VPRO's Katja de Bruin is a professional reader. 'Pieced together,' she finds the famous writer Zadie Smith: 'I never want to interview that one again. That's such a diva. I understand it too. She's been interviewed so many times.'
Therefore, unlike her fellow professional readers, she had no need to queue up for Peter Buwalda, who was interviewed about his new book by just about every newspaper and radio programme last week.
When you are piece interviewed, it is not crazy if you start saying the same things over and over again. You can't blame anyone for that. But still, people fall through a bit. Listening to someone recite the same anecdote over and over again is extremely annoying.
To eliminate the risk of a previously heard statement, I visited on Bookfest halls without broken people. Surprising and mostly fun, even if you think books are actually something for home.
Pill for despondency
Upon entering, a staff member offered jars of 'pills for political despondency'. The red strip of paper, which came out after some wriggling, read: 'The more wildly they insist in The Hague that others are hell the more necessary are the small heavenly gestures between people who share porches, fences and streets (and terraces, playgrounds and trains, schoolyards and waiting rooms) - from the Action pack Get moving by Gerda Blees.
The pill was badly needed. Bookfest was a good remedy for despondency, but despair was first well stoked by talking to doctor Salih El Saddy, who worked in Gaza for a month and wrote the book about it Today was again worse than yesterday wrote. He was emotional, the audience was emotional. To a question from the audience whether he still had hope, he said 'yes'. Because the Gazans were not giving up, he had seen.
'Hey, Mattie!'
How do Surinamese-Dutch writers view Surinamese independence, was the question in Pandora hall. Karin Amatmoekrim, Chris Polanen, Guus Pengel and Xillan Macrooy had an animated conversation about the bond they had, and have, with Suriname and Surinamese writers and how it changes over time.
Guus Pengel, when he moved back to the Netherlands after the coup, had been amazed that all those Surinamese people behaved so Dutch, as if they were completely transformed, but after so many years in the Netherlands, he knew how much he still carried with him from Suriname. Moreover, he saw that it was cross-pollination. With his remark that the Dutch finally knew how to pronounce the 'w' these days, he scored a fat laugh from the audience. And white boys say "Hey, mattie!" to each other.
Never rich
Xilian Macrooy was the youngest at the table. After a period when he had indulged in American and European literary heroes, he had delved into Surinamese literature. He read from his novel People as suns and people as moons, a nice scene about a visit to the hairdresser. About machismo in Suriname, which Chris Polanen had also struggled with.
At the discussion table, they all knew the story of Michaël Slory, a Surinamese poet who received many awards but never got rich from them and sold his work on the streets.
What we do Archives And now the dream is over... IDFA 1997 And now the dream is over...
No piece-meal people at this table. Virtually none of what I heard I had heard before.
Coincidence
VPRO had its own room in Tivoli Vredenburg for the filming of VPRO Books. Professional reader Katja de Bruin spoke there about her reading history and her choices. She gives book tips that guide readers safely around the trap of bestsellers and offers an attractive selection from the overwhelming supply of 'other' books. She reads a lot of women, also likes light and entertaining and is not averse to humour: 'I hope to make up for the fact that the attention always goes to the same ones.'
Anjet Daanje discovered them by chance. She gets piles of books sent to her that she cannot possibly read them all, but she browses through them and sometimes she is gripped by a book that has not yet been reviewed anywhere. That's how it went, for instance, with Elena Ferrante's The Prodigal Daughter.
The role of writer
'I am often the first reader. I have to rely on my own insight. Sometimes I think: is this really beautiful or is it kitsch? Fortunately, I can trust myself.'
Preference for one writer over another she certainly has. At the Libris literature prize, she had every opportunity to look around her carefully. She saw how Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer and Tommy Wieringa could play the role of writer masterfully, making them a welcome guest in the media. Katja de Bruin herself prefers a 'born writer' like Anjet Daanje: a bit unworldly, a writer who would rather write than appear in De Slimste Man sits. And to someone like Robert Welagen, introverted and a good writer, but often ignored by the press.
Those who want to get away from the familiar names can subscribe to the newsletter that Katja de Bruin has under her belt: VPRO Book Guide Also nothing wrong with tips from a few years ago, of course, if you have decided to stay away from the hypes.
Masculinity myth
Only at the otherwise very entertaining Trouw debate 'Het gevaar van de man', with Anja Meulenbelt, Maaike Meijer and Iris Pronk, biographer of Renate Dorrestein, did I hear a few anecdotes I had heard before. (Has Anja Meulenbelt been interviewed to pieces?) From now on, Maaike Meijer threatened, she would not put up with having to address a room full of women. Women only get in if they bring a man. 'You shouldn't give up on men,' she said. 'Those are stuck in their own masculinity myth and need a new story.'
She had probably said that somewhere before, too, but in this case it did not matter.
