Rachida Lamrabet
(Morocco, 1970) is a fiction and theatre author, lawyer and teacher. She won the 2008 Flemish debut prize for her novel Vrouwland (Women's Country; 2007) about migrant youths dreaming of a better life. In 2006, her story Mercedes 207 was awarded the Kif Kif Literature Prize. Her short story collection Een kind van God (A Child of God) was published in 2008, followed by the novel De man die niet begraven wilde worden (The Man Who Didn't Want to be Buried), awarded with the Ultima, the Flemish state prize for culture. As in her debut, issues such as identity, religion, migration and the position of minorities play an important role. Her novel Vertel het iemand (Tell Somebody, 2018) deals with the life of a Berber boy and the deliberately concealed role played by Moroccan soldiers in the First World War. Lamrabet is a member of the writers' collective Fixdit, which aims to raise awareness of gender inequality in literature. She is a practice assistant in discrimination law at the Legal Clinic of the Law Faculty of the Ghent University and also teaches at the Odisee College in Brussels.
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Archive available for: Rachida Lamrabet
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All the World's Excuses
With: Angel ArunA, Astrid H. Roemer, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Chika Unigwe, David Diop, Dean Bowen, Martine Woudt, Nazrina Rodjan, Neske Beks, Rachida Lamrabet, Radna Fabias, Sarita Bajnath, Shantie Singh
In the Winternachten festival programme All the World's Excuses, prominent authors Chika Unigwe (US, a.o. On Black Sisters' Street), David Diop (France, International Booker Prize-winner for At Night All Blood is Black) and Caleb Azumah Nelson (UK, a.o. the well-received debut novel Open Water) talked about the global traces of slavery and how this permeates our current society, literature and their books. They addressed (post)colonialism, migration and identity formation. And, of course, they read from their own work. Interviewers were Rachida Lamrabet and Dean Bowen.
Furthermore, writer Neske Beks told about how her new book De kleine Morrison (The Small Morrison, 2023), an introduction into reading Toni Morrison's books from a Black perspective, relates to the theme of All the World's Excuses, and if that also applies to Dutch or Flemish authors with roots in former colonies. Writer Astrid H. Roemer and poet Radna Fabias also contributed with readings from their work. Singer Angel ArunA performed her own work and poems by poet and singer-songwriter Raj Mohan in Sarnámi, the language of people with a Hindustan background in Suriname and The Netherlands.
Preceding the performances in Zaal 1, we opened the evening programme in the lobby of Theater aan het Spui with a short pre-programme with readings by writer Chika Unigwe and poet Dean Bowen from their works, hosted by Sarita Bajnath.
All the World's Excuses asked questions about how stories about slavery and its abolition have taken their place in our collective memory, and about what authors pass on to young people searching for their (invisible) story and identity in the country where they were born.
On all continents, stories about these subjects went unheard, were suppressed or were rendered invisible for a long time. Thanks to the talent and work of many authors, these stories have since found a home in world literature. Through this literature, the weight of this history and the importance of sharing these stories is made palpable.
Bookstore De Vries van Stockum was present in the lobby with a stand offering books by participating authors of this programme, among others!This programme was curated by Shantie Singh, author of a.o. the novels Vervoering (2014) and De kier (2020).
This event was in English; translations of non-English readings were simultaneously projected on a screen.
With day ticket also to afternoon programme Verhalen die verbinden (Connecting Stories)
Preceding All the World's Excuses on Sunday 16 April as of 14:30h in Theater aan het Spui was the, Dutch spoken, Winternachten festival afternoon programme Verhalen die verbinden. A reduced price day ticket for both festival programmes on 16 April was available. -
Optimistische woede (Optimistical Anger)
With: Annelies Verbeke, Christine Otten, Jannah Loontjens, Manon Uphoff, Rachida Lamrabet, Sanneke van Hassel, Shantie Singh
In this Writers Series programme, writers' collective Fixdit, in collaboration with Writers Unlimited, celebrated the publication of the Fixdit manifesto Optimistische woede: fix het seksisme in de literatuur (Optimistic Rage: fix sexism in literature), a publication of De Geus, at Theater aan het Spui in The Hague.Optimistic rage
Many people openly admit to barely reading books by women. Reading lists in schools are dominated by books by (white straight) men. Women win fewer literary prizes than men. Is that a bad thing? Yes, because it reflects and shapes relations in society.Eleven female writers are outraged by the unequal position of women in the arts, and united in the collective Fixdit. From alliance, they fight for change, in the literary world and in the canon. In the eleven pieces of this manifesto, they explore the problem in depth. Furious, combative, and above all: optimistic.
Programme
No fewer than eight of the eleven Fixdit authors read from their contributions to their joint manifesto: Sanneke van Hassel, Rachida Lamrabet, Jannah Loontjens, Christine Otten, Shantie Singh, Fleur Speet, Manon Uphoff and Annelies Verbeke. You probably read their books and met them in previous Writers Series programmes or at the Winternachten festival.The programme in Zaal 1 opened and closed with parts from Gregory Shaggy's urban dance performance (Y)our eyes only about the reality of young black men in Western society. With their own dreams, goals and talents, they try to make a name for themselves in a world where prejudice, racism, inequality and distorted images in the media are unfortunately still among today's problems. The men want to search for their own truths. They try to face personal blockages in order to ultimately follow their dreams.
After the programme, we celebrated the book launch with bubbles and book signing at De Vries Van Stockum Boeken's book sales stand in the foyer. This book launch marked the start of a Fixdit tour along bookshops and literary venues throughout the Netherlands and Belgium.
Fixdit consists of Yra van Dijk, Sanneke van Hassel, Rachida Lamrabet, Jannah Loontjens, Munganyende Hélène Christelle, Christine Otten, Gaea Schoeters, Shantie Singh, Fleur Speet, Manon Uphoff and Annelies Verbeke. -
Fixdit - about the legendary Nawal el Saadawi
Writer, doctor and feminist in 20th-century Egypt - with Annelies Verbeke, Jannah Loontjens, Rachida Lamrabet and Gamal Fouad.
Legendary Egyptian author Nawal el Saadawi passed away in March 2021 at the age of 90. Hadn't you heard of her yet? Then this event is the perfect chance to correct that oversight!
Nawal el Saadawi is also known as "the Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab world," and her work ruffled a lot of feathers. She was a doctor and an activist who wrote unabashedly about her life as an emancipated, feminist woman in an Egypt in which far from everyone shared her opinions. It's time to shine a spotlight on her groundbreaking work, and we let Annelies Verbeke and Jannah Loontjens of the Fixdit collective do the honours!
For this event, which is also a live recording of a new podcast episode, authors and Fixdit founders Annelies Verbeke and Jannah Loontjens embarked on a discussion with the Belgian author and lawyer Rachida Lamrabet and the Dutch writer and visual artist Gamal Fouad. They discussed Nawal el Saadawi's influential work and in particular her novel The Fall of the Imam.
About Fixdit
The writers' collective Fixdit is committed to raising the profile of work by female authors that deserves a wider readership. In collaboration with the literary magazine De Gids, Loontjens and Verbeke produce the Fixdit podcast series Moderne klassikers (Modern Classics), in which they give exposure to literary classics written by women.
Fixdit & Writers Unlimited
Fixdit and Writers Unlimited have joined forces to bring attention to international female authors who deserve a spot in the literary canon. November 2021 Fixdit and Writers Unlimited jointly created the episode Bibi Koetis voor altijd (Bibi Koetis For Ever), about the Indonesian author Lin Scholte Previously we jointly created an episode about Dutch-Indonesian author Lin Scholte (1921-1997), with Annelies Verbeke, Jannah Loontjens, Vilan van de Loo (writer and editor of Lin Scholte's collected works) and writer Gustaaf Peek. View here the video registration of the live podcast recording that took place at Nationaal Museum Sophiahof - van Indië tot nu (The Hague). The conversation is in Dutch.
Reading tips:
The entire oevre of Nawal el Saadawi, especially The Fall of the Imam, Memoirs of a Woman Doctor and Woman at Point Zero.Dutch spoken.
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Neverending Stories
Book-focused talk show by ROSE Stories with Neske Beks, Sayonara Stutgard and Zawdie Sandvliet. Host: Rachida Lamrabet
In this episode of the book-focused feminist talk show, Neverending Stories, Rachida Lamrabet talked with Neske Beks, Sayonara Stutgard and Zawdie Sandvliet about racism in Dutch society.
We discussed how certain groups are systematically excluded, about the colonial past, and about what must change urgently. The starting point was writer Neske Beks' Echo, a collection of essays, letters and speeches that show how systematic the failure to see and hear is.
Writer Sayonara Stutgard and historian Zawdie Sandvliet also joined the fray. Together they delved into the Echo volume and built bridges between black and white, talked about the importance of Toni Morrison's work, and let the black female voice sound loudly and clearly.
Neverending Stories is the barrier-breaking, inclusive talk show by ROSE Stories. It's a show for a new, culturally diverse public, not just from the Netherlands but also Belgium and the Dutch Antilles. The show discusses recently published books that bring fresh perspectives to themes relevant to a super-diverse society. It focuses on the stories of bicultural writers and female writers in particular, as an answer to the very topical social-ethnic and societal need for authentic stories told from the inside that contribute to a better representation of society.
Neverending Stories was an initiative of ROSE Stories in collaboration with deBuren, Writers Unlimited and Watershed, and was made possible with the help of Literature Flanders, the Prins Bernhard Culture Fund, 21 Fund and the Dutch Literary Fund.
Dutch spoken.
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The Language of my Heart - Tamazight
In the programme 'Taal van mijn hart' the three authors - Ahmed Essadki, El-Mahdi Acherchour and Rachida Lamrabet - read and talk about the role of Tamazight or Berber in their writing. Berber is spoken in Morocco, Algeria and Libya. During this programme a fragment was shown of a documentary on Essadki. In addition the new novella Landwee (Land Woe) by Acherchour was presented. The programme was hosted by Asis Aynan.
