On June 10th, 2025, I hosted “Poetry Evening with Anastasia Dubinina” at Queen Mary University — an intimate exploration of what happens when Russian memory collides with English present, creating something entirely new in the collision.
This wasn’t just a poetry reading; it was a conversation about linguistic resistance and cultural reclamation. As I shared new work investigating the political dimensions of language choice, the room filled with writers and thinkers who understood that displacement can become creative fuel when we refuse to let our voices be diminished by borders.
The evening’s interactive format allowed us to dig deep into the ethics of translation and the strange alchemy that occurs when inherited vocabularies clash with acquired ones. Participants brought their own experiences of living between languages, creating a rich dialogue about how poetry becomes a bridge — sometimes precarious, always illuminating.
“Writing between languages isn’t about choosing sides — it’s about creating new territories,” emerged as our collective insight.
The warm, intellectually charged atmosphere proved that London’s literary community craves authentic engagement with multicultural complexity. This event reinforced my belief that literature should be participatory, not passive, and that poetry’s power lies in its refusal to stay confined within comfortable definitions.
These conversations about the future of multilingual poetry in Britain continue to fuel my work, reminding me why I’m committed to creating spaces where diverse voices don’t just coexist — they transform each other.
— Writer Anastasia Dubinina