Versopolis Podcast #25: Connecting through emotion, not belief: Storytelling that cuts through the noise

Ege Dündar and Carlos Egaña are two young poets, writers, thinkers, writivists, each living in a country different from the one of their birth, but who are not afraid to step out into the public sphere to seek out emotional connection and embrace uncomfortable situations. Without them, they say, there is no moving forward. We talked about home, Kafka, how literature inspires them as a tool of social cohesion, brain-rot, AI, doomscrolling, political activism, the importance of listening to taxi drivers, and ultimately, hope.

Ege Dündar (1995) was only 19 when his father was imprisoned in Turkey, altering the course of his life. He has worked for PEN International for eight years and was recently elected the youngest board member in its 100-year history. He supported campaigns with centers to support writers at risk, founded the young writers’ network İlkyaz (Early Spring) rekindling Tomorrow Club and the solidarity series Creative Witnesses, organising artists to support those prosecuted. His poetry collection, All These Things Aren’t Really Lost, was published in 2023.

Carlos Egaña (1995) is a Brooklyn-based Venezuelan writer. He recently earned his MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish at New York University. He has four books in Spanish in print: a novel titled Reggaetón and three poetry collections. He has taught courses at the Department of Humanities of Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, and at the high-school level in several Greater New York institutions. He has written about fine arts, Latin-American politics and pop culture for various Venezuelan and American publications.