What changes in the world when, at some point, you can no longer hear it? Writer, artist, and policy advisor Mirthe Berentsen is late-deafened and reflects from a body that inhabits multiple languages at once: spoken, written, and signed. Berentsen grew up in a hearing world, with spoken language, unaware that an entirely different world existed where she could also live. Learning sign language feels as if she always had the key to a house, but only later discovered where it stood. In her keynote for Poetry International, she explores that house and what can be learned from the in-between space, of gestures that cannot exist without other bodies, of a grammar formed in the air between people, and of language made with your hands.
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Please note:<\/strong> the guests use Dutch Sign Language (NGT) and spoken Dutch. The conversation is translated into International Sign (IS), NGT and spoken Dutch.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"event_date":"2026-06-07","footnotes":""},"venue":[267],"event_type":[113,105],"route":[],"class_list":["post-1182","event","type-event","status-publish","hentry","venue-lantarenvenster-6","event_type-performance","event_type-program"],"acf":{"event_location":267,"event_location_source":{"label":"Locatie","type":"taxonomy","formatted_value":267},"event_category":[105,113],"event_category_source":{"label":"Categorie","type":"taxonomy","formatted_value":[105,113]},"language":["ngt"],"language_source":{"label":"Voertaal","type":"select","formatted_value":[{"value":"ngt","label":"Nederlandse gebarentaal (NGT)"}]},"spoken_languages":"Dutch Sign Language","spoken_languages_source":{"label":"Gesproken talen","type":"text","formatted_value":"Dutch Sign Language"},"language_label":"spoken","language_label_source":{"label":"Label","type":"select","formatted_value":"Gesproken talen"},"subtitles":["dutch","english"],"subtitles_source":{"label":"Boventiteling","type":"select","formatted_value":["Nederlands","Engels"]},"has_interpreter":true,"has_interpreter_source":{"label":"Tolk NGT\/Schrijftolk","type":"true_false","formatted_value":true},"poets":[713],"poets_source":{"label":"Dichters","type":"relationship","formatted_value":[{"ID":713,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2026-04-01 09:15:57","post_date_gmt":"2026-04-01 08:15:57","post_content":"\n Mirthe Berentsen (NLD) is a writer, artist, and policy advisor with a background in comparative literature, linguistics, and politics. Her progressive deafness serves as a lens to explore the intersection of language, liminality, and care. In 2026, two new books will be published: a poetic inquiry into language and family with Das Mag, and a conversation with artist Christine Sun Kim at the London-based publisher \" \".<\/p>\n\n\n\n How you may know this artist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n