What does it mean to write feminist texts? How can artists of all genders collaborate creatively? And what are the possibilities of the workshop environment to produce works of art that engage critically with the tensions between literature, feminism and coloniality? In anticipation of the upcoming reading by the participants of the feminist writing workshop „Another Possible Story“ we have spoken to Giuliana Kiersz, founder of said workshop. Kiersz, born in Buenos Aires, based in Berlin, is a poet, playwright, librettist and artist. Since 2017 she has been giving creative writing workshops in Latin America and Europe, one of which being „Another Possible Story“. Continue reading to find out how the workshop came about, which writers the participants took inspiration from and what you can look forward to during the reading on the 13th of July at Lettrétage.
The traditional creative writing workshop has often been criticized for following a homogeneous ideology and favoring certain voices over others, catering to the literary taste of the white, male middle-class. Do you actively strive to redefine the idea of a workshop? And how do you conduct a feminist workshop?
Giuliana Kiersz: „Another Possible Story“ began as a laboratory for thinking and reflecting on feminist texts. Feminism is a wide and contradictory movement, so the main impulse of the workshop is to open a space for these contradictions, to delve into conflicts, and to give space to questions, to wonder, to surprise, to see what comes out of it. The most important part of the workshop is the meeting, the gathering, thinking and writing together. The texts, in this case, function as a starting point to raise questions, topics and to open the path for us to think further, to imagine further.
When I started „Another Possible Story“, I had already been developing an art and literature project for collective writing (called „Writing Gatherings“) for more than seven years. Within that project, I created and tried different exercises to write collectively and to practice writing as a platform for encounter, a practice to gather, think and write together. These exercises served as a starting point to create the ones at „Another Possible Story“.
Writing can be an extremely solitary activity. A workshop, on the other hand, is a communal space. Which impact does creating in a communal effort have on the individual works of art? What are the benefits and what are the challenges that come with it?
Giuliana: I believe that even if we are alone, we never write on our own. We write thinking of the conversations we’ve had, with the social movements we are part of, within the society that we exist in. Every writing is created within a context and with others, even if they aren’t on the cover of the book. But of course, there is a force in writing together, in letting our writings clash and collide and see what comes out of that fire. Maybe we end up writing something we haven’t thought of writing. It’s not easy and it’s a work that requires modesty, faith and courage, but maybe it’s what we most need, to think with others and create something we have never imagined before.
Within your workshop you ask the participants to take inspiration from feminist fiction and non-fiction. Which works do you share with them and why?
Giuliana: The workshop started with a focus on authors that reflect on the tensions and relationships between feminism, literature and coloniality and then expanded to other themes. We read and discussed works of thinkers, poets and writers such as Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, Audrey Lorde, Cecilia Vicuña, Tracy K. Smith, Sara Ahmed, Silvia Federici, Natalie Diaz, Eileen Myles, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Ursula K. Le Guin, among others. The idea is to delve into different experiences of feminism, different languages and territories.
Can you tell us a little bit about your own writing processes? Do you like to create within a workshop environment yourself?
Giuliana: Since I started writing I have participated in many workshops and I believe they are a very valuable space for relating to other people’s writing, and for thinking of one’s own writing. For me, sharing a text is part of the writing process. It is to bring more people into the conversation and to see how that text resonates with them or not and how that resonance has an effect on the text. It’s almost a dialogue, a process that nourishes the writing.
And finally, what kinds of texts and performances can we look forward to during the „Another Possible Story“ reading at Lettrétage on the 13th of July?
Giuliana: I am very happy that „Another Possible Story“ will have its first event! The workshop started in 2023 and since the beginning, many participants expressed their wish to share the texts written during the encounters. All of the texts were created in the workshop, from collective exercises and informed by feminist texts, they are extremely powerful, sensitive, funny and delirious. We will listen to poems, prose, songs and essays by Lili Khoury, Yael Merlini, Juliette Vandame, Charlie O’Donohue, Manuel Irmey, Polyxeni Fotopoulou, Nicola Caroli, Ioni, Sarah Wulbrecht, Marina Solntseva, Kayra, kevin, Sam Danello and Katharina Sack Abuzahu.