Ellen Ombre
(Paramaribo, Surinam, 1948) moved as a teenager, together with her family, to Amsterdam where she attended secondary school and afterwards studied social sciences. Working in mental healthcare provided her with inspiration for her books. At the age of 44 Ellen Ombre made her debut with the much praised book Maalstroom (Maelstrom) (1992). In this collection of short stories she reflects on her early years in the Netherlands. She also wrote Wie goed bedoelt (Who means well) (1996), an autobiographical travel journal, in which she sketches a picture of the triangular slave trading route between Surinam, the Netherlands and Benin. In 2000 she published the novel Valse verlangens (False desires), where she touches on the prejudices between the Surinamese and the Dutch. In 2004 she published Negerjood in Moederland (Negro-jew in the motherland). Ombre is a member of the international advice committee of the Prins Claus Fund. In 2005 she returned to Surinam.
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Archive available for: Ellen Ombre
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Spot en Satire: Gesprekken, voordrachten en muziek
With: Antoine de Kom, Asli Erdogan, Celestine Raalte, Ellen Ombre, Gerrit Komrij, Izaline Calister, Jit Narain, Peter Snyders, Putu Wijaya, Rappa, Youssouf Amine Elalamy
19:30 Inloop Band/ DJ
20:00 Opening avond Ingrid Ameraali
20:10 welkomstwoord slotavond Ingrid Ameraali
20:20 Debat over Satire en Spot Peter Snijders, Youssouf, Gerrit Komrij, Rappa, Ellen Ombre, Asli Erdogan, Discussieleider Jerry Egger
20:40 Voordracht Putu Widjaya
20:50 Voordracht Antoine de Kom
21:00 Optreden band Glenn Texeira and band
21:20 Pauze
21:40 Voordracht Celestine Raalte
22:00 Voordracht Rappa
22:10 Voordracht Rappa
22:20 Slotwoord Rielle Mardjo: Voorzitter Lit: Fest:
22:40 Optreden band Glenn Texeira and band/ DJ/Izaline Calister
Afsluiting Avond/ Nababbel -
Openingsprogramma
With: Alakondre, Antoine de Kom, Asli Erdogan, Celestine Raalte, Ellen Ombre, Gerrit Komrij, Ingrid Ameraali, Izaline Calister, Jit Narain, Peter Snyders, Putu Wijaya, Rappa, Youssouf Amine Elalamy
19:30 Inloop Alakondreband
20:00 Opening festival
20:10 Welkomstwoord door organisaties Stichting Literair Festival Suriname en Stichting Winternachten
20:20 Kennismaking auteurs met Publiek
20:30 Voordracht Ellen Ombre
20:40 Voordracht Peter Snijders
20:50 Voordracht Rappa
21:00 Optreden band Izaline Calister
21:20 Pauze
21:40 Voordracht Youssouf Amine Elalamy
21:50 Voordracht Antoine de Kom
22:00 Voordacht Putu Widjaya
22:10 Optreden band Izaline Calister
22:30 Optreden band Izaline Calister
Afsluiting Avond/ Nababbel DJ -
Universitas Indonesia - optreden voor studenten Nederlands
With: Antjie Krog, Ellen Ombre, Frank Martinus Arion, Ramsey Nasr
Als afsluiting van de tournee in Indonesië traden de vier schrijvers op voor studenten van de vakgroep Nederlands van de Universitas Indonesia, in Depok, bij Jakarta. De studenten hadden een programma voorbereid, waarbij ook zij literair werk voordroegen in het Nederlands en Afrikaans. Na hun optredens gingen de schrijvers in op vragen uit de zaal.
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Winternachten Overzee in het Erasmushuis
With: Antjie Krog, Ellen Ombre, Frank Martinus Arion, Ramsey Nasr, Richard Oh
Het laatste openbare optreden in deze tournee was in het Erasmushuis, het culturele centrum van de Nederlandse Ambassade in Jakarta. Hier traden alleen de vier voor Winternachten meereizende schrijvers op. Ze droegen voor uit hun werk en werden geïnterviewd door schrijver en uitgever Richard Oh. De schrijvers lazen hun gedichten en proza-fragmenten in hun eigen taal, terwijl de Indonesische vertaling simultaan werd geprojecteerd. De populaire muziekgroep Krakatau trad voorafgaand aan het programma en na de pauze op.
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Winternachten in Teater Utan Kayu - Jakarta (3)
With: Ellen Ombre, Frank Martinus Arion, Ramsey Nasr
Op de laatste avond van het driedaagse literatuurfestival in Teater Utan Kayu traden Ellen Ombre, Frank Martinus Arion en Ramsey Nasr op met het Royke Kaopaha ensemble, Iswadi Pratama, de Turkse schrijfster Asli Erdogan, de Amerikaanse auteur Robert Olen Butler, Landung Simatupang en de Australische dichteres Jan Cornall.
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Winternachten in Teater Utan Kayu - Jakarta (1)
With: Antjie Krog, Ellen Ombre
De tournee eindigde in Jakarta. Hier vond het driedaagse literatuurfestival plaats in Teater Utan Kayu, het theater van de culturele organisatie Komunitas Utan Kayu. Vanavond traden Ellen Ombre en Antjie Krog op met Afrizal Malna, Azhari, Hamsad Rangkuti, Gunawan Maryanto en de Australiërs Jan Cornall en Lauren Williams.
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Winternachten Overzee in Bandar Lampung - Sumatra (2)
With: Ellen Ombre, Frank Martinus Arion
Op de tweede avond in Bandar Lampung traden Ellen Ombre en Frank Martinus Arion op met Humaidi Abbas, Jimmy Maruli Alfian, Tan Lioe Ie, Martin Aleida, Inggit Putria Marga, de Amerikaan Robert Olen Butler en de Australiërs Jan Cornall en Lauren Williams.
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Winternachten Overzee in Bandung (2)
With: Ellen Ombre
Op deze tweede avond in Bandung trad Ellen Ombre op met de KeTUK Group, Mona Syviana, Eka Kurniawan, Saini K.M., Asli Erdogan, H.U. Mardi Luhung, de Amerikaanse schrijver Robert Olen Butler, Godi Suwarna en de Australische Lauren Williams.
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Van Dis in Optima Forma
Adriaan van Dis loves languages that 'make love to one another'. He calls it Loving Language. Recently he put together a whole edition of the literary magazine Optima about this very subject. He asked amongst others Abdelkader Benali, Michiel van Kempen, Ellen Ombre and Henk van Woerden to write an article about how for them - as van Dis puts it - 'ribs from one language intertwine with those of another language'. Once more van Dis allows during this conversation languages to make love to one another.
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Trade Winds/Passaatwinde
With: Anil Ramdas, Arthur Japin, Ellen Ombre, Henk van Woerden, Putu Wijaya
Together with the Cape Town Festival Winternachten organised the literary event Trade Winds/Passaatwinde, in the Centre for the Book, 19-22 March. Five authors from Indonesa, Suriname and Holland performed together with their South African collegues Raj Mesthrie, Lewis Nkosi, Rhoda Kadalie, Rayda Jacobs, Nigel Penn, Crain Soudien, E K M Dido, Peter Snyders, Elias Nel, Rachelle Greeff, Joan Hambidge, Etienne van Heerden, Wilma Stockenstrom, Mike Nicol and Gus Ferguson. Besides debates and readings by the writers there were films, musical performances and lectures.
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Time of the Writer - Durban
With: Anil Ramdas, Arthur Japin, Ellen Ombre, Putu Wijaya
For the second time Winternachten co-operated with the literary festival Time of the Writer. Winternachten contributed to this international festival for prose-writers by presenting programmes with four writers from The Netherlands and historically related countries, the so-called 'Dutch Connection'. Putu Wijaya comes from Indonesië, Anil Ramdas from Suriname/Netherlands/India, Ellen Ombre from Suriname/Netherlands and Arthur Japin from the Netherlands. The writers performed on three evenings in the Elisabeth Sneddon Theatre in Durban, and in a number of programmes on schools and universities. Besides the authors from Winternachten, the participants were Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria), Meshack Asare (Ghana), Florent Couao-Zotti (Benin), Ashwin Desai (South Africa), Carl De Souza (Mauritius), Nuruddin Farah (Somalia), Aziz Hassim (South Africa), Mahmood Mamdani (Uganda), John Matshikiza (South Africa), Es'kia Mphahlele (South Africa), Lauretta Ngcobo (South Africa), Lewis Nkosi (South Africa), Gisele Pineau (Guadeloupe), Arundhati Roy (India), Tajima Shinji (Japan), and Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya).
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New Iconoclasms - debate
With: Ellen Ombre, Fouad Laroui, H.J.A. Hofland, Laetitia van den Assum, Louk de la Rive Box, Mai Ghoussoub, Paul Schnabel
Cultural identity in an international perspective. A panel discussion in co-operation with the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development. The existing image and identity of The Netherlands are no longer valid, or at least incomplete. In its conference 'Roses in the Desert' on 6 September 2002, the Prince Claus Fund put the question of identity of The Netherlands on the agenda. Holland, also as a part of Europe, looks back on a history of citizenship and democratic values. A history that promises an analytic and critical role in world-wide international and intercultural debates. It seems to be too modest in this respect though, merely passing over ideas from elsewhere. Dutch spoken.
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Live Anthology and Debate
With: Anna Enquist, Ardashir Vakil, Bas Heijne, Basil Appollis, Breyten Breytenbach, Ellen Ombre, Henk van Woerden, Ian Buruma, Jan Eijkelboom, Jit Narain, Lasana M. Sekou, Michaël Zeeman, Rajeev Balasubramanyam, Vamba Sherif
What is the most beautiful poem on diaspora? A number of Winternachten guests read their favourite poem from each other's literatures. The writers were introduced by Basil Appollis.
Dutch writer Henk van Woerden gave the introductory lecture (in Dutch) to a debate on the theme of 'diaspora and the writer'. This debate (in English), hosted by Michaël Zeeman, appeared to be a good start for the Boekenweek, a annual event for the promotion of Dutch literature, following a few weeks later in The Netherlands. -
Connected through slavery and colonialism
Ellen Ombre, the venomously and precisely observing Surinamese-Dutch writer, poet Lasana M. Sekou of St Maarten, and Netherlands-based Liberian writer Vamba Sherif, share a common offspring. The West African history of slavery and colonialism ties up these writers, born so far apart. Hosted by Ed van Eeden (Dutch spoken).
