Walking: about walking and literature with Midas Dekkers, Henk Schiffmacher, Jeroen Theunissen, Marjoleine de Vos and Bente van de Wouw

Sunday afternoon 25 September International Literature Festival Utrecht - TivoliVredenburg

Wanderlust! On 25 September, during a programme entirely dedicated to walking, Midas Dekkers, Henk Schiffmacher, Jeroen Theunissen, Marjoleine de Vos and Bente van der Wouw will talk about their irrepressible wanderlust. It will be an afternoon full of walking literature, with and for walkers, nature lovers, pilgrims and reveries.

The authors present will talk about the Camino to Santiago de Compostela that Henk Schiffmacher and Bente van de Wouw walked in its entirety and Midas partially.

On the TV programme De Wandeling, Dekkers said: 'The nice thing about walking and a pilgrimage is the detachment. When I want to think about writing a book, it turns out that that pesky body of mine works against me. Then my body has to go to the toilet or it is hungry. If I give my body a simple task, like walking, the body no longer bothers me. And then my brain has its hands free to think.'

For Bente van de Wouw, walking to Santiago de Compostela was therapeutic. In her first book On the road (2022) tells candidly about the severe burnout she faced, and how she managed to pull herself back together by braving the walking route to Santiago de Compostela.

Jeroen Theunissen walked the other way, from south-west Ireland all the way to Bosporus in Turkey, reporting on his book Me = Cartographer in which he casually reflects on present and past Europe, trying to get a grip on our fast-changing world.

In addition, Marjoleine de Vos, avid hiker and author of the hiking essay You looked too far (2020) are present.
Discussion leaders are Roos van Rijswijk and Sander de Kramer. So get your walking shoes out of the closet!

In addition to these talks with writers, there will be music, a literary pilgrimage walk and a writing competition. Walking Time is an event in collaboration with the Camino Academy.

Sunday 25 September 2022
TivoliVredenburg Utrecht
Start 13:00
Tickets €25 / €20 via www.ilfu.com

ILFU - International Literature Festival Utrecht
ILFU is the largest literature festival in the Netherlands as well as a daily online platform for literature. Recurring festival elements are the Book Talks with international authors, literary film screenings, concerts, theatre performances and programmes for new talent such as the NK Poetry Slam. Every year, the Night of Poetry forms the festive conclusion of the festival.
www.ilfu.com