Literary festival ILFU adds new festival day on hot topics of our time 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Lale Gül, Roberto Saviano and Alfred Birney, among others, make their appearance in Utrecht

Saturday 25 September will see the first edition of Exploring Stories: a special festival day at ILFU dedicated to the 'hot topics', or current issues of our time. At Exploring Stories, topics such as climate, inequality, old and new colonialism, feminism and the power of fiction will take centre stage. A unique ensemble of foreign and Dutch writers will discuss these topics with each other and the audience, either live or online. The programme of the Utrecht festival includes Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Lale Gül, Roxane Gay, Roberto Saviano, Jeanette Winterson, Tahar Ben Jelloun and Alfred Birney. 

Valhalla for literature lovers

Exploring Stories takes place on Saturday 25 September from 2pm at TivoliVredenburg. It promises to be a Valhalla for literature lovers, with a full programme on a variety of major themes. Well-known foreign and Dutch authors will make their appearance in Utrecht. The Italian journalist and author Roberto Saviano (Gomorrah) engages with writer Désanne van Brederode On truth and crime. The American writer and cultural critic Roxane Gay speaks to interviewer and writer Samya Hafsaoui On representation and privilege. The British author Jeanette Winterson speaks with essayist Miriam Rasch On friction, data and AI: the intelligence of the future. The Cameroonian writer Imbolo Mbue (How beautiful we were, about the struggle of a fictional African village against an American oil company) talks to writer and director Rebekah de Wit of the performance The Shell case. Caroline Lamarche and Manon Uphoff engage in conversation following their novels about subversive relationships and sexual abuse. Award-winning writer and frequent Twitter user Joyce Carol Oates speaks with author Kristien Hemmerechts On how language shapes the world. Today's greatest Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun is interviewed by Abdelkader Benali On his latest book Le miel et l'amerture. With writer Lisa Weeda we discuss the role of fiction in portraying the politics and history of a country, in her case Ukraine. Alfred Birney and Gustaaf Peek talk about old and new colonialism. And writers Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Lale Gül talk to each other about the pursuit of freedom and independence and the impossibility of the way back.

#WhyFictionMatters 

Festival director Michaël Stoker explains why the ILFU has added this new festival day, based on this year's festival Why Fiction Matters. 'If the past year has shown anything, it is that the big issues of our time are all intertwined,' says Stoker. 'Climate change, globalisation, capitalism and racial, cultural and economic inequality are global problems for which there is no single solution. Science and journalism may chart reality, but much remains that we cannot see. Literature searches for the truth behind the observable facts and shows how the world would can are. On September 25, we will give imagination plenty of room.'

Exploring Stories, Saturday 25 September 2021, 2pm-7pm, TivoliVredenburg. Then, at 20.00, the Book Talk with Édouard Louis will take place, in which Sinan Çankaya will talk to Louis about social inequality following his new book Struggle and metamorphosis of a woman. Combination tickets are available for those wishing to attend both Exploring Stories and Édouard Louis' Booktalk in the evening. For the full programme and tickets, see: 

https://www.ilfu.com/evenement/ilfu-exploring-stories/ 

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ILFU 2021: Why Fiction Matters

Taking place in Utrecht from 23 September to 2 October, ILFU's theme is Why Fiction Matters. Utrecht has been a UNESCO City of Literature since 2017. The ILFU opens with the Belle van Zuylen lecture, this year written by Elena Ferrante, and ends with the Night of Poetry. In between, there are countless programmes: from the YALFU to the NK Poetry Slam, from the Storytelling Competition to the Maya Angelou film programme and Who We Are programmes on Morocco; live Book Talks by Édouard Louis, Deborah Levy and Max Porter, among others, and the not-to-be-missed festival day 'Exploring Stories'. On 30 September it will be announced who will be awarded the C.C.S. Crone Stipendia, the literary incentive awards of the Municipality of Utrecht.