The Asterisk Conversations #1 | Simon(e) van Saarloos, Nalo Hopkinson, Tirsa With

Writers Unlimited

In the first Writers Unlimited podcast, philosopher and writer Simon(e) van Saarloos invites the internationally-beloved storyteller and Professor of Creative Writing Nalo Hopkinson for an Asterisk conversation – “een sterretjesgesprek”. Asterik conversations expand and overlap, trusting that different themes and threads interweave and cross, influencing each other. The asterisk resists the idea of core business, of a single issue struggle (Audre Lorde) or truth with a capital T. As Jack Halberstam writes in Trans*: the asterisk refuses to “situate transition in relation to destination, a final form, a specific shape, or an established configuration of desire and identity”. The Asterisk Conversations features each episode a writer overseas and invites a maker based in The Netherlands to create a new work in response. This way, each podcast ends with the beginning of a new conversation. And this time it was very obvious that we should invite Tirsa With to respond. Tirsa With is an audio-storyteller, and she builds on the traditions of her Maroon Surinamese heritage which taught her the importance of multiplicity of voice and the way audio creates space for this. Tirsa has decided to respond with her story on the questions that Nalo and I share on non-linear time. Credits The Asterisk Conversations #1 | Writers Unlimited Guests: Nalo Hopkinson & Tirsa With Host: Simon(e) van Saarloos Editor: Ilonka Reintjens Audio editor: Jörgen Gario Unom JG Transcription: Terry Ezra Special Thanks: Mitchell Renardus