Rosabelle Illes

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Playing with Fire: jubilee show 30 years Writers Unlimited

With: Abdelkader Benali, Babs Gons, Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio, Eli Wing, Joost Oomen, Koninklijk Conservatorium Dans, Rosabelle Illes, Saartje van Camp, Shirma Rouse, Spinvis, XILLAN, Zaïre Krieger

Be warmed by the fire of writers, dancers and musical artists! Writers Unlimited presents Playing with Fire in Amare Den Haag, a show full of literature, music and dance in which words, rhythm, melody and movement meet.

For thirty years, Writers Unlimited has offered a stage to passionate and groundbreaking writers, poets, thinkers, musicians and other performers from the Netherlands and abroad during the International Literature Festival The Hague in January.

In honour of this anniversary, enjoy a unique line-up of artists and writers this wintery Sunday afternoon in the beautiful Amare Danstheater (a five-minute walk from The Hague Central Station).

Writers Unlimited asked well-known artists and authors to perform work in which fire in all its (concrete and abstract) guises - as the germ of artistry and source of inspiration, as a terrifying phenomenon or scorching love, as a symbol of revolution and struggle - takes centre stage.

And so, during Playing with Fire you will hear, see and experience existing and new material by a host of artists: Spinvis (Erik de Jong) and cellist and singer Saartje van Camp sing songs from their show Neveldieren (Misty Animals); forty-five young dancers from the Royal Conservatoire Dance perform Festina Lente by choreographer Tessa Cooke.

Writer and theatre-maker Joost Oomen will recite an essay on the committed poet Federico Garcia Lorca, how to relate as an artist to the turbulent times we live in and the concept of 'duende' - a term from flamenco, one of the most passionate, fiery dance forms there is, of which you will see a beautiful sample this afternoon by the Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio (i.c.w. Flamenco Biënnale Nederland). The trio is formed by Claudia Karapanou (dance), Lucas Arango (guitar) and Erminia Fernandez Cordoba (vocals).

Dutch pop artist and Queen of Soul Shirma Rouse performs warming songs from her repertoire and alternative R&B singer-songwriter XILLAN, singing and playing the piano, tells something about the fire under his yet-to-be-published novel. Poet Laureate of The Netherlands Babs Gons, spoken word artist Zaïre Krieger and Aruban artist, poet and performer Rosabelle Illes recite texts written especially for this show about what playing with fire means to them.

The programme will be closed by Pulse conducted by Eli Wing, an occasional percussion formation that will not leave anyone sitting still. Pulse members are Mees Siderius (surdos and other percussion instruments), Remco Menting (cowbell and other percussion instruments), Ruben de Ruiter (conga's) and Mark Ooman (shakers). Writer Abdelkader Benali will guide you through the show and introduce the artists.

Festival motto: On Fire
The 30th festival edition's motto is On Fire. "Fire represents love, desire and passion, but also burning issues such as war, migration and climate," says Judith Uyterlinde, director of Writers Unlimited. "Fire is the source of inspiration for talks and readings on issues including freedom of expression, war and remembrance, gender and eroticism, and a host of other issues that ignite writers, poets and audiences."

Festival tip: for the full festival experience, join us for the grand festival events Friday Night Unlimited (24 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (25 January)! Both nights you choose your own route along some 20 performances, readings and conversations on five stages in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag. English and Dutch spoken.

From 23 to 26 January 2025, Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague is to be found in theatres, libraries and schools throughout the city: from Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, Amare and Paard to Theater Dakota, Theater De Vaillant, the Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries and De Haagse Hogeschool. With over 120 writers, poets and spoken-word artists and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. With readings, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical talks, films and music.

Playing with Fire is curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Jet Steinz and is realised in cooperation with Amare, with contributions from the City of The Hague and the Dutch Foundation for Literature.

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Writers Meeting

With: Alvina Chamberland, Andrej Koerkov, Asta Olivia Nordenhof, Francis Broekhuijsen, George Abraham, Ilonka Reintjens, Judith Uyterlinde, Maarten van der Graaff, Margot Dijkgraaf, Mikaella Clements, Neeke Scheers, Onjuli Datta, Rešoketšwe Manenzhe, Rosabelle Illes, Stefanie Parisius-Sewotaroeno, Viv Groskop, Yael van der Wouden

The Writers Meeting is a private event in Huis van het Boek (House of the Book), The Hague, organized especially for and with the international authors attending the Writers Unimited International Literature Festival 2025, as well as with several Dutch authors and the team of festival programmers.

The Writers Meeting starts with a tour de table during which you are asked to introduce yourself and your work using an object, image or ritual that is important to you when writing.

The conversations are meant to get to know each other, to exchange ideas on the current state of the world we live in and the meaning of literature for our time. We use On Fire, this festival edition's theme, as motto.

Margot Dijkgraaf, literary critic, writer, curator, interviewer and debate host, leads the discussion. She gives the floor to each of you. You then have the opportunity to react to one another's observations. Meeting host is Barbara den Ouden, Team Coordinator and International Specialist at the Dutch Foundation for Literature.

The roundtable discussion is followed by a short private tour of the museum and its current exhibition Books as..., showcasing books from its collection alongside works by contemporary artists including Shani Leseman, An Onghena, Jorge Mendez Blake, and Hans Op De Beeck. The exhibition suggests various roles of books in our society and in our personal lives.

Huis van het Boek, oldest book museum in the world, is located in the former residence of the Baron Van Westreenen van Tiellandt (1783-1848) and is devoted to the hand-written and printed book of the past and present. Open to the public since 1852, the museum maintains an extensive collection of books from all periods of Western book history, starting with medieval manuscripts that are entirely written and illuminated by hand. The distinctive book room where a selection of these superb volumes can be seen, offers an overview of the development of writing, layout and decoration of manuscripts. The museum also organizes temporary exhibitions on themes related to both the old and modern book.

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Mensen Zeggen Dingen x Writers Unlimited Festival

With: Damaris, Dean Bowen, Duimalot, George Abraham, Hasan Gök, Rosabelle Illes, Sabina Lukovic

Writers Unlimited Festival and Mensen Zeggen Dingen - platform for poetry and performance - join forces and words! In Paard, we bring you a party full of poetry, poetry slam, prose and punchlines with a musical note. Besides Dutch spoken-word artists Sabina Lukovic, Duimalot, Hasan Gök and Damaris, two of the festival's international authors will let their voices be heard: George Abraham (United States) and Rosabelle Illes (Aurba). Host: Dean Bowen!

Mensen Zeggen Dingenn speaks out, starts conversations, puts exclamation marks or question marks! The poetry and performance platform has been a welcome and regular guest for ten years, with club shows in venues including Paard (The Hague), Theater Bellevue (Amsterdam), Tivoli Vredenburg (Utrecht), Doornroosje (Nijmegen) and festivals such as Lowlands, Down The Rabbit Hole, Zwarte Cross and Writers Unlimited Festival.

Festival tip 1: go to the festival opening at Theater aan het Spui on Thursday night 23 January first! From 19:30, you will see performances and readings by Ukraine's leading writer Andrei Kurkov, British author/stand-up comedian Viv Groskop and South African writer Resoketswe Manenzhe, among others.

Festival tip 2: for the full festival experience, go to the grand festival events Friday Night Unlimited (24 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (25 January)! Both nights you choose your own route along some 20 performances, readings and conversations on five stages in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag. English and Dutch spoken.

Festivaltip 3: as Writers Unlimited celebrates 30 years of making festivals, we are celebrating our anniversary with a show full of music, dance and literature at Amare (Danstheater) on Sunday afternoon, 26 January. You will see and hear Spinvis, Shirma Rouse, XILLAN, Babs Gons, Joost Oomen, Zaïre Krieger, Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio, Royal Conservatoire Dance and Pulse led by Eli Wing, among others. Tickets 11 euros (under 29s or students), or 16 - 35 euros (depending on seat chosen).

From 23 to 26 January 2025, Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague is to be found in theatres, libraries and schools throughout the city: from Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, Amare and Paard to Theater Dakota, Theater De Vaillant, the Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries and De Haagse Hogeschool. With over 120 writers, poets and spoken-word artists and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. With readings, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical talks, films and music.

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Storytelling Afternoon

With: Beatrice Hati Gitundu, Kees Biekart, Klaas van Dijk, Rešoketšwe Manenzhe, Rosabelle Illes

Storytelling in ISS is back as a part of the Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague! Visitors, authors participating in the festival, ISS students and teachers tell each other stories on a wintery afternoon in ISS's wonderful Atrium of the International Institute of Social Studies (part of the Erasmus University Rotterdam) on the Kortenaerkade in The Hague's city centre.

This time, authors Resoketswe Manenzhe (South Africa) and Rosabelle Illes (Aruba) are also storytellers, and pianist Klaas van Dijk will provide musical interludes. The stories revolve around the question 'What Inspires You? (Even though the World is On Fire..)'

The Storytelling Afternoon is a highly regarded festival classic. Due to the COVID pandemic, among other reasons, the programme could not take place for several editions. But on Thursday afternoon, 23 January 2025, everyone is welcome again to listen and/or tell a story. Each story will last no more than five minutes. The programme is in English and will be facilitated by Kees Biekart and Beatrice Hati Gitundu, both from the ISS.

Rešoketšwe Manenzhe is a poet, short story writer and novelist from South Africa. Her short stories and poems have appeared in the Kalahari Review, Fireside Fiction, Praxis Magazine, Lolwe, FIYAH, and the 2017 Sol Plaatjie European Union Anthology, among others. She holds a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her debut. the historical novel Scatterlings (2020) is set in 1927, when South Africa passes the Immorality Act, prohibiting sexual intercourse between "Europeans" (white people) and "natives" (Black people). Those who break the draconian new law face imprisonment.

Rosabelle Illes is an artist, writer, and performer from Aruba. She has authored three collections of poetry and short stories and co-authored the multilingual children's book Hearty. Her work has been published in international journals, and she has performed at literary festivals worldwide, including Colombia, Taiwan, The Netherlands, and New York City. She holds a PhD in Psychology from Leiden University and is an assistant professor at the University of Aruba. Her upcoming book, Penmanship (2025), blends her passions for psychology and poetry, celebrating the written word in its purest form.

Klaas van Dijk is a pianist and dentist from The Netherlands. During his student days, he was active as a pop and jazz pianist. When he became a father, he started working as a dentist, but he continued to play music for theatre performances. From 1986, he accompanied famous Dutch cabaret artist Paul van Vliet on piano. Since 2016, he has been part of the team of the Dutch national TV programme Met het mes op tafel (a combination of poker and knowledge quiz) as a pianist together with host Sjoerd van Ramshorst and cabaret artist Mylou Frencken.

Kees Biekart is a political scientist at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) and interested in transformative change and social movements, Together with his international students, he looks for alternative ways to support political democracy at a grassroots level. He constantly seeks out new forms of research, including "storytelling", which has become an increasingly important research method.

Beatrice Hati Gitundu is an Urban Development Specialist from Kenya. She works on the research programme Multilevel Disaster Governance: Disasters-People-Policy-Politics of the International Centre for Frugal Innovation (ICFI, The Netherlands)/Nuvoni (Kenya). She is also a Doctoral Researcher at the ISS.

30th Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague (23-25 January 2025)
Over a hundred authors, poets, spoken word artists and musicians will perform in the 30th Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague. From 23 to 26 January 2025, festival events will take place throughout The Hague in theatres, libraries and schools. For festival information and tickets, see writersunlimited.nl.

The festival will focus on, partly English-language, live readings of poetry, stories and spoken word. Authors will also discuss current topics in response to recent books. The festival opens 23 January dedicated to freedom of expression. It also includes two varied festival evenings in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag, the presentation of the Hague Literature Prizes and free events in local libraries and cultural anchors. On Sunday afternoon, 26 January, the festival closes with the festive musical-literary show Playing with Fire in Amare.

Festival motto: On Fire
The 30th festival edition's motto is On Fire. 'Fire represents love, desire and passion, but also burning issues such as war, migration and climate,' says Judith Uyterlinde, director of Writers Unlimited. 'Fire is the source of inspiration for talks and readings on issues including freedom of expression, war and remembrance, gender and eroticism, and a host of other issues that ignite writers, poets and audiences.'

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Het Zwarte Schaap: What Fuels Your Fire?

Writers Unlimited is not the only one celebrating an anniversary: Het Zwarte Schaap, The Hague's spoken word and spoken literature platform is celebrating its fifth anniversary: a safe meeting place and community for writers and their stories.

Het Zwarte Schaap opens the Saturday Night Unlimited programme in Zaal 2 of Theater aan het Spui with a special festival line-up. Performing in What Fuels Your Fire? are philosopher and spoken word artist Lev Avitan, writer and poet Rosabelle Illes and young spoken word talent Kylie Lyandra. Their readings will be musically accompanied on piano by Djuwa Mroivili. In conversation with moderator Sophia Blyden, they answer what drives them to take the stage again and again, to constantly seek out people who listen to their words.

Rosabelle Illes, writer and spoken word artist from Aruba, tries to grasp the intangible and incomprehensible in her work. In her readings, she occasionally collaborates with musicians.

Djuwa Mroivili is a Comorian-Dutch multidisciplinary artist. Although trained as a classical pianist, she also experiments with other formats of performance in which music plays a role.

Lev Avitan is a word artist, philosopher and theatre maker. His work is characterised by vulnerable self-reflection and social engagement. His spoken word film Mijn moeder wil niet meer leven (My mother doesn't want to live anymore, 2024) can be seen on NPO START. With Nabil Tkhidousset, he played 7sheb 3lik, a stage performance on fatherhood and trauma transmission, in autumn 2024. Spring 2025, he will publish a poetic philosophy book.

Kylie Lyandra is a young spoken word artist and medical student who uses her words to discuss important issues. She finds comfort and strength in writing and its vulnerability. In 2022, she will start her spoken word journey. From her depression and love to growing up as a black girl, she brings it to the stage.

Sophia Blyden, moderator of What Fuels Your Fire?, is a poet, programme maker and studied Modern Dutch Literature in Leiden. In her prose and poetry, she explores themes such as loneliness, power relations and the boundary between fact and fiction. She also likes to be inspired by fairy tales, myths and pop culture. Her debut collection Dobberen was published in 2024.

Het Zwarte Schaap: What Fuels Your Fire? is curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Daniëlle Zawadi.

Language sparks - inspiring duos with poetry, music, dance and images

Writers Unlimited likes to make new connections between artists from different disciplines who then create something new together. In this unique, one-off programme Taalvonken, poetry, music and dance enter into dialogue with each other. Three duos present new work they created especially for this festival night at the request of Writers Unlimited.

Witness how sparks fly between language and music, and between spoken word and dance. Singer-songwriter and guitarist Mirte Hartland interacts with poet Benzokarim.

Poet and spoken word artist Rosabelle Illes enters into a dialogue with a new song by cellist, singer and theatre-maker Saartje van Camp, taken from her new album to be released on 24 January.

Poet and spoken-word artist ZaÏre Krieger and dancer Shaquille George find each other in the movements of dance.

Taalvonken is curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Ilonka Reintjens.

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Stories and poetry from Surinam and Aruba with Cynthia McLeod and Rosabelle Illes

With: Cynthia Mc Leod, Rosabelle Illes, Tuncay Çinibulak

Tip: Cynthia McLeod and Rosabelle Illes will both also appear at the festive Opening Night - A Free Mind on Wednesday, 15 January in Theater aan het Spui; at the Winternachten edition of Woorden Worden Zinnen on Thursday, 16 January at Paard; at Saturday Night Unlimited on 18 January in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag; and at the Dakota's Winternachten Story Festival at the Dakota Theater on Saturday 18 January and Sunday, 19 January.

The Surinamese writer Cynthia McLeod (author of The Cost of Sugar) and the Aruban poet and performer Rosabelle Illes are visiting the Schilderswijk Library on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Writes Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague. They read from their work, tell stories about Surinam and Aruba and answer questions from the public.

McLeod writes historical novels and young adult books that take place in Surinam. As a result of researching her books, she has become an expert in the country's turbulent history, and enjoys sharing her knowledge with others. She is a true storyteller who is passionate about bringing Surinamese history to life.

Poet and writer Illes lives and works in Aruba. She writes in English and in her native tongue of Papiamento, for example in her poetry collection Spiel di mi Alma (Mirror of My Soul). On stage, Illes transforms into a true performer of her poems, sweeping up the public in a stream of words, movement and meaning.

The Winternachten International Literary Festival The Hague is celebrating its 25th anniversary! From 15 to 19 January 2020 it takes place in theatres, libraries and schools throughout The Hague: at Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, the Institute of Social Studies, the Zuiderstrand Theatre and Paard, as well as the Dakota Theatre and the Schilderswijk, Ypenburg and Nieuw Waldeck libraries. More than 100 local and international writers, poets and spoken-word artists will appear for recitations, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical discussions, films and music.

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WWZ x Writers Unlimited 2020 (featuring a.o. Sticks)

With: Benzokarim, Çağla Meknuze, Cynthia Mc Leod, Dagger DX, Elten Kiene, Guus van der Steen, Jesse Laport, Jolyn Phillips, Marco Martens, Quin Kempees, Roberta Petzoldt, Rosabelle Illes, Sticks

Performers, poetry, punchlines, music, exhibits, beer & bites in a feel-good setting during this special Winternachten edition of Woorden Worden Zinnen at PAARD in the Grote Zaal. For this special occasion we've curated a program with artists from all over the globe. One of the definite highlights was a unique performance by rapper Sticks!

The (inter-)national line-up also included Surinamese writer Cynthia McLeod, composer and singer Jolyn Phillips from South Africa, Turkish poet Çağla Meknuze, the Aruban poet Rosabelle Illes, poet and performer Roberta Petzoldt, poet and performer Jesse Laport, musician and spoken-word artist Guus van der Steen, poet en performer Marco Martens and spoken-word artist Benzokarim. Plus: verses to take home by Quin Kempees, your favourite host Elten Kiene, and tasty tunes by DJ Dagger DX.

Woorden Worden Zinnen is a highly accessible platform and stage night for word art in the broadest sense. It takes place on and at stages and festivals throughout the Randstad and was founded in 2010 by spoken-word artist Elten Kiene and literary organizer Wesley Loos.

This night is powered by GUAP (www.guap070.nl).

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Opening Night

With: Adriaan van Dis, Angelina Enny, Antjie Krog, Cynthia Mc Leod, Ellen Deckwitz, Goenawan Mohamad, Hassnae Bouazza, Jolyn Phillips, Karin Amatmoekrim, Nelleke Noordervliet, Petina Gappah, Reggie Baay, Rosabelle Illes, Shailesh Bahoran, Sigrid Kaag, Simon(e) van Saarloos, Ton van de Langkruis, Vamba Sherif

A fantastic line-up of fifteen Dutch and international authors provided a preview of the festival with their new poetry and prose, mixed with dance performances by Shailesh Bahoran. This festive evening celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Winternachten festival with the presentation of the (Dutch language) anniversary anthology De verovering van Jupiter (Over de dekolonisatie van de geest) (Conquering Jupiter: On decolonising the mind). The festival was opened by Sigrid Kaag, Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.

At the behest of Writers Unlimited, all contributors wrote a short essay, story or poem for the anthology to reflect on the festival theme. It is a unique collection of 28 wonderful pieces of writing edited by Toef Jaeger and published by Jurgen Maas. It is available at regular bookstores and online.

In the same venue in which the first Indonesian Winternacht (forerunner of Winternachten Festival) took place in 1995 - the Theater aan het Spui - on this jubilee opening night we proudly presented (inter)national writers that have developed a special bond with our festival and its audience. These included: Goenawan Mohamad (Indonesia) and Nelleke Noordervliet - who both performed at the first Winternacht in 1995 -, Adriaan van Dis, Antjie Krog (South Africa), Reggie Baay, Manon Uphoff, Vamba Sherif and Cynthia McLeod (Suriname). Tip: be sure to look up these writers in our online video and sound archive!

Writers Unlimited will always continue to seek out talent, and in 25 years has presented many debuting local and foreign writers. How wonderful, then, to welcome on this evening - once again, or for the first time: Angelina Enny (Indonesia), Rosabelle Illes (Aruba), Jolyn Phillips (South Africa) and, from the Netherlands, Karin Amatmoekrim, Simon(e) van Saarloos and Ellen Deckwitz. We awaited their appearances and recitations with bated breath.

Theatre maker, choreographer and hiphop innovator Shailesh Bahoran performed parts of his dance solo Heritage that was inspired by his Hindostani background; a short video of The Theatre of Wrong Decisions was shown and the Hesce Mourits Quartet of the Royal Conservatory The Hague also performed.

The Opening Night was hosted by Hassnae Bouazza.

The performance of Manon Uphoff, announced for this programme, has been canceled due to illness.

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Rosabelle Illes: On Visibly Invisible stories

Aruban writer, poet, spoken word artist Rosabelle Illes loves film and sometimes mentions it in her poetry, stories and videos. The question which images come to mind in relation to her own work, is central in this conversation with moderator Gerlinda Heywegen.

Expected: the film about a long-running television soap opera starring an actor you wouldn't expect, plays the leading role here, alongside Illes. And the fact that Virginia Woolf is important to her and that she dared to write short stories alongside her poems because of her oeuvre, brings her, for example, to The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002 after Michael Cunningham's book), the feature film that connects Woolf and her Mrs. Dalloway so beautifully.

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Spot on Young Poets

The literary future performs for you! Francis Broekhuijsen presents high-school students from Edith Stein College and de Vrije School Den Haag reciting their own poetry, the result of the Spot on Young Poets workshops and poetry lessons given at the schools by poet and guest teacher Diann van Faassen. Appearing with them is poet Obe Alkema, a nominee for the 2019 C. Buddingh Prize, and Mirle Wittekoek, a participant from last year and winner of the 2019 Young Campert Prize. DJ Socrates takes care of the sounds and beats. One or two finalists for the 2019 Young Campert Prize are chosen during the Spot on Young Poets events on Friday and Saturday. The finalists recite their poems once more on Sunday during the Schrijversfeest (Writers Fest). One of them is chosen by the public and receives the award for best Hague student poet.

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Poetry Unlimited: Surinam and Aruba

The Dutch-Surinamese poet Antoine de Kom and Rosabelle Illes from Aruba have a conversation with Chris Keulemans about their work and how roots influence it. Both also read from their own work.

Antoine de Kom is of Dutch-Surinamese background and the grandson of Anton de Kom, the Surinamese nationalist and resistance fighter. De Kom spent a great deal of his youth in Surinam. His first two poetry collections reflect that time: Tropen (Tropics, 1991) and De kilte in Brasilia (The Cold in Brasilia, 1995). The volumes Zebrahoeven (Zebra Hooves, 2001) and Chocoladetranen (Chocolate Tears, 2004) followed. De Kom was nominated for the C. Buddingh Prize and the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize, and his latest collection, Ritmisch zonder string (Rhythmic without String, 2013) won the VSB Poetry Prize.

Rosabelle Illes debuted in 2005 with her poetry collection Beyond Insanity. In 2010 she published Spiel di mi Alma, a poetry collection in her mother tongue of Papiamento that reveals a world of contradictions to the reader. Her third book, Title (2016), is a collection of stories, poems and thoughts. On the stage, Illes transforms into a true performer of her poems, carrying away her audience in a stream of words, movement and meaning.

Tip: Rosabelle Illes also appears at Opening Night - A Free Mind on 15 January at Theater aan het Spui, during Worden Worden Zinnen - the Writers Unlimited edition on 16 January at Paard, and with Cynthia McLeod on Saturday, 18 January at the Schilderswijk Library.

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Letters from Overseas

In 1795, the once-enslaved but later freed Wilhelmina Kelderman sent a heartbreaking letter from Paramaribo to her former master. The letter never arrived, as it was on a ship hijacked by the English, ended up in an archive, and was only opened two centuries later.

Writers Unlimited festival asked nine authors to write a letter to someone in a (former) colony, inspired by Wilhelmina's entreaty, and to present it at this event. They will recite them in their mother tongue or preferred language of writing; English or Dutch translations will be simultaneously projected.

Participants are Antjie Krog (South Africa), Alfred Birney, Reggie Baay, Ellen Deckwitz, Rosabelle Illes (Aruba), Jolyn Phillips (South Africa), Jasper Albinus, poet Angelina Enny (Indonesia) and poet, musician and theatre maker Robin Block.

Tip: Antjie Krog, Reggie Baay, Ellen Deckwitz and Jolyn Phillips will also read from their contributions to the 25th anniversary Winternachten festival anthology during the Opening Night - A Free Mind on Wednesday, 15 January at Theater aan het Spui.

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