Stories From The Periphery

This workshop is a journey to the periphery, to spaces that lie far from cultural, social, and economic centres of power.

The periphery is what is different, what is other. It is where the people and materials that are discarded, made invisible, and persecuted come from. It is sometimes the topic of papers and academic research, but the voices and stories of those who live there are rarely heard in their own right or on their own terms.

This workshop takes a different approach, engaging directly with the protagonists of these geographical and ideological spaces. In it, you will read, watch and talk about the work of writers, filmmakers and artists from the periphery. After you explore the narrative and poetic tools these artists use, there will also be a space for creative writing.

You will work with texts by indigenous Afro-Latin American and Afro-North American authors from both cisgender and transgender communities. You will also read Kurdish fiction, a community with a growing presence in the city of Belfast.

Luciana De Mello is a writer, scriptwriter, and Afro-indigenous cultural journalist born in Argentina. She is the author of the novel Mandinga de amor and Ninguna calle termina en la esquina, a nonfiction book about the creative writing workshop she founded in one of the largest prisons in Buenos Aires. She has been writing about literature, feminisms and queer culture for the Argentinian newspaper Página 12 for nearly 20 years. She is also part of Mandacarú, a publishing house that translates cis and trans Brazilian women writers of African descent into Spanish.

She is currently finishing her second novel and working with contemporary dancer Lola Vera on a research project on dance and writing. Luciana has been based in Belfast since 2022.