{"id":97678,"date":"2025-06-19T15:07:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T13:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/?p=97678"},"modified":"2025-06-19T15:07:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T13:07:16","slug":"lezersmars-door-utrecht-een-boek-in-de-lucht-voor-vrijheid-en-democratie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2025\/06\/lezersmars-door-utrecht-een-boek-in-de-lucht-voor-vrijheid-en-democratie\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers' march through Utrecht, a book in the air for freedom and democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>On Saturday 20 September, literature festival ILFU is organising a Readers' March across Utrecht city centre. The organisation calls on everyone with a heart for free speech, literature and democracy to participate. The march of readers, writers and book lovers, who will all bring their favourite book, forms a symbolic retort against censorship and autocracy and in favour of (literary) freedom.<br \/>The readers' march starts on 20 September at 12:00 on the Jaarbeursplein in Utrecht and ends on the Domplein. At <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lezersmars.nl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.lezersmars.nl<\/a> starts a virtual readers' march as early as today, for which anyone can submit their book on freedom.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Festival director Micha\u00ebl Stoker: 'In more and more places around the world, free speech is under attack and undemocratic movements are advancing. Think of the <em>book bans<\/em> in the US and threatening writers during Spring Fling Week in our own country. <strong>And where censorship rears its head, democracy takes hits. <\/strong>In non-democratic countries, the very act of reading is therefore an act of resistance, irrespective of what exactly you are reading. Literature is a sanctuary for all kinds of different views and perspectives, for critical thinking, for expressing your free opinion. It is the most powerful answer to autocratic tendencies.'<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Readers' march with important book<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The march will lead through Utrecht's city centre to Domplein on that Saturday. Participants hold a book in the air that symbolises hope, freedom and togetherness for them. Thus, a stream of books moves through the city that stands for freedom of thought and writing. On Domplein, participants will be addressed by writers and speakers. The participants simultaneously read from the books they brought along: the cacophony that arises from all those different throats and books symbolises the powerful voice of literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Virtual Readers' March<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting today, a Virtual Readers' March is already starting. At <a href=\"https:\/\/lezersmars.ilfu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.lezersmars.nl<\/a> we call on everyone to suggest online a book that contributes to multi-voicedness, empathy and freedom. Participants can also describe why they think everyone should read this very book. The submitted book titles will form a long book list for freedom and democracy. In the autumn, people across the country will engage in conversation about the books in Readers' March reading clubs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>PEN Netherlands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For the readers' march, ILFU is collaborating, among others, with PEN Netherlands, the Dutch branch of the international writers' association dedicated to freedom of literary expression and oppressed writers. PEN International signalled in its '<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pen-international.org\/identity-on-trial-persecution-and-resistance-pen-international-case-list-2025\">case list 2025<\/a>' worldwide a sharp increase in censorship, legal threats, imprisonment and violence against writers who publicly shared their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religion or dared to question the dominant narrative. PEN Netherlands and ILFU see this as grounds for a strong plea for democracy, for free speech and for polyphony.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Call to join<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Readers' March wants to be a powerful statement for (literary) freedom and for the unifying power of literature. If any organisation, whether or not from the book trade, association or reading club also wants to propagate this message, please contact Hidde van Greuningen at <a href=\"mailto:lezersmars@ilfu.com\">lezersmars@ilfu.com<\/a> for additional information. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ILFU 2025: 20 September to 5 October<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Readers' March is organised by ILFU literature festival, which this year takes place from 20 September to 4 October. \"Read Dangerously!\" is this year's festival theme.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ilfu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ILFU<\/a>\u00a0is an international festival for all disciplines of literary culture. The opening weekend with Boekfest, the NK Poetry Slam and the Utrecht Book Market will be followed by two more weeks including Book Talks with international writers, the festival weekend Exploring Stories on literature &amp; society, the Young Adult Festival YALFU and the 42<sup>ste<\/sup>\u00a0Night of Poetry. Throughout the year, you can take writing and literature courses at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ilfu.com\/academy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ILFU Academy\u00a0<\/a>and performances and get to know new writers on the online ILFU Daily.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Op zaterdag 20 september organiseert literatuurfestival ILFU een Lezersmars, dwars door de Utrechtse binnenstad. De organisatie roept iedereen met een hart voor het vrije woord, de literatuur en de democratie op om deel te nemen. De mars van lezers, schrijvers en boekenliefhebbers, die allemaal hun favoriete boek meenemen, vormt een symbolisch weerwoord tegen censuur en [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":97679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,4763,11917],"tags":[8274,657],"class_list":["post-97678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nieuws","category-literatuur-2","category-persberichten","tag-ilfu","tag-utrecht"],"views":230,"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/68528718c0cc2.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":98620,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2025\/09\/veel-animo-voor-lezersmars-zaterdag-20-september-jaarbeursplein\/","url_meta":{"origin":97678,"position":0},"title":"Lots of enthusiasm for Readers' March | Saturday September 20 Jaarbeursplein\u00a0","author":"een van onze leden","date":"20 September 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Readers stand up for free speech, Speakers include Jessica van Geel, Mahat Arab and \u00d6zcan Akyol More than a thousand readers, writers, booksellers, librarians and publishers from all over the country came to Utrecht today. In doing so, they showed their concern about freedom of expression, which is also under pressure in the book world","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ACTUEEL&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ACTUEEL","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/nieuws\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/foto-door-Maarten-Maaoijman.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/foto-door-Maarten-Maaoijman.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/foto-door-Maarten-Maaoijman.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87866,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2022\/08\/kunstwerk-10-000-verlichte-boeken-in-de-minrebroederstraat-utrecht-centrum-23-september-2022-opening-ilfu-festival-en-presentatie-woord900\/","url_meta":{"origin":97678,"position":1},"title":"Artwork 10,000 illuminated books in Minrebroederstraat, Utrecht city centre: 23 September 2022 Opening ILFU festival and presentation Woord900","author":"een van onze leden","date":"30 August 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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 who in recent months have written for Woord900 and organisation Beautiful Words about 10...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;LITERAIR&quot;","block_context":{"text":"LITERAIR","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/literatuur-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Literature-vs-Traffic_Luzinterruptus_foto_John-Eikost_3-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Literature-vs-Traffic_Luzinterruptus_foto_John-Eikost_3-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Literature-vs-Traffic_Luzinterruptus_foto_John-Eikost_3-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Literature-vs-Traffic_Luzinterruptus_foto_John-Eikost_3-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Literature-vs-Traffic_Luzinterruptus_foto_John-Eikost_3-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Literature-vs-Traffic_Luzinterruptus_foto_John-Eikost_3-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87424,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2022\/07\/jonathan-franzen-opent-ilfu-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":97678,"position":2},"title":"Jonathan Franzen opens ILFU 2022:","author":"een van onze leden","date":"8 July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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 N\u00ed Ghr\u00edofa and Tash Aw. ILFU takes place from 23 September to 8 October. Jonathan...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;LITERAIR&quot;","block_context":{"text":"LITERAIR","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/literatuur-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Jonathan-Franzen-c-Janet-Fine-rechtenvrij-onder-naamsvermelding.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Jonathan-Franzen-c-Janet-Fine-rechtenvrij-onder-naamsvermelding.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Jonathan-Franzen-c-Janet-Fine-rechtenvrij-onder-naamsvermelding.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Jonathan-Franzen-c-Janet-Fine-rechtenvrij-onder-naamsvermelding.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Jonathan-Franzen-c-Janet-Fine-rechtenvrij-onder-naamsvermelding.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Jonathan-Franzen-c-Janet-Fine-rechtenvrij-onder-naamsvermelding.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97449,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2025\/06\/boekfest-lezers-schrijvers-uitgevers-en-media-vieren-samen-de-start-van-het-nieuwe-boekenseizoen\/","url_meta":{"origin":97678,"position":3},"title":"Bookfest: Readers, writers, publishers and media celebrate the start of the new book season together.","author":"een van onze leden","date":"4 June 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"With a.o. Aaf Brandt Corstius, Jan Siebelink, Karin Amatmoekrim, Arnon Grunberg, Simone van der Vlugt, Annet Schaap, Adriaan van Dis, Marjon Hoffman, Nancy Bosmans and Joost Oomen The great new book festival for all readers of the Dutch-language book | Sunday 21 September 2025 | TivoliVredenburg Utrecht On Sunday 21 September, ILFU will organise a...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ACTUEEL&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ACTUEEL","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/nieuws\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Boekfest-Campagnebeeld-instagram-1350x1080-livegang-4juni-scaled.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Boekfest-Campagnebeeld-instagram-1350x1080-livegang-4juni-scaled.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Boekfest-Campagnebeeld-instagram-1350x1080-livegang-4juni-scaled.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Boekfest-Campagnebeeld-instagram-1350x1080-livegang-4juni-scaled.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Boekfest-Campagnebeeld-instagram-1350x1080-livegang-4juni-scaled.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Boekfest-Campagnebeeld-instagram-1350x1080-livegang-4juni-scaled.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":94700,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2024\/07\/ticketverkoop-voor-alle-programmas-van-ilfu-2024-gestart\/","url_meta":{"origin":97678,"position":4},"title":"Ticket sales for all ILFU 2024 programmes launched","author":"een van onze leden","date":"9 July 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"New names confirmed: including David Nicholls, Tommy Orange, Maggie Stiefvater, Teun van de Keuken and Carolina Trujillo. David Nicholls - photo: Sophia Spring | Tommy Orange - photo: Elena SeibertMaggie Stiefvater - photo: Stephen Voss | Teun van de Keuken - photo: Keke KeukelaarCarolina Trujillo - photo: NRC| Rachel Kushner...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;LITERAIR&quot;","block_context":{"text":"LITERAIR","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/literatuur-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0ff4ce6f-325f-e66a-c8e3-bf541fc8c924.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0ff4ce6f-325f-e66a-c8e3-bf541fc8c924.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0ff4ce6f-325f-e66a-c8e3-bf541fc8c924.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0ff4ce6f-325f-e66a-c8e3-bf541fc8c924.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0ff4ce6f-325f-e66a-c8e3-bf541fc8c924.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0ff4ce6f-325f-e66a-c8e3-bf541fc8c924.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76618,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2022\/04\/ilfu-start-nieuw-online-medium-voor-literatuur\/","url_meta":{"origin":97678,"position":5},"title":"ILFU launches new online medium for literature","author":"een van onze leden","date":"12 April 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ACTUEEL&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ACTUEEL","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/nieuws\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ilfuplatform.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ilfuplatform.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ilfuplatform.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ilfuplatform.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/ilfuplatform.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3yKke-pps","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97683,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97678\/revisions\/97683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}