Arjan Visser
(Werkendam, NL, 1961) is best known for his interviews about the ten commandments, of which a series of six have in the meantime been published in book form. As of 1997, he has interviewed countless people on the basis of the Bible's ten commandments. The process has provided fascinating pieces in which comedians such as Youp van 't Hek and many others talk freely about their childhood, their loves, their lives, their world views, and their motivations. Visser works as a journalist for publications like Trouw newspaper, the weekly media guide VARAgids, and Vrij Nederland magazine. He made his literary debut in 2003 with the novel De laatste dagen (The Last Days), which won the Anton Wachter Prize and the Geertjan Lubberhuizen Prize. Hemelval (Fall from Heaven) and Paganinipark followed in 2009. In his latest novel Hotel Linda (2012), a man returns from Brazil to Amsterdam after 65 years. During his search for an old love, he becomes lost in a forest of memories.
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Tear Down the Wall
"If a man isn't willing to stand behind his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good," said poet Ezra Pound. Do art and literature create a safe environment for breaking taboos? Should artists and writers explore their personal boundaries, as well as those of politics and society? Arjan Visser ponders these and other questions with authors Muhammad Aladdin and Niña Weijers and graphic novelist Leela Corman, all three of whom touch on delicate issues in their work. In English.