What it means to write about disability: Anaïs Van Ertvelde on representation & liberation

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Anaïs Van Ertvelde explores what it means to write about disability through her essay collection Handicap: Een bevrijding (Disability: A Liberation), which considers both what the world tells us about disability and what disability can tell us about the world.

 

Anaïs Van Ertvelde is a Belgian writer and historian. She teaches at the art college KASK and writes books, essays, columns, and podcasts focusing on sexuality, gender, the body, and disability. In 2024, she released Handicap: Een bevrijding (Disability: A Liberation), which won the prestigious J. Greshoff prize for the best essay in Dutch.

 

Anaïs sat down with Quaid Cey, a recent alumnus of our Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme, to explore her experience as a disabled writer and the process of writing this essay collection. They also explored her approach to writing about sex, her residency in Norwich and what the experience meant to her, as well as the challenges of writing for two different audiences.