Margriet de Moor
(Noordwijk, 1941) in her latest book, the volume of essays Als een hond zijn blinde baas (Like a Dog Its Blind Boss; 2007), how she began her writing career. 'Let's see if I can write a story,' she thought one Monday morning. And writing she could. Her first volume of short stories, Op de rug gezien (Seen From the Back; 1988) won her a Gouden Ezelsoor (golden donkey-ear) and her novel debut Eerst grijs dan wit dan blauw (First Grey Then White Then Blue; 1991) won her the AKO Literature Prize. That opened the way to international fame. The book has been published in more than ten languages. Chance and its dramatic consequences and the 'mystery of the Other' play an important role in De Moor's work. History is also an important theme. She devoted a book to the haps and mishaps of the gypsies in 15th century Europe, De hertog van Egypte (The Duke of Egypt) and De Verdonkene (Drowned) deals with the great flood of 1953 in the Netherlands. De Moor studied piano, singing, art history and archeology and made videofilms before she started writing.
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Archive available for: Margriet de Moor
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The Fake Nation
Three writers on national identity and nationalism and how to write in opposition to it. In an essay Margriet de Moor wrote about 'a tawdry belief in the private myth ' of 'openness, tolerance and freethinking'. The Turkish writer and columnist Perihan Magden with her selfwilled language use ridicules the powers that be, such as the army, hoping to contribute to a further democratisation of her country. José Eduardo Agualusa in his work plays a sublime game with reality and fiction and so creates a new image of his native land Angola. His novel My Father's Women was launched duringWinternachten. Host: Pieter van den Blink.
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The unfamiliar and the familiar
Two writerson the unfamiliar and the familiar. In Margriet de Moor's case it is often about the confrontation between her own traditions and detachment. In the case of the Turkish-German Emine Özdamar it is all about movement and the search for stability in new surroundings. One came as a child from Turkey to Germany and playing and writing won for herself a place in a strange society and culture. The other is through and through tied to the Dutch culture, but through music and literature found a way out. Özdamar became well known for her novel Het leven is een karavansarai (Life is a caravan). Since then her reputation as a writer has grown. In November 2004 she was awarded the prestigious Von Kleist prize. Margriet de Moor, athor of an impressive oevre and receiver of many awards, has become one of the most read Dutch writers in Germany. Her novels Op de rug gezien (Seen from behind) (1988), Eerst grijs dan wit dan blauw (First grey then white then blue) (1991) and Kreutzersonate, een liefdesverhaal (Kreutzer sonata, a lovestory) have also appeared in German translation. At the end of this programme the Turkish author Asli Erdogan, who was interviewed earlier in the evening by Margot Dijkgraaf, will give a short recitation.
German spoken
