Of course: Hugo Borst, Suzanne Vega, Herman Koch. Enough reason to travel to Utrecht between 11 and 13 May. But there is much more to experience at the International Literature Festival Utrecht. And it doesn't even always have to do with books.
Let me show you a few things I am definitely looking forward to in festival palace TivoliVredenburg as well.
The venue
A seriously soured Amsterdam man spoke of loneliness and reverberation in TivoliVredenburg in a national daily last Saturday. The anonymous bookworm was unapologetic about the venue in his announcement of the ILFU. Strange, I think, because the upper halls of Utrecht's beautiful music building are precisely the ones that excel in intimacy. The way there, past spectators for other events in the building, feels more like a trip through a beautiful and lively city centre than the sadness this journalist spoke of. Cloud 9 also offers the best view in the city apart from the Cathedral. So come and listen, but above all come and watch.
Man with thick book
Johan Harstad. Who doesn't know him. Launched himself at once to the heaven of Scandinavian literature with 'Buzz Aldrin, where have you gone'. That was 2006. And now there's his latest book, and it just so happens to count 1,200 pages. Max, Mischa & the Tet Offensive is one of those books that, in all its awesomeness, is still sure to be read too quickly. Binge reading, we call it, the Netflix of literature. Oh, and Arjan Lubach interviews him. A fan. Start reading in now, you can be ready by Saturday.
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Also on Saturday: Nino Haratischwili. By now so well known that her name effortlessly passes spell check. The young (1983) German-Georgian writer's masterpiece is 100 pages more than Harstad's book, but 'The Eighth Life' is a quick read. Whoever said that in this day and age long cannot be short enough, read this book. Short cannot be long enough.
[bol_product_links block_id=”bol_5912ebdfe877d_selected-products” products=”9200000059720663,9200000066191172″ name="ilfu" sub_id="nino" link_color="003399″ subtitle_color="000000″ pricetype_color="000000″ price_color="CC3300″ deliverytime_color="009900″ background_color="FFFFFF" border_color="D2D2D2″ width="526″ cols="2″ show_bol_logo="0″ show_price="1″ show_rating="1″ show_deliverytime="1″ link_target="1″ image_size="1″ admin_preview="1″]Intensity on the square metre
Only 112 pages is the novella Poison, but that does not stop Argentine author Samantha Schweblin from taking the reader on an amazing journey. Dialogues that hide dialogues, images that meander and then also a haunting tale of how, through sheer laziness, we drive ourselves and those around us out of life. Schweblin comes to talk about her stormy career on Friday 12 May.
[bol_product_links block_id=”bol_5912ec5e23542_selected-products” products=”9200000055051532,9200000055642663″ name="ilfu" sub_id="gif" link_color="003399″ subtitle_color="000000″ pricetype_color="000000″ price_color="CC3300″ deliverytime_color="009900″ background_color="FFFFFF" border_color="D2D2D2″ width="500″ cols="2″ show_bol_logo="0″ show_price="1″ show_rating="1″ show_deliverytime="1″ link_target="1″ image_size="1″ admin_preview="1″]Translate a Chinese
So we never actually read Chinese writers. While world power China has so much to offer. On Thursday, three experts will debate why Chinese literature is not translated into Dutch. In this way, I hope to get an answer to the question of what this enormous country has to offer in terms of literature. Because only through each other's books can you really understand each other. That seems far-fetched, but it is not. So a trip to TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht will save you the cost of a plane ticket and a few tonnes of CO2. So go.
[bol_product_links block_id=”bol_5912eccae1ce4_selected-products” products=”9200000009647108,9200000009952628,9200000009984326,1001004001954512,9200000015349648,666845572,1001004001568372,1001004001315500″ name="ilfu" sub_id="china" link_color="003399″ subtitle_color="000000″ pricetype_color="000000″ price_color="CC3300″ deliverytime_color="009900″ background_color="FFFFFF" border_colour="D2D2D2″ width="600″ cols="2″ show_bol_logo="0″ show_price="1″ show_rating="1″ show_deliverytime="1″ link_target="1″ image_size="1″ admin_preview="1″]ILFU takes place at TivoliVredenburg from 11 to 13 May. Tickets are still available.
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