Ivo van Hove
(Belgium, 1958) has been director of the Amsterdam Theatre since 2001. In the coming years, the internationally acclaimed director will stage three novels by Dutch author Louis Couperus (1863-1923). De stille kracht (The Quiet Power) premieres in September of 2015. Van oude mensen, de dingen die voorbijgaan (Of Old People and the Things that Pass) and De boeken der kleine zielen (The Books of Small Souls) will follow. Van Hove wrote: "For me, Couperus is the most global writer in Dutch literature... Like a true cosmopolitan he writes with an open mind about people who too often have too narrow a view of life and society. Especially now does the world need writers like Couperus." Van Hove began his career as a threatre director in 1981 with his own productions. In succession, he was artistic director of AKT, Akt-Vertikaal and De Tijd. From 1990 to 2000 he was director of Het Zuidelijk Toneel (Southern Theatre), and from 1998 through 2004 he headed the Holland Festival. Van Hove is also a regular guest director with the New York Theatre Workshop and directs operas at venues such as De Munt in Brussels.
(WU 15 GR)Archive available for: Ivo van Hove
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The Writers' Fest
With: Aad Meinderts, Bart Moeyaert, Bas Heijne, Calliope Tsoupaki, Cristina Branco, De Règâhs, Dimitri Verhulst, Francis Broekhuijsen, Ivo van Hove, Jan van Mersbergen, Joris Wijsmuller, Kees 't Hart, Luc Coorevits - Behoud de Begeerte, Lucky Fonz III, Maarten 't Hart, Maria Barnas, Mensje van Keulen, Piet Gerbrandy
Francis Broekhuijsen hosts the festival's concluding celebration: the Writers' Fest, a varied programme centred around Dutch literature.
Poet Maria Barnas begins the afternoon with an ode to poetry. Writer and critic Kees' t Hart introduces the programme with his views on the state of Dutch literature, a speech about the literary highlights of 2014. Writer Bart Moeyaert, artistic manager of special guests Flanders and the Netherlands at the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair, presents his plans to promote our literature in the global context. Fado singer Cristina Branco sings songs composed specially for the occasion, based on poetry by Remco Campert and others.
The core of the programme is the presentation of the Jan Campert prizes, the City of The Hague's prestigious literary awards, with inspired lectures by admirers of the laureates. For his poetry collection Vlinderslag (Stroke of the Butterfly), Piet Gerbrandy will receive the Jan Campert Prize and a tribute by composer Calliope Tsoupaki. Jan van Mersbergen, who will receive the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize for his novel De laatste ontsnapping (The Last Escape), will be serenaded by singer-songwriter Lucky Fonz. Bas Heijne will receive the J. Greshoff Prize for Angst en schoonheid. Louis Couperus, de mystiek der zichtbare dingen (Fear and Beauty: Louis Couperus and the mysticism of tangible things). He will be addressed by Ivo van Hove, director of the Amsterdam Theatre, which will stage the work of Couperus in 2015. Writer Dimitri Verhulst will honour Luc Coorevits, the passionate founder of the Flemish literary organization Behoud de Begeerte, which won the G.H. 's-Gravensande Prize for exceptional literary achievement. The evening's crowning glory is the Constantijn Huygens Prize for a body of work. This will be awareded to Mensje van Keulen for her novels, stories, and poems. Fellow writer and contemporary Maarten 't Hart will sing her praises, as will De Règâhs.
Presented in collaboration with the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Jan Campert Foundation.