Welcome to issue twenty-three of The Attention Span Newsletter by me, Canan “Ja’anan” Marasligil. I’m a writer, a literary translator and an artist based in Amsterdam. Every other week, I take the time to reflect and offer a glimpse of how I see and feel the world through the lens of culture, art, translation, poetry and literature.

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EPISODE 23 SHOW NOTES

In 2021, I had interviewed writer and academic Aminata Cairo for Rekto Verso magazine. My piece was published in Dutch in Aleksandra Hrkic’s translation. I thought about Aminata Cairo’s work on Holding Space a lot these past two weeks, so I thought I would share the never published original English version with you all.

WATCH
This is a great interview with filmmaker Ava DuVernay on how film changes the way we see the world, part of the TEDx talk series. And I am not abandoning the idea of writing about her latest film Origin. I went to see it again, and I am still reflecting on it. I want to write a reflection worthy of all the care and love DuVernay has put it, so I am taking my time.

LISTEN
The following episode of Free Thinking on BBC radio 3 was very interesting: Free speech, censorship and modern China, especially the part about Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China by Yuan Yang. I cannot wait to read this book when it will be out in May.

READ
Work Won’t Love you Back by Sarah Jaffe is a book exploring how devotion to our jobs keeps us exploited, exhausted, and alone. Don’t expect a handbook on how to separate your emotions from your job, this is not a self-help book, it’s much better and deeper. It is very well researched, offering a historical, sociological, cultural and political perspective on definitions of love related to work. It’s an excellent criticism of our capitalist systems that have been using the idea of “love” to exploit us in the workspace.