation with live music. Canan Marasligil, a translator and writer, moderated the event.

We concluded this program with a screening of the Writers' Monument. Like every year, The Theatre of Wrong Decisions has made made an updated version of their 'digital monument' for the journalists and writers who were murdered. The monument could be seen during the opening of Winternachten, to stand still together, reflect and realize how many people worldwide sacrifice their lives simply by holding the pen and wanting to tell the truth.

English spoken. 

Line-up

Meltem Halaceli

is a writer, feminist and programmer with a special interest in the Middle-East. Halaceli works as project manager for inclusivity at the University of Amsterdam and as a programmer for the Winternachten International Literature Festival The Hague. Her debut De vergeten geschiedenis van mijn grootvader Sulayman Hadj Ali (The Forgotten History of My Grandfather Sulayman Hadj Ali, 2015) deals with the discovery of her grandfather's memoirs. The book tells about her search for his life story, which ended in the First World War period, when he was a conscripted soldier - an era with direct influence on the present. Her poem Moederhuis (Motherhouse) won the El Hizjra Literature Prize. Halaceli has worked as a researcher and interpreter for various prominent programs of the Dutch national broadcaster VPRO. She is working on her second book.
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Müesser Yeniay

(Turkey, 1984) is a writer, poet, journalist and literary translator. Her poetry has won several Turkish awards. Her books include Darkness Also Falls Ground (2009), I Founded My Home in the Mountains (translation), I Drew the Sky Again (2011), The Other Consciousness: Surrealism and The Second New (2013, on modern Turkish avant-garde poetry), Before Me There Were Deserts (2014), Modern Readings in Turkish Literature (2016), Permanent Talk with the Beloved (2017), and The Memory of Poetry: Writings on Poetics, Canon and Women (2018). She has translated the poetry of Behruz Kia, Ronny Someck, Attila F. Balazs, and Vietnamese poets Mai Van Phan and Nguyễn Quang Thiều. Her poetry has been translated and published in the USA (Mundus Artium Press, When I Slept in a Rose Petal), Hungary (AB-Art, A Rozsaszedes Szertartasa), France (Edition Bruno Doucey, Ainsi Disent-ils) India (Bodhi), Colombia (Silaba, Antes de mi Habia Desiertos), Spain (Edicion de Jaime B. Rosa, Poemas Selectos), Vietnam (Vietnam Writers’ Association, Nghi le Hai Hoa Hong Trong Vuon), Japan (Duet of Flame), and Portugal (Poesia a Sul, Conversa Permanente Com O Amado). She has been a writer-in-residence in the USA, Hong Kong and Belgium. Müesser is the editor of the literature magazine Şiirden (Of Poetry). She is currently pursuing a PhD in Turkish literature at Bilkent University in Ankara.
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Çiler Ilhan

(Turkey, 1972) writes novels, essays, reviews and translations for various newspapers and magazines. She studied international relations and political science in Istanbul and hotel management in Switzerland. In 2006 she debuted with the short-story collection Ruya Tacirleri Odasi (Chamber of Dream Merchants). Surgun (Exile, 2010) won the EU Literature Prize and was published in 24 countries. Its short stories - some of which are only a page or two in length -  form a novel in which ordinary Turkish citizens speak about feeling alienated from their homeland, their families, and the community to which they belonged. In 2021 she published Nisan Evi (Engagement), a novella about lives lost under the weight of power factors in eastern Turkey.
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Sanem Kalfa

Sanem Kalfa is a singer, improviser, composer, cello player based in Amsterdam. She was born in Trabzon, a city on the Black Sea coast of northeast Turkey. Kalfa unites both her background as a cello player - the instrument with which Sanem started her musical education - and the vast vocabulary she developed throughout the years as a vocalist and improviser. The result is a unique sound that expresses all the diversity of Kalfa's musical vision. Sanem Kalfa is known for her broadly developed voice, her singing combination into a powerful blend of emotions. In her singing career she won several awards, including the 1st Prize Shure Montreux Jazz Vocal Competition presided by Quincy Jones. In 2014 she released her debut album “Nehir”. She released her second album “DANCE” as a duo with George Dumitriu in May 2018. Her last album with George Dumitriu and Joachim Badenhorst, “Black Sea Songs”, was brought out in 2021. She has taken part in over 10 other releases as a side woman. She also performed in many important festivals and venues in the Netherlands and Europe.
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Canan Marasligil

(1979) is a writer, literary translator, publisher, podcast maker and curator. She works in English, French, Turkish, Dutch and sometimes Spanish, in the Netherlands and abroad. She has translated works by, among others, the Kurdish poet Bejan Matur and the Turkish author Perihan Mağden. Canan is committed to greater diversity in the arts and is interested in challenging official discourse and fighting for free speech worldwide, through a range of creative projects and activities, from literature to films and comics.
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