Listen, watch, and be inspired by distinctive stories during the WintertuinFestival! From November 24th to 29th, 2025, expect a vibrant program packed with established names and emerging talent. Whether you attend a theatrical performance, meet your favourite emerging author, or listen to one of the many interviews or presentations, expect a festival full of experimentation, entertainment, and exploration.
CELA at Wintertuinfestival
Nijmegen, the Netherlands | 24 t/m 29 November 2025
With its final stop of the year, the CELA festival tour arrives at the Wintertuinfestival. Featuring three CELA performances and a Translation Café, the festival brings emerging European voices to the stage in Nijmegen.
Where silence connects
Saturday 29 November
20:30–20:50
Location: LUX 6
Ljiljana D. Ćuk (RS), Lena van Tijen (translator RS-NL), Hanan Faour (NL)
Serbian writer Ljiljana D. Ćuk discusses disconnection, expectation and the fragile distance between people, together with her Dutch translator Lena van Tijen. Moderated by Hanan Faour, this intimate conversation explores how loneliness can form a shared language.
Language for Femicide
Saturday 29 November
22:40–23:00
Location: LUX 7
Valeria Usala (IT), Tessel ten Zweege (NL), Leine Meeus (translator IT-NL)
Italian author Valeria Usala, Italian-Dutch translator Leine Meeus and Dutch author Tessel ten Zweege meet in a charged conversation on fear, autonomy and the language of violence. They look at how women reclaim their place in the night and ask: how do we write about violence without repeating it?
The Nine Months Revolution
Saturday 29 November
23:50–00:15
Location: LUX 7
Yaiza Berrocal (ES), Lies Doms (translator ES-NL)
Spanish author Yaiza Berrocal and translator Lies Doms bring a performance inspired by Berrocal’s novel Curling. Labour becomes ritual, a signature becomes a promise, and rebellion grows from the smallest gesture. A playful and incisive performance that blurs the line between language and body.
Translation Café
With seven CELA translators, moderated by Manon Smits
Friday 28 November
16:00–17:30
Location: LUX 6
In the Translation Café, CELA translators speak with award-winning translator Manon Smits about their practice, visibility in the literary field and the realities of making a living in translation. Together, they explore how translators act as ambassadors for authors and how they build pathways to editors, publishers and magazines.
Participating translators:
Charlotte van Rooden (RO–NL), Małgosia Briefjes (PL–NL), Roman Nesterenco (UKR–NL), Lies Doms (ES–NL), Lysanne Aarsman (CZ–NL), Leine Meeus (IT–NL), Lena van Tijen (BCS–NL).