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Vietnam

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3:00 PM

The Body Between Isolation and Connection

Panel Discussion|Shifting Identities and Spaces

  • University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi

  • Vietnamese - English (with simlutanoeus translation)
  • Registration to participate
  • Part of series: European Literature Days 2026
Registration to participate

HAN 20260508 1500 © Goethe-Institut Hanoi

HAN 20260508 7360 © Goethe-Institut Hanoi

Space is not merely where we exist; it is an arena where our bodies constantly collide, negotiate, and are reshaped. When our physical coordinates shift, whether we are journeying through uncharted lands or confined within a cramped urban room, our personal identities and cultural veneers are instantly stripped back and reconfigured. When the body falls out of step with its surrounding world, does it engender a sense of alienation within one's own skin, deepening our solitude? Or is this perpetual friction precisely what restructures our very identity?

In this panel, three authors from distinct literary coordinates convene to dissect the friction between the body and its environment. We will join Miku Sophie Kühmel in revisiting memory-laden physical spaces where characters are forced into confrontation; step with Rebecca Watson into the claustrophobia of city life, where the body is stifled by invisible traumas and the overwhelming rhythm of the metropolis; and follow Thibault Clemenceau on the restless journeys of a willing traveler, an act that compels the body to continuously translate itself to engage with diverse cultures.

The speakers will discuss how literature centers the body in narrative, minutely examining how human flesh becomes an archive of trauma, forever negotiating with physical, historical, cultural, and digital spaces.

This event is part of European Literature Days, an annual literary festival organised by the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) in Vietnam.

Speakers

  • Miku Sophie Kühmel was born in Gotha, Germany in 1992. They studied briefly in New York and longer in Berlin, where they now live and work. After publications in anthologies and magazines, their debut novel "Kintsugi" was published in 2019, for which Miku was awarded the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Literature Prize 2019 and the "aspekte" Literature Prize 2019. They have received scholarships from the Alfred Döblin House of the Academy of Arts, among others. In 2022, their second novel "Triskele" was published, with which Miku was nominated for the Clemens Brentano Prize 2023. After publishing their first anthology „Brüste“ with Linus Giese, working in several residencies such as Reykjavík (with the Goethe Institute of Denmark) or Vienna and diving into the world of theatre with the Deutsches Theater atelier project „Fellwechsel“, Miku published their latest novel „Hannah“ in 2025. It was particularly well received in the press, or as FAZ put it: „Kühmel gives Hannah Höch back one half of her life."

  • Rebecca Watson (she/her) is a novelist. Her debut novel little scratch (2021) was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize and was adapted into a play in London. Her second novel I Will Crash was published in 2024 to critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Watson's non-fiction has been published widely, including in the Guardian, Granta and British Vogue. In 2022, she presented a documentary for Radio 4 — where her short stories have also aired. She is a commissioning editor and columnist for FT Weekend and lives in London. The Vietnamese edition of little scratch (XƯỚC XÁT) is published by Coral Books.

  • Thibault Clemenceau is a traveler and a writer born in 1989 in France. He moved to Vietnam in 2014. His love for the outdoors and cycling naturally led him to undertake long-distance journeys. In 2019, he embarked with his wife, Trân Nguyên Khanh Nguyên, on a 16,000 km honeymoon from France to Vietnam crossing some countries such as Iran, India and Myanmar.
    His book written about this adventure, Un Duo Vers l’Inconnu, received the René Caillé Award for the best adventure book

  • Nguyen Thuy Linh is a lecturer currently working at the Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

Moderator

Maik Cây

Maik Cây is an independent writer and filmmaker, and a member of the radical art collective Tiếng-Thét (The Scream). They are a seeker of impossible transformations — someone who tries to turn the world inside out, peel back the darkness, or drag boats over mountaintops. They currently live and work in Hanoi.