Unwanted Words

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Amsterdam
Unwanted Words

Unwanted Words is an award-winning platform for up & coming queer voices working with poetry and spoken word based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Our Queer Poetry Nights series is a space where LGBTQ+ & queer BIPOC can perform and share their stories.

26/08/2026

UTRECHT, you brought the q***r joy! 🌈📚✨

Last Sunday, we brought the Q***r & Feminist Poetry Anthology Vol. II: Q***r Joy & Gender Euphoria Edition to Boekwinkel Savannah Bay for a beautiful Lazy Q***r Sunday.

With readings by Tessa van Rens, Sofia M., Nadia Buiter, Vlinder Verouden & Valentine Roze, hosted by Tal Vaal & Luis Bracamontes, with the support of 💖

We shared poetry, talked about the making of the anthology, and opened the mic to the community. There was softness, laughter, vulnerability, gender euphoria, and lots of q***r joy.

Thank you to everyone who performed, shared, listened, and celebrated with us, and to Boekwinkel Savannah Bay for welcoming us. 🫶

Q***r joy belongs on the page, on the stage, and everywhere in between. 🌈📚

19/08/2026

UTRECHT, meet this Sunday’s line-up! 🌈📚✨

We’re bringing the Q***r & Feminist Poetry Anthology Vol. II: Q***r Joy & Gender Euphoria Edition to Lazy Q***r Sunday by Boekwinkel Savannah Bay, and we’re so excited to share the stage with this beautiful line-up of poets:

✨ Tessa van Rens
✨ Layla Silbernberg
✨ Sofia M.
✨ Nadia Buiter
✨ Vlinder Verouden
✨ Valentine Roze

🎤 Hosted by Tal Vaal & Luis Bracamontes
With the support of

Expect an afternoon of poetry, conversation, and q***r community, featuring readings from poets published in the anthology, a short Q&A with the editorial team about the making of the book, and an open mic where you’re invited to share your own words.

Too often, q***r stories are expected to center struggle. This anthology chooses to celebrate something else: joy, gender euphoria, softness, pride, pleasure, and the beauty of becoming.

📅 Sunday, 23 August
🕔 17:00–18:30 (doors open 16:45)
📍 Boekwinkel Savannah Bay, Utrecht
🎟️ Free entry (tickets via link in bio)

Come listen. Come share. Come celebrate. 🌈

Let’s bring q***r joy beyond the page.

07/08/2026

RECAP: Rejoice! An Act of Resilience ✨

What happens when a group of artists meet just hours before stepping on stage and create something together from scratch? An evening of poetry, theatre, improvisation, laughter, vulnerability and q***r joy at Theater Bellevue.

Together, we explored resilience not just as survival, but as connection, play, gratitude and the choice to keep finding joy.

A huge thank you to our incredible cast:

Nim
Paula Breuning
Leonie de Waal
💅LA LAU SPEAKS✨
Tuaca Kelly

Phillip Melchers Ue

Produced by Leonie de Waal & directed by Tuaca Kelly

Made possible with the support of Gemeente Amsterdam as part of the World Pride celebrations and Theater Bellevue’s Pride Program. 🌈

Thank you to everyone who came to rejoice with us!

📸: Evelina Kvartunaite

21/07/2026

A little recap from our Q***r Poetry Picnic. ❤️

An afternoon of poetry, sunshine, shared snacks, and beautiful conversations. We also took the chance to share our Q***r & Feminist Poetry Anthology Vol. II: Q***r Joy & Gender Euphoria, bringing these poems beyond the page and into community.

Thank you to everyone who joined us. Here’s to creating more free third spaces where q***r people can gather, connect, and simply be.

See you at the next one.

08/03/2026

During the March equinox, day and night will be equally divided. But on the 24th, we welcome your undivided attention for another Q***r Poetry Night hosted by ! 💫

As spring will be arriving and winter is coming to an end, join us in pondering themes such as equality, balance and new beginnings, or anything else you associate with the theme: EQUINOX ☀️🌙

Hope to see you there 🫶

Sign up to perform through the link in bio!

📅 Tuesday, March 24th
🕖 19:00 – 21:45
📍 Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam
🎭 Theme: Equinox

22/02/2026

Wow, Rotterdam, what a night! Thank you so much for having us ❤️

And thank you to all the amazing performers and our incredible host , this would not have been possible without y’all 🫶

We're going to miss you next month, but we'll be back on the 25th of April
In the meantime, check out our other projects and events 💫

Until next time, Rotterdam!

20/02/2026

Only a few weeks left to apply… don’t miss your chance to be featured in this upcoming bilingual poetry book 💛

OPEN CALL: Q***r & Feminist Poetry Anthology Vol II
Q***r Joy & Gender Euphoria Edition 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈
(NOTE: This visual does not represent the final cover or aesthetic of the book)

We’re inviting q***r and/or feminist poets and spoken word artists based in the Netherlands to submit work for the second volume of the Q***r & Feminist Poetry Anthology (Dutch & English).

This edition celebrates q***r joy and gender euphoria as radical, political, and deeply transformative forces. We want this book to feel like a warm community hug: hopeful, tender, messy, playful, defiant, real.

We’re looking for poems and spoken word pieces that move beyond trauma alone and explore pride, softness, freedom, future-making, community care, and the beauty we create together.

📌 Who can submit?
Q***r poets and spoken word artists living in the Netherlands, writing in Dutch and/or English. We especially welcome work from q***r BIPOC, migrants, refugees, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming artists, as well as first-time or early-career publishers.

🗓 Open call launched: Feb 4, 2026
⚠️ Deadline: March 4, 2026
📢 Selected writers announced: April 2026
📚 Publication: Summer 2026

👉 Apply via the link in bio.

Made possible with support from

12/02/2026

At a time when the United States stands at a crossroads—grappling with division, doubt, and the search for common purpose—Ada Limón, the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, offers a language of connection and care.

During this special evening at the Dominicuskerk, we will explore how poetry can hold both love and critique, history and hope—and how it can help a fractured nation imagine itself anew.

Date: March 5th, 2026

Time: 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Location: Dominicuskerk, Korte Korsjespoortsteeg, Amsterdam

For more information and to get your tickets, check out

11/02/2026

The third volume of Poeting Q***r History is coming up! Produced and curated by for Stichting Unwanted Words Projects. We're looking for 4 poets to take the stage alongside a guest historian.

We invite you to reflect on q***r history through your own voice: personal memory, ancestral echoes, historical figures, cultural movements, lost stories, or imagined futures.

All languages and forms of literary expressions are allowed. We’re assembling a diverse and exciting line-up that reflects a range of styles, identities, and relationships to q***r history.

In the picture:
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830 - 1886) was an American poet. Largely unpublished and unknown during her lifetime, her work is now widely regarded as canonical. Her poems have a unique style, piercing intelligence and wit.

Performance Date: 10 April, 8:00PM - 10:00PM
Workshop & Rehearsal Date: 7 April, 7:00PM - 9:00PM (for the curated line up.)
Location: Pakhuis de Zwijger, Piet Heinkade 179 Amsterdam, in the Studio

Sign up through the link in bio!

Adres

Piet Heinkade 179
Amsterdam
1019 HC

Website

http://www.unwantedwords.com/

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