Multilingual Literature Event Series: Closing Event

Please note: this event has passed

This seminar will focus on Multilingual and Multicultural Literature and will feature discussions by panellists Felipe Tirado (PhD Candidate - KCL Dickson Poon School of Law), Mireille Kouyo (PhD Candidate - KCL African Leadership Centre), Annika Hoenack-Herrejon (2nd Year - BA International Development), Marc Lallemand (2nd Year - BA War Studies). It will be chaired by Maísa Edwards (PhD Candidate - King's Brazil Institute) and Ana Aurora Borges (Art Curator and Manager).

We will be exploring the importance of multilingualism and reading in languages other than English as well as discussing the Student/Author interviews conducted with Ayesha Harruna Attah (Author), Charlie Craggs (Author and Trans Activist), Prof. Francisco Noa (Author and Professor) and Joana Nastari (Playwrite and Performer).

The King’s Brazil Institute, in cooperation with the KCL Modern Languages Centre, the African Leadership Centre and the Centre for Mexican Studies (UNAM – UK), are excited to conclude our Multilingual Literature Events Series. This series of events has aimed to celebrate and showcase the importance of reading multilingually and multiculturally.

It began with an Opening Ceremony/Launch Event (Thursday 21st October) which introduced the objectives of this series and include a panel of distinguished authors. This was followed by two excellently attended online seminars which explored Women Authors and Works about Women (Thursday 18th November 2021) and Works in Translation (Thursday 9th December 2021).

On the 15th February 2022, we will conclude the Series with a Closing Event featuring King’s Bachelor’s and PhD student participation. It will include discussions on multilingualism and the showcasing of interviews with prominent bilingual and multilingual authors.

This event is also part of the Multilingual Literature event series.

Watch interviews with the Closing Event panellists

About the panel

Felipe Tirado (PhD Candidate - KCL Dickson Poon School of Law)

Felipe Tirado is a PhD Candidate at the Dickson Poon School of Law, a Visiting Lecturer in Jurisprudence at the Law School, and an Academic Skills Tutor at King's Academy. Felipe holds an LLM from the Dickson Poon School of Law and an MPhil in Law from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). He is also a researcher associated with the King's Brazil Institute and the Centre for Studies on Transitional Justice (UFMG). Since childhood, Felipe is an avid reader; passionate about multilingual books - when he is not researching for the PhD - he endeavours to read works of literature in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.

Mireille Kouyo (PhD Candidate - KCL African Leadership Centre)

Mireille is a final year Joint PhD student in Leadership and Security Studies at the African Leadership Centre (KCL) and the department of Political Sciences (University of Pretoria). A native French speaker but since arriving in the UK, she has added the language of Shakespeare. She is learning to navigate between these two languages, and she has become more and more aware of the power and strength of multiculturalism, whether it is through learning new skills or for anything related to her research interests. Mireille has always preferred movies over books, but she has been starting to dig more into literature as another way to get insights into the diversity of cultures on the francophone or anglophone worlds.

Annika Hoenack-Herrejon (2nd Year - BA International Development)

Annika is a second-year BA student in International Development at King’s College London with a Mexican and German background. She grew up between the two cultures and thus, between languages. Literature has always been a way to maintain her language skills while she was abroad. She speaks Spanish, English, German, and French and enjoys multilingualism in many ways! Her favourites in the world of multilingual literature would be plays and theatre. Being in London has allowed her to explore this a lot! She likes to get insights into cultures through stories and loves reading books from all over the world.

Marc Lallemand (2nd Year - BA War Studies)

Marc is a second-year BA War Studies student at King's College London. He is French, and has lived in Paris and New York before coming to London. He speaks French, English, Spanish and Mandarin, and he loves the wide range of culture that this has given him access to. From books to theatre plays, he believes multilingualism gives a unique insight into different countries' art, which motivates him to keep practicing!

Chair: Maísa Edwards

Maísa is a Joint International Relations PhD Candidate at King's College London and the University of São Paulo. Her research topic explores Brazil and the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS) and Brazilian diplomatic and defence relations in the South Atlantic (1986 – 2013). Maísa is also the founder of the Talk Books With ME project which is a multilingual and multicultural literature community. One book, poem and story at a time, Maísa seeks to increase readership in different languages and bring forth multilingual and multicultural literature to a wider audience.

Co-Chair: Ana Aurora Borges

Ana Aurora is an Art Manager and Curator of the works of two important Brazilian artists, Antônio Gaudério (@antonio.gauderio) and Rita Wainer (@ritawainer), known for their photography and paintings. She is a BA graduate in Linguistics and Literature from the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil.