I was very excited to learn about the job shadowing opportunities that CELA project affords to its staff members. Working as a literary programmer and cultural manager, I have often found that being able to connect to the people who do the same job in a different context can be truly inspiring. An experience like this can change your perspective, provide refreshing insight, and charge you with new energy to fall back on when you come home and get back to your regular work. Considering all that, I was grateful to CELA that the ‘connecting’ part, so crucial to the project’s mission, is not limited to artists’ visit at literary festivals, but extends itself to literary professionals as well.

Having so many wonderful cultural organizations and literary events across Europe to choose from was an embarrassment of riches, but finally I decided to visit Nijmegen and attend the Wintertuin Festival in November. There was a practical component to my decision – the festival takes place after the two major literary events around which my team’s work revolves are over, so it was easier for me to take some time out of office and get in the right headspace to really absorb all the information and make the most of my job shadowing experience. But the most important reason had to do with the programming – I’d learnt about socially engaged projects run by the Wintertuin team and wanted to learn more, as I find this particular aspect of cultural work to be especially important. I was curious to explore the ways in which literature can be a vehicle for social work.

Upon my arrival to Nijmegen, a beautiful city in the Eastern part of the Netherlands, I was given the opportunity to observe the Wintertuin team at work during an admittedly busy period, the festival being just around the corner. I appreciated the time and attention they graciously afforded me, including me in their debriefs and conducting them in English for my benefit. Their workflow and troubleshooting was impressive and, together with the communal spirit in which they operated, sharing meals and creating a friendly, supportive atmosphere, made up for a working environment in which one could thrive.

During my stay, two meetings were arranged with the local literary organizers. The importance of partnerships with NGOs and institutions that make up the rich fabric of cultural and literary life of a community is something that I feel very deeply in my work, and so I was happy to learn about the partnerships of Wintertuin. I went to the local library Library Gelderland Zuid to learn about their educational programmes for the local community. A conversation with their staff vas truly inspiring: there’s no doubt that this library knows how to throw a literary event that appears to the general public, the success of which can be measured in impressive turnout. It reinforced the deep feeling of the importance of libraries in the life of a local community, this particular one being referred to as “the city’s living room”. Creating welcoming spaces for people to enjoy literature is key to popularizing readership as a great pastime activity.

The highlight of my stay at Nijmegen was undoubtedly a meeting with Marjolein Visser about her project Wintertuin Schrijfwerkplaats. The Wintertuin Writing Workspace is an initiative dedicated to aspiring writers with refugee background. As a former aid worker and researcher at a trauma clinic for refugees, Marjolein had a lot of invaluable insights into the ways that cultural work can be fused with social work and how literature can inform projects dedicated to the communities at risk of mariginalization. What made this part special was a meeting with Bala Qadir – a brilliant young writer from Southern Kurdistan who participated in the workshops and was about to perform at the Wintertuin Festival. Talking to Bala about her experience of the project and then seeing her performing her powerful literary work on stage just a few days later was a testament to the richness of talent and experience that people participating in initiatives such as the one spearheaded by Marjolein can bring to artistic projects. I was really moved by this part of my stay.

The Wintertuin Festival was the part of my visit I had been looking forward to the most. The first event from the festival’s programme that I had the opportunity to attend was the conversation with French writer Edouard Louis. It seemed like an ordinary enough format, with the writer sitting on the stage in front of a large audience and answers the host’s questions. However, the writer’s work was presented through multiple lenses by interchanging the hosts in the midst of the discussion, each of them bringing a different perspective: literary, academic and social. This was a preview of sorts of the inventiveness and pacing of the Wintertuin Festival that I was about to experience. Packed with performances, readings and debates, it was a vibrant event that made me reflect not only upon the literature that was presented, but also the dynamics of literary events. Cruising the LUX venue in the city centre, I attended multiple readings and discussions as well as a concert. It would be difficult to pinpoint the highlights of the program itself due to its diversity, but one performance I will surely remember was one by the Palestinian poet Ghayath Almadhoun on his perspective of the idea of Europe. At any given time there was something interesting to take part in. Other festival venues were close by, and I took the opportunity to take a short walk to the Bookstore Roelants and participate in a deeply moving meeting with Ukrainian poet Andri Lyubka, who talked to his translator Roman Nesterenco about the experience of writing in the times of war. The atmosphere of this meeting, held not in a large venue but in a cozy bookshop, was more quiet, with keen audience members gathered around the poet, sitting among the bookshelves and on the stairs – but this proximity created an intimacy that was perhaps even more poignant than the grandeur of the big stage.

Every now and then, switching roles from event organizer to audience member proves crucial to doing the former well, staying in tune with what works. What stood out to me during my visit at the Wintertuin Festival was the diversity of literary voices presented to the audiences over such a short period of time. I really gave one an idea of what a wonderfully rich art form literature can be – something that is the goal for every literary festival organizer. Upon my arrival home, I had a lingering feeling of inspiration and admiration for my colleagues who will this wonderful initiatives into being, making them look so seamless. This visit will surely inform my work in Kraków and the connections made in Nijmegen will last.