Four days at Voices of Friends V taught me something unexpected about creative territories. Not the usual festival insights about networking or inspiration – something rawer.
Watching Kazakhstani poets read alongside British writers, listening to Russian authors translate emotion into English in real-time, I realised we’re all performing translation. Not just linguistic—cultural, generational, personal. Every story becomes a bridge between what happened and what someone else needs to hear.
The creative residency sessions hit differently. Working in small groups, nobody cared about your publication count or Instagram following. Just pure creative problem-solving. A filmmaker from Belarus, a nail artist from London, a poet from Uzbekistan – finding common ground in craft, not credentials.
The most honest conversation happened during the “open microphone” session. No prepared speeches, just authors sharing what actually drives their work. Turns out vulnerability translates across any language barrier.
Flying back to London, I kept thinking about something a writer from Kazakhstan said: “We create because geography taught us that distance means nothing when stories connect.”
Sometimes festivals remind you why you started writing in the first place.
Posted from 30,000 feet, somewhere between Almaty and reality.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
