A FUTURE FILLED WITH HOPEFUL STORIES
Ten Dutch and Flemish authors have written hopeful stories for the future for the project entitled 2084 - De toekomst is hoopvol. The result has been encapsulated in a book published in September 2021: Over morgen - Andere verhalen over de toekomst (About Tomorrow – Other Stories About the Future).
Six of these authors will be presenting the project in pairs, also reading from (parts of) their stories and discussing the importance of hopeful stories about the future. Every day during the festival, a pair of writers will discuss the theme, moderated by literary studies scholar Jesse van Amelsvoort. The pairs are: Simone Atangana Bekono & Jens Meijen (Friday), Arnon Grunberg & Fiep van Bodegom (Saturday) and Lize Spit & Rebekka de Wit (Sunday). The programme promises to be interesting, we're looking forward to it!
We are presenting this project together with – among others – the Vlaams-Nederlands huis voor cultuur en debat deBuren from Brussels. Project 2084 is a Greentrack Gent initiative.
Programme
Fri 19 Nov | 21:30 - 22:30 | Waalse Kerk
Simone Atanga Bekono & Jens Meijen
Sat 20 Nov | 14:00 - 15:00 | De Westerkerk
Arnon Grunberg & Fiep van Bodemgom
Sun 21 Nov | 15:30 - 16:30 | De Westerkerk
Lize Spit & Rebekka de Wit
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Arnon Grunberg (b. 1971) is a Dutch writer and actor. He made his literary debut in 1994 with Blauwe maandagen (Blue Mondays) and later achieved even greater fame with his book Tirza (2010), which also was made into a film. He usually writes under the name Arnon Grunberg, but also used a pen name for some time, publishing as Marek van der Jagt. He regularly writes columns for Dutch dailies, such as NRC Handelsblad and de Volkskrant.
Fiep van Bodegom (b. 1984) writes for the Dutch weekly magazine De Groene Amsterdammer and is on the editorial board of the Dutch literary magazine De Gids.
Simone Atangana Bekono (b. 1991) is a poet who made her 2017 debut with a book of poetry entitled Hoe de eerste vonken zichtbaar waren (How the first sparks became visible). In 2019, Dutch daily de Volkskrant named her as one of the literary talents for 2020. That year saw the publication of her novel entitled Confrontaties (Confrontations), focusing on discrimination and racism. The book received several awards.
Jens Meijen (b. 1996) is a writer, literary scholar and political scientist. He conducts research into nationalism and populism at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven). In addition, he works as a journalist and reviewer at Belgian weekly Humo and is a key editor for literary magazine DW B. His work has been published in Revisor, #Viralen, deFusie, Hard//hoofd, Deus Ex Machina and Het Liegend Konijn. Meijen was the first-ever Jonge Dichter des Vaderlands van België (Young Poet Laureate of Belgium). His 2019 debut collection of poetry entitled Xenomorf was awarded the C. Buddingh’ Prize, while he was also nominated for the poetry debut award Aan Zee. His debut novel De lichtjaren (The Light Years) was published this summer.
Lize Spit (1988) is a poet and writer. She has published short stories and poetry in various magazines, while her first novel Het smelt (It's Melting) appeared in 2016, which was also translated into English. She read parts of her book for the Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen production of Aladdin en De Wolf (Aladdin and the Wolf). A film version of Het smelt is scheduled to be released in 2022.
Rebekka de Wit (b. 1985) is a writer and theatre maker. Her debut novel appeared in 2015, entitled We komen nog één wonder tekort (We're Still One Wonder Short). She has worked as a columnist since 2016 and is artistic director of the De Tijd theatre ensemble.