"Over the past two-and-a-half years, I have started making choices. Where ten years ago I thought of going into life as a dance teacher, now the question is: do I really want to? What makes me happy, what do I want to share with the people around me?" For Lotte Willemsma, the first two years of the Corona pandemic were...
Poet, writer and columnist Vrouwkje Tuinman will receive this year's C.C.S. Crone Prize. This will add her name to an honourable list of Utrecht authors who received this literature prize before her, including Manon Uphoff, Arthur Japin and Maxim Februari. "The C.C.S. Crone Prize is a special appreciation for a talented writer," said culture councillor Eva Oosters. "Utrecht is known worldwide as a city of literature....
Ik zeg toch sorry a theatre production by Theatre Group Aluin and Raymi Sambo Makes about Keti Koti, the day celebrating the (official) abolition of slavery, will be shown in Dutch theatres from the end of September. At a time when more and more municipalities and organisations are openly apologising for the slavery past or letting their own role in this period be...
On 23 September, ILFU, in collaboration with Spanish art collective Luzinterruptus, will open the festival with a river of books that will fill the Minrebroederstraat in the centre of Utrecht for one day. On the same day, the 10 writers scattered across 10 districts of Utrecht in recent months for Woord900 and organisation Mooie Woorden will present their stories. Literature vs....
Sunday afternoon 25 September International Literature Festival Utrecht - TivoliVredenburg Wanderlust! On 25 September, during a programme entirely devoted 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 of walking literature, with and for walkers, nature lovers, pilgrims and reveries. The featured authors will talk about...
This summer, the ILFU Storytelling Competition will be organised for the third time. The Netherlands' only interdisciplinary storytelling competition is open to stories in all forms. Prose, films, poetry, photography, non-fiction, columns, comics, spoken word, music or TikToks: all stories are welcome. Because at ILFU, we believe good stories can be told in all kinds of ways. There are five categories to enter in...
Shabnam and Theatre Group Aluin meet as part of her directorial internship on the performance I say sorry. Aluin considers it important to give young people with an interest in text theatre the opportunity to develop as autonomous creators. Being able to create alongside your writing can be a great added value. This residency gives Shabnam...
The Hot Peaches is a new coming-of-age production by DOX and the Toneelmakerij. Director Timothy de Gilde makes the performance in co-creation with eight performers with diverse backgrounds, both private and in artistry. Each brings their own discipline and together they shape a multifaceted performance, sharing their history of finding and shaping their...
American writer Jonathan Franzen will give a Book Talk on the opening day of the International Literature Festival Utrecht (ILFU). Also present live in Utrecht will be Olivia Laing, Sharon Dodua Otoo, Ayelet Gundar Goshen, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Tash Aw. ILFU takes place from 23 September to 8 October. Jonathan Franzen broke through internationally in 2001 with his masterpiece The Corrections, for which...
Theatre Kikker is 50 and that deserves a celebration! For audiences, makers and for everyone from the city who does not yet know Theater Kikker very well. From Saturday 1 to Sunday 9 October 2022, Utrecht will be treated to theatrical explosions, pop-up performances, out-of-the-box work and epic DJs. It will be a week of celebration with a touch of nostalgia, a...
"Miss, please give me the minister!". Henk Vonhoff's voice sounded as commanding as it was eloquent as he addressed his secretary over the intercom. Vonhoff was commissioner of the Queen in Groningen, but also chairman of the supervisory committee of the Groningen State University of Applied Sciences, the only college still directly under the minister. We, faculty directors, were at... for the umpteenth time.
Various continents, at least three world languages and some seven centuries cover the unexpected nominations for the Filter Translation Prize 2022, which will be awarded on 28 September during the International Literature Festival Utrecht (ILFU). They are all striking and exceptional achievements, according to the jury, which also scoured the world for scents and forgotten languages. And it hangs...
Ministers of the Rutte IV cabinet will be given a list of novels that will be helpful in the performance of their duties. The list will be compiled by readers of the new online literature platform ilfu.com and a 'literary shadow cabinet' of writers who will each write an open letter to the ministers. Among others, Philip Huff, Manon Uphoff, Özcan Akyol, Ester Naomi Perquin and Abdelkader...
From now on, can we agree to replace all DJs with real drummers? I mean, what I witnessed at the premiere of Eros, Schweigman&'s latest project, was so overwhelming, I can't imagine I've ever gone out of my mind on a drum machine. Two living drummers, splashing and at the same time individually starring at the...
ILFU welcomes award-winning author Jennifer Egan and Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart to Utrecht on 20 May 2020 for a unique double Book Talk. Both authors published new novels in early April, each commenting on (Western) society in its own way. In doing so, the novels align with the mission of the online platform for stories that ILFU also launched in early April,...
Ok. One time I will say it. That Yara Piekema is the daughter of Harry Piekema. You know: that man who single-handedly gave that Zaanse Grootgrutter a human face. Harry was already a big one in Utrecht, and now it turns out he secretly, years ago, gave birth to an even bigger one: Yara Piekema, no longer the daughter of,...
That you are suddenly back in 1996 at Black Snow, the television series in which actress Tamar van den Dop managed to hook an entire generation of viewers at the time. Since then, her raven-black curls have turned into a dazzling cloud of silver, but those who go to the National Theatre's Distress trilogy suddenly see that young Tamar again. A miracle of talent in...
ILFU is launching 12 April an online platform for fiction that responds to current events. According to the initiators, fiction is at least as important for understanding the world as the facts we hear in the news. With contributions from writers, thinkers and poets, the platform aims to counterbalance the BNs, influencers and opinion makers that dominate the media. Writers like...
Utrecht - Utrecht dance company De Dansers received the first Harm Lambers Building Stone for Special Art in Utrecht on 10 April. During a festive evening in Theater Kikker, one of the initiators, Paul Feld, presented this challenge trophy to De Dansers. Jury report De Dansers, led by choreographer Josephine van Rheenen and composer Guy Corneille is...
With admittedly the smallest number of square metres of all stages in TivoliVredenburg, the Rabo Open Stage in the central hall is not inferior to the rest: since 2014, over 300 local artists have taken to the stage every year, destined for up-and-coming talent. After eight years of intensive use, the stage has been completely renovated. Rabo Open Stage provides a stage for the future. More times per...
During the upcoming Makersdag on 7 March in Het Huis Utrecht, the Utrechtse Lichting will present themselves, a group of Utrecht theatre makers who graduated during the pandemic. The circumstances in which these makers had to take their first steps in the field were tough during corona time. HKU Theatre, Theater Kikker and Het Huis Utrecht are therefore jointly offering these theatre makers the opportunity to...
Susannah Elmecky and Emma Remmelts were in the third year of the Utrecht School of Theatre when Covid struck. Now they have both graduated and started careers on stage. In this podcast, they tell how they experienced the time of lockdowns. Also joining us is Victorine Plante, director of theatre group Aluin, where Susannah Elmecky is now playing a beautiful role in...
In terms of religion, we are badly off with a single supreme and omniscient god who is also Love. Theologians and philosophers have therefore been earning a fat living for a couple of decades explaining all the misery in the world where God is only love. No. Then the classical Greeks. With them, free will ruled. Not...
Troy is rather hot, this year. The Hague has just premiered Trojan Wars, an insane marathon performance (5 hours), with 35 actors for 40 roles and a text that, apart from being by Homer, is very clearly by Peer Wittenbols. Who I admire boundlessly. A review by colleague Peter Olsthoorn can be read on this site....
Jury and audience unanimous on new Dutch Poetry Slam champion Monique Hendriks has become Dutch Poetry Slam Champion 2021. After preliminary rounds across the country, eleven poetry slammers faced each other in the final on Friday evening 24 September, during the International Literature Festival Utrecht. Monique Hendriks took on Lucas Kloosterboer in the final battle and captured the national...
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