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New Suns: A Feminist Literary Festival

An illustration Cecilia Serafini 

A bookfair and day of talks, workshops and screenings, exploring contemporary feminism and technology.

'For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house' – Audre Lorde

New Suns returns to the Barbican for a second year, inviting audiences to explore new and continuing debates in feminist approaches to technology. 

This year’s festival takes inspiration from science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin’s essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, which subverts the dominant narrative of technologically driven ‘progress’.  

The day will include workshops, talks and screenings exploring technofeminism, storytelling, sonic ritual, gender identity, reproductive justice and indigenous knowledge with writers, artists, mystics, poets and academics. In the spirit of the 1980s international feminist bookfairs, there will also be over thirty stalls to explore across Level G, and selected events for free. 

Level G Studio

A designated space for those who want somewhere comfortable to sit and reflect on their day at New Suns. A compilation of books and materials will be available to browse, including titles by contributors to the festival.

You will also find the following inside:

It Sings

An audio essay by Eleni Ikon and Savvas Metaxas examining histories of voice augmentation – and seek to subvert common ideas around what is considered natural or authentic. 

nimiia vibié

A concept album by artist Jenna Sutela which uses soundscapes to connect us to worlds often beyond our ability to comprehend, whether that be bacteria, or outer space. 

Concrete Salon at New Suns

A collection of unique books and zines curated by Natasia Patel and Rebekka Yallop. Original, playful and personal, they traverse themes of place, identity, home and more.

This selection features work by Barbican Young Visual Arts Group alumni; and was first featured in Concrete Salon, a public showcase in April this year.

Machine-Generated Poetry: In Translation

2.30pm

Explore Anglophone bias in AI poetry. A workshop of exercises to translate the poetry of machines into other languages. All are welcome, even if you don’t speak more than one language.

In collaboration with Tilted Axis Press and supported by the Poetry Translation Centre.

Book Stalls

Explore the free bookfair which includes some of the biggest names in publishing: 

And Other Stories, Another Gaze, Book Works, Camp Books, Eiderdown Books, Feminist Library, Fitzcarraldo Editions, Granta, Hachette, HammerOn Press, Ignota Books, Independent Alliance (including Scribe, Daunt and Faber), Les Fugitives, London Review Bookshop, New Humanist, Penguin Random House, Peninsula Press, Peter Owen, Pluto Press, PM Press, PSS, Repeater Books, Semiotext(e) / MIT, Salvage, Silver Press, Strange Attractor, Tank, Tilted Axis Press, The Aleph, The Second Shelf, The White Review, Treadwell’s Books, Urbanomic, Verso, Zed. Plus Inpress (including Jacaranda Books, Offord Road Books, Peepal Tree Press, Penned in the Margins) and Turnaround (including Melville House, Feminist Press, Europa Editions).

Discover

An illustration Cecilia Serafini 

Long Read: Sarah Shin on New Suns

As New Suns: A Feminist Literary Festival returns for a second year, we caught up with its founder, Sarah Shin, to learn more about the festival’s origins, feminist publishing and start to explore some questions in feminist approaches to technology.

New Suns was conceived and created by Sarah Shin

Participants include Nisha Ramayya, Erica Scourti, Rebecca Tamás, Annie Goh, Isabel de Sena, Zadie Xa, Marie Thompson, Judy Wacjman, Cornelia Sollfrank, Mindy Seu, Reni Eddo–Lodge, Nat Raha, Sophie Lewis,  Merve Emre,  Victoria Sin, Tai Shani,  Irenosen Okojie,  Sophia Al-Maria, Frances Morgan and object blue. 

With thanks to: Joanna Biggs, Sarah Braybrooke, Federico Campagna, Akwugo Emejulu, Lizzie Homersham, So Mayer, Sandeep Parmar, Ralph Pritchard, Cecilia Serafini, Alice Spawls, Rebecca Tamás, Jennifer Tighe, Ben Vickers, Kishani Widyaratna.

Level G