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Mourning

Zeruya Shalev wrote a beautiful novel about mourning: 'I felt the pain as if it happened to me'

Met een fijne, precieze pen schrijft de Israëlische Zeruya Shalev (63) over menselijke relaties. Haar nieuwe roman Lot gaat over wat dierbaren bindt en uit elkaar drijft, en over de verschillende gezichten van rouw. Zinnen die geschreven willen worden Voor sommige schrijvers begint een boek met een beeld, een prangende vraag of een personage dat zich aandient. Voor Zeruya Shalev, een… 

The child without a father became a father without a child. Auke Hulst wrote a novel about mourning an unborn child

Het is misschien wel zijn meest ambitieuze roman tot nu toe, en tegelijk de eerste waarover hij eigenlijk liever niet wil praten. In De Mitsukoshi Troostbaby Company snijdt schrijver Auke Hulst (46) namelijk een gevoelig en persoonlijk thema aan: de rouw om een ongeboren kind. Nabije toekomst  De Mitsukoshi Troostbaby Company is een roman zoals alleen Auke Hulst die schrijft.… 

How writer Maartje Wortel was confronted with herself: 'I was literally and figuratively running the same laps over and over again.'

For five years, writers Maartje Wortel and Niña Weijers walked endless laps through the Oosterpark every day. When that suddenly came to an end, Wortel was suddenly confronted with herself in a big way. 'I didn't feel I had anything to hold on to anymore'. Cheerfully waving, Maartje Wortel (38) approaches, a full bag of groceries in hand. 'Not handy no, for a walking interview,' observes... 

David Grossman: 'I know what it's like to live on with trauma'

More than 20 years ago, David Grossman's phone rang. A woman named Eva Panić Nahir had some things to say about an article he had published in an Israeli newspaper. Grossman smiles at the memory. 'What my piece was about I don't remember, I do remember that she thought I had not gone far enough in my criticism of the government. I did find it refreshing to be attacked for once by someone from the left, instead of - as usual - the right wing.'

Lazarus in Nederlandse première: it’s Valentine’s Day!

Voor ik iets inhoudelijks zeg over Lazarus, zondag 13 oktober dé musicalpremière voor mensen die nooit naar musicals gaan, een paar misverstanden de wereld uit. Allereerst, het album Blackstar, dat David Bowie drie dagen voor zijn dood op 11 januari 2016 uitbracht, is níet de soundtrack van Lazarus, de musical van zijn hand die een maand voor zijn dood uitkwam.… 

Wereldberoemd ‘broddelwerk’ – waarom Monets waterlelies en blauweregens nog steeds zo bijzonder zijn

Vroeger vond men het drie keer niks, tegenwoordig zijn de schilderijen van waterlelies en blauweregens de beroemdste doeken van de Franse schilder Claude Monet. We bezochten zijn tuinen in Giverny en keken even door de ogen van de meester. Mokken en sokken Denk je aan de schilder Claude Monet, dan gaan de eerste gedachten waarschijnlijk uit naar diens kleurrijke doeken… 

First aid for blaze. Rudolf Escher offers solace with Musique pour l'esprit en deuil

Monday 15 April 2019, this date is forever etched in our memory. I couldn't keep dry at the images of the all-consuming fire at Notre-Dame de Paris. Like millions of others, I sat glued to my screen for hours with bated breath: this cannot be true! When the structure, the rose windows and even the organ turned out to be saved, I jumped... 

'For a long time, history has mainly been presented from a male perspective.'

Her debut novel became an instant bestseller in Spain. The Last Gift of Paulina Hoffmann by Carmen Romero Dorr is a novel based partly on her own family history about Paulina, who emigrates from Germany to Spain as a young girl because of World War II. 'About her past, her experiences during the war, my grandmother never wanted to talk.' A beautiful family epic, that is The Last... 

Why Noorderzon is the Groningeniest festival in the Netherlands.

Sometimes there is a gap in the strolling crowd in Groningen's Noorderplantsoen. Often this is due to a local resident with muscle-dog, who continues to make his daily round despite the crowds. It is one of those funny things that give Noorderzon its very own character, as the most Groningen-like of all summer festivals in our country. There is... 

'Black' is unique collection of 'Afropean' literature: 'African-Dutch authors are directly compared to black American writers.'

The book may be called 'Black', but the stories collected in it make it clear that there are as many shades of black, as white and everything in between. We, and by that I mean myself and my largely white network, just need to look more closely. And listen. Take Olave Nduwanje's story, titled Imana Ikurinde (God save you), in the middle of the book. The... 

'Get well.' Grief therapist Julia Samuel on 'Grief work'

How should you grieve? Is there any way to grieve, or are you at the mercy of fate? How do you deal with someone in grief? Grief therapist Julia Samuel has been helping people who have lost a loved one for 25 years. By now, she knows how to and, more importantly, how not to. In March this year, a few days before... 

João Ricardo Pedro on living on after missing: 'I want to repay my debt'

On 11 September 1985, the biggest train disaster in Portuguese history occurred. Near Alcafache, an international express train collided with a local boom train. Nothing was ever recovered from dozens of passengers. They were totally charred in the scorching inferno. Portuguese writer João Ricardo Pedro, in his stunning novel Underway, reconstructs how one of those missing ended up in that place where... 

How Heather Ware's language mistake led to an entire dance work courtesy of Bach

What does it mean for a dancer with an intense career when she decides to choreograph as well? March saw the premiere of Battle Abbey, Heather Ware's first full-length choreography in collaboration with Swedish cellist Jakob Korányi. Heather Ware, a dancer with LeineRoebana since 2003, embarked on the path to creating her own choreography without a plan.... 

Als je een broer of zus verliest. Over het verdriet van de ‘vergeten rouw’

Mijn vader stierf in 1997. Hij kwam uit een gezin met tien kinderen, waarvan er vijf inmiddels zijn overleden. Mijn tante Minke schreef daar een boek over: Broederziel alleen? Het boek maakte veel emoties los en kende in korte tijd acht herdrukken. Het verdriet om een overleden broer of zus bleek vergeten rouw. In het Engels worden de rouwenden forgotten… 

Michel van der Aa transcends himself in opera Blank Out

As soon as soprano Miah Persson enters the stage, we hear a loud, electronic crack. Is a branch breaking here, one of composer Michel van der Aa's (Oss, 1970) favourite sounds? Or is it a stone crashing into another after all? Boulders play a major role in his latest opera Blank Out; at the end, they crush with thunderous roar 

José Eduardo Agualusa: 'I will not be silenced'

Writing cost him his marriage, he is being shadowed by the secret service and risks being arrested in Angola. But José Eduardo Agualusa, who has a chance of winning the 2016 Man Booker International Prize with his new novel A General Theory of Forgetting, does not hesitate to put down his pen. 'I won't let myself... 

Moisio's choreography 'Mum's the Word' makes you yearn for peace and freedom

Mothers and daughters: is there a closer bond? Their lives are an extension of each other. Mother treads the same path her daughter will later follow. She is a friend, to whom one can always fall back. But underneath, a suffocating power struggle rages, in which they hold and attack each other. Jealousy and competition gnaw at the domestic idyll. Escape is impossible. It is a... 

An Eco is an Eco is an Eco

'Someone like Umberto is of greater value on earth than in heaven.' Actor Roberto Benigni, known for films like La vita è bella, said goodbye to his friend Umberto Eco (1932-2016) at his funeral at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan on Tuesday. Eco's grandson also spoke and thanked his grandfather for the stories told, the crossword puzzles, the books and music... 

Queues to the door for Knausgård at Winternachten #wu16 #wn16

Lots of audience and wonderful stories made the Saturday of the literary festival Winternachten a party. For the visit of Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård in the afternoon, queues stretched from the auditorium to the front door of the Theater aan het Spui. The festival's evening programming was also well attended. While American-German philosopher Susan Neiman spoke in... 

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