The Asterisk Conversations #2 | Simon(e) van Saarloos, Pamela Sneed, Jolyn Phillips

Writers Unlimited

In the second Writers Unlimited podcast, philosopher and writer Simon(e) van Saarloos invites the New York-based poet, performer, visual artist, and educator Pamela Sneed 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 Jolyn Phillips to respond. Jolyn is a writer, poet, composer, singer and activist. Her 2016 debut collection of short stories, Tjieng Tjang Tjerries, received critical praise, was shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Prize for best debut, and won the NIHSS Prize for best fiction. Phillips herself adapted the stories for the stage. More of her poems and short stories have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Credits The Asterisk Conversations #2 | Writers Unlimited Guests: Pamela Sneed & Jolyn Phillips Host: Simon(e) van Saarloos Editor: Ilonka Reintjens Audio editor: Jörgen Gario Unom JG Transcription: Terry Ezra Thanks to: Robin Vinck