A meeting with Andrei Kurkov – State of European Literature

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21 May 2025 | University of Amsterdam
On 21 May, Ukrainian author Andrei Kurkov will give the seventh State of European Literature. He is the celebrated author of many books, such as the bestselling novels Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees. In recent non-fiction books as Diary of an Invasion and Our Daily War, he documents from up close the war in Ukraine. He continues to write for media across Europe and the United States on the history, culture, and current situation in Ukraine.

[Call for Papers] Feminist life writing today: A masterclass with Leigh Gilmore

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25 June 2025 | Amsterdam
Gilmore’s recent work, in short, charts a history of how women use life narrative to transform conditions of suffering, silencing, and injustice into accounts that enjoin ethical response. As part of her visit to the Netherlands, OSL, in collaboration with Open University and the Netherlands Research School for Gender Studies, will host Professor Leigh Gilmore a masterclass in the afternoon of June 25th.

OSL Workshop: Translational Poetics with Erín Moure

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1 May 2025 | Utrecht University
For this workshop, Montreal-based “transborder poet and translator of poetry and poetics” Erín Moure will lead participants in a discussion on creative and collaborative translation, as well as how her own work develops a ‘biopoetics.’ Participants will also be invited to participate in translation exercises, as well as share their translations for collective feedback. Following the workshop, participants are asked to attend a public reading in the same location (BAK), featuring Moure alongside Dutch poet/translator/editor Frank Keizer.

OSL Workshop on Queer Poetry

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2 & 11 June 2025 | University of Amsterdam
In this workshop, after a theoretical and methodological introduction, some exemplary voices from various historical periods and geographical areas will be presented: from Sappho to Catullus, from Abū Nuwās to Hafez, from Michelangelo to Shakespeare, from Lorca to Cavafy. We will then work on specific case studies – Frank O’hara, Morrissey and Patrizia Cavalli – to examine through close readings their poetics and reception.

OSL Awards: The results are in!

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14 March 2025   We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024-2025 edition of the OSL Awards! The Awards are intended to acknowledge original and innovative contributions to the field of literary studies and to highlight the work of talented OSL students and scholars. Please find the full list below: ReMA Thesis First […]

Podcast Moving Europe: Literary Interventions

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We are proud to announce the publication of the first two episodes of Moving Europe: Literary Interventions, a podcast series hosted by Astrid Van Weyenberg (Leiden University) and Margriet van der Waal (RUG/UvA) for the Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies (OSL). In each episode, students explore how literature reflects, challenges, and responds to the narratives of Europe that circulate in the public sphere. Episode 1, […]

ASCA Workshop 2025: Re-Imagining Universality in the Pluriverse

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Organizers: Laila Bouziane & Serra Hughes. Call for Papers ASCA International Workshop 26-28 May 2025 Deadline for submissions: February 28, 2025 Contact: ascaworkshop2025@gmail.com   Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Prof. dr Markus Messling, Saarland University, Professor of Romance literatures and Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies Prof. dr Barnita Bagchi, University of Amsterdam, Professor of World Literatures Dr […]

OSL Seed Money Grant 2025

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The OSL seed money grant aims to foster collaboration within and beyond the OSL community. The OSL Board will make € 1000,- available as seed money for the most promising initiative, including for instance: Planning of symposia, workshops and conferences in 2026 or 2027 Publications (e.g. contribution to publishing fees, editing services, etc.) Assistance for […]

Call for Papers: OSL PhD Day

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Registration for the OSL PhD Day opens on April 2nd, 9am VIA THIS LINK Dear OSL PhDs, We are excited to announce that the upcoming OSL PhD day will take place in Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit, NU 5A57) on Friday, 13 June 2025.  The day’s theme will be “Crossing Borders.” The program will consist of a […]

OSL Course: Creative Writing – Activist Approaches to Fiction Writing

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Àpril – May 2025 | University of Groningen

This course will introduce students to a range of very contemporary flash fiction and short stories while inviting students to develop their own fiction writing practice. Participants will read recent short fiction from the small-press literary scene that does urgently important activist work using a variety of formal strategies and genre engagements, from stories that use epistolary structures, employ translanguaging, or borrow from the conventions of scientific or social media writing to pieces that present fresh takes on speculative, dystopian, and gothic narrative.