Unwanted Words

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.

During the March equinox, day and night will be equally divided. But on the 24th, we welcome your undivided attention fo...
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

Wow, Rotterdam, what a night! Thank you so much  for having us ❤️ And thank you to all the amazing performers and our in...
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!

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

At a time when the United States stands at a crossroads—grappling with division, doubt, and the search for common purpos...
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

The third volume of Poeting Q***r History is coming up! Produced and curated by  for Stichting Unwanted Words Projects. ...
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!

It's time to bring your most titillating tales and steamiest soliloquies ❤️‍🔥 Romantic, suggestive, or downright erotic....
09/02/2026

It's time to bring your most titillating tales and steamiest soliloquies ❤️‍🔥

Romantic, suggestive, or downright erotic. All are welcome on the next Q***r Poetry Night with the theme: AMOROUS 🫦

Step on the stage and share your passionate poetry, or take a seat in the audience and let yourself fall in love with the verses. Everyone is welcome for the next edition in Amsterdam hosted by the terrific

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

Sign up to perform through the link in bio!

Q***r Poetry Night is back  on the 21st of February! Whether you want to come share your voice or listen to others, ther...
08/02/2026

Q***r Poetry Night is back on the 21st of February!

Whether you want to come share your voice or listen to others, there's a place for you here 💞

When we express the full range of our emotions together and let our creativity flow, magic happens ✨️ Hosted by the iconic , you're in for a treat

📅 Saturday, February 21st
🕖 Doors 19:00 | Start 19:30
📍 Leeszaal Rotterdam West

👉 Wanna perform? Sign up via the registration form and please read our safer space guidelines before stepping into the spotlight.

✨ OPEN CALL ✨Q***r & Feminist Poetry Anthology Vol II. Q***r Joy & Gender Euphoria EditionAre you a q***r and/or feminis...
04/02/2026

✨ OPEN CALL ✨
Q***r & Feminist Poetry Anthology Vol II. Q***r Joy & Gender Euphoria Edition

Are you a q***r and/or feminist poet or spoken word artist based in the Netherlands? We invite you to submit your work for the second volume of the Q***r & Feminist Poetry Anthology.

This bilingual publication (Dutch & English) brings together LGBTQ+ poets and spoken word artists living in the Netherlands. For this edition, we center q***r joy and gender euphoria as radical, political and transformative forces.

We want this book to feel like a warm hug from and for our community. A breath of hope. A reminder of the beauty we can create, share and imagine together. Joy does not need to be loud or perfect. It can be quiet, messy, tender or defiant.

We are looking for poetry and spoken word texts that move beyond trauma alone and explore joy, pride, softness, freedom, gender euphoria, community, care and future-making. Personal, political, playful and experimental voices are welcome.

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

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

👉 Apply via the link in bio.

This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of

Rotterdam q***rs, we are doing poetry again ❤️‍🔥Our Q***r Poetry Nights in Rotterdam return with poems, feelings, and a ...
20/01/2026

Rotterdam q***rs, we are doing poetry again ❤️‍🔥

Our Q***r Poetry Nights in Rotterdam return with poems, feelings, and a mic waiting for you. This is where notebooks open, voices shake, and strangers become familiar.

A monthly open mic for LGBTQIA+ poets, storytellers, and anyone with something to say and a body to say it from.

🎤 Hosted by the iconic

📝 Wanna jump on stage?
Open mic sign-ups open shortly before each event via our website and socials. Limited spots, unlimited feelings.

📅 Rotterdam line-up
21 Jan – Poortgebouw
21 Feb – Leeszaal
25 Apr – Leeszaal
21 May – Poortgebouw
20 Jun – Leeszaal

🕢 19:30

✨ Soft poems. Loud feelings. Q***r magic. ✨

Get your free tickets and sign up to perform in the link in our bio.

Amsterdam, are you ready to come together? ✨Q***r Poetry Nights returns to  for our first Q***r Poetry Night of the year...
13/01/2026

Amsterdam, are you ready to come together? ✨

Q***r Poetry Nights returns to for our first Q***r Poetry Night of the year, opening 2026 with a theme that feels urgent and tender: I N D I V I S I B L E.

In a world that constantly asks us to split, label, and fragment ourselves, this night is an invitation to remember what cannot be separated. Our bodies, our stories, our contradictions. The ways we belong to ourselves and to each other. The parts of us that refuse to be broken apart.

Expect an evening of poetry, spoken word, and q***r brilliance, rooted in solidarity and shared presence. A space where voices meet, differences coexist, and community is not an abstract idea but something we practice together. Hosted and produced by , the night centers care, connection, and collective power.

🧩 Bring us poems about unity, wholeness, interdependence, resistance, chosen family, borders crossed and erased, or the many selves that make up one life. Or ignore the theme entirely and follow the truth that wants to be spoken.

📅 Tuesday, January 27th
🕖 19:00 – 21:45
📍 Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam
🎭 Theme: Indivisible

Let’s begin the year together. No splits. No silence. Indivisible. ✨

Adres

Piet Heinkade 179
Amsterdam
1019 HC

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