WOOLF ARTS ARCHIVE

On March 6, 2025, the inaugural major public event of the Woolf Arts Archive, “Following an Author’s Trail: Virginia Woolf, the Woolf Arts Archive and Freshwater: A Comedy” symposium, was held in Ankara. As a platform dedicated to collecting and celebrating artistic interpretations inspired by Virginia Woolf, the archive brought together scholars, artists, and theatre practitioners to explore Woolf’s enduring influence across different art forms. The symposium featured a rich exchange of ideas with numerous talks addressing themes also relevant to International Women’s Day. The sessions ranged from the WAA’s creative role to Woolf’s artistic and cultural legacy, including her female characters and the afterlife of her works. A highlight of the symposium was the Woolf Arts Archive’s performance of the third staged reading of Freshwater in Turkish.​​

The event was hosted by TED University’s Department of English Language and Literature, and supported by TEDU WIL (TED University Women in Literature).

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Featured talks included:

• “Following an Author’s Trail: Virginia Woolf and Woolf Arts Archive” by Prof. Dr. Mine Özyurt Kılıç.

• “A Shell of Many Layers: Woolf Arts Archive and the Snail’s Journey” by Atahan Mahir Karabiber.

• “From Drops to Waves: Woolf Arts Archive as a Basin” by Tuğba Çanakçı.

• “Dimbola Lodge as a Precursor to the Bloomsbury Group” by Nidanur Yıldırım.

• “Flawed Eyes and Faces Behind the Visible: Julia Margaret Cameron, Diane Arbus, Vivian Maier & Cindy Sherman” by Independent Artist/Curator Can Akgümüş.

• “Representation of Female Characters in Fictional Texts” by Dr. Abdullah Özdemir.

• “Freshwater as a Play” by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Z. Gizem Yılmaz.

• “Waves Hitting the Stage: Translating Woolf” by Dr. Ercan Gürova.​​