Salena Godden
is an icon of the British spoken-word scene, a beloved English poet and performer, a social and political activist, and a radio producer. In the early nineties she began publishing CDs and DVDs of her poetry readings and live performances; she continuously expands this series, such as with 2020's The Lockdown E.P. Her poems, essays and short stories have been included in dozens of anthologies. Since 2011 she has published the poetry collections Under the Pier and Fishing In The Aftermath - Poems 1994-2014, and the youth memoir Springfield Road. Pessimism is for Lightweights - 13 pieces of courage and resistance (2018) was inspired by protests and demonstrations about issues such as women's rights, justice, sexism, racism, immigration and identity. Her debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death was published in January 2021.
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Archive available for: Salena Godden
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It's Up to Us & PEN Award
With: Arnon Grunberg, Eva Meijer, Jaap Tielbeke, Mirthe Frese, Raoul de Jong, Salena Godden, Samanta Schweblin, Simon(e) van Saarloos, Tsitsi Dangarembga
"It's up to us" is a statement made by philosopher, songwriter and author Eva Meijer in a radio program, as she was speaking about her novel De nieuwe rivier (The New River), which deals with the climate crisis. It's no longer up to you, the individual, to make the difference, but up to us. This statement became the theme of this online edition of the Winternachten Festival. But we also pose the question of which "us" we are talking about. Who is we?
We discussed this matter with writers Arnon Grunberg, Eva Meijer, Raoul de Jong, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Samanta Schweblin, moderated by Mirthe Frese.
0:00 - Intro.
1:52 - Arnon Grunberg (Netherlands), opening statement.
11:13 - Eva Meijer, Raoul de Jong (Netherlands), intro discussion
12:21 - Eva Meijer, recitation
14:01 - Raoul de Jong, discussion and recitation
17:16 - Eva Meijer, Raoul de Jong, discussion
32:11- Raoul de Jong, recitation
33:12 - Salena Godden (UK), spoken word
39:28 - Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe), interview
52:57 - Simon(e) van Saarloos, performance
1:00:40 - Samanta Schweblin (Germany), interview.
1:11:52 - Jaap Tielbeke (Netherlands), performance.
1:16:58 - Arnon Grunberg, interview.
1:21:43 - Tsitsi Dangarembga, life and work video
1:30:08 - PEN Award for Tsitsi Dangarembga.Arnon Grunberg opened the discussion by a statement from New York. In his speech on Remembrance Day in The Netherlands, Grunberg made it clear that we must take a good long look at ourselves; racism is deeply rooted in our culture. Our "we" is still far from inclusive.
In connection with his new novel Jaguarman, Raoul de Jong told Dutch daily de Volkskrant that, currently, one is often expected to feel like the representative of a group. He prefers to stay true to his own rhythm and message.
The Zimbabwean writer and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga, taking part from Harare, spoke about what "we" means to her in Zimbabwe's current postwar society. Dangarembga's novel This Mourning Body was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
With the Argentinean author Samanta Schweblin, Mirthe Frese talked about the interconnectedness of mankind, and about humanity in an era of new technologies. These appear to form a new universal language between people. In her novel Little Eyes Schweblin investigates how technology creates togetherness and alienation.
To broaden the sense of "we", the Winternachten Festival asked three authors to write a dedicated contribution about the Winternachten festival theme. We saw and heard, from here or far away, Salena Godden, Simon(e) van Saarloos and Jaap Tielbeke. From whose idea of "we" do they want to make a difference? What is needed to feel a sense of "us"? And is it even really up to us? Arnon Grunberg concluded by reflecting on the conversations and sharing his thoughts.
Following this discussion, the PEN Award for Freedom of Expression was handed out to Tsitsi Dangarembga. With The PEN Award, in a co-production with PIP The Hague that supports the Award, writers organisation PEN International honours authors who seek and speak out the truth risking their freedom and lives.
Read here the contributions written for this programme on request of the Winternachten international literature festival The Hague:
- The Religion of Group Identity | Arnon Grunberg
- A different kind of we | Eva Meijer
- Letter to My Younger Self | Jaap Tielbeke
- Everything is Anana | Raoul de Jong
- We could be Heroes | Salena Godden
- I have little time and lots to say | Simon(e) van Saarloos
(Find the Dutch-language versions here/Lees hier de Nederlandstalige versies)Learn more here:
Tsitsi Dangarembga
"Life in an 'ever narrowing Zimbabwe'", interview with Tsitsi Dangarembga, Al-Jazeera, 2020
Video: "Being shorlisted for the Booker Prize changed my life", interview with Tsitsi Dangarembga, France24, 2020
Salena Godden
website
Video: Salena Godden recites her poem The Letter from the collection Pessimism is for Lightweights, ArtHouse Jersey, 2020
Video: Salena Godden, spoken-word performance I want to be your wife, lead track of her newly released The Lockdown EP, Nymphs & Thugs, 2020Arnon Grunberg
website
Video: conversation with Arnon Grunberg about what the covid19-pandemic means for our society and democracy, De Balie Live, 2020Raoul de Jong
website
Audio: interview with Raoul de Jong about his novel Jaguarman, Radio Rijnmond, 2020Eva Meijer
website
Interview with Eva Meijer about De nieuwe rivier (The New River), Het Parool, 2020
Video: Interview with Eva Meijer about her book De nieuwe rivier (The New River), Kunststof, NPO Radio 1Simon(e) van Saarloos
website
Instagram
Audio The Asterisk Conversation #1 podcast: Simon(e) van Saarloos, Nalo Hopkinson, Tirsa With, Writers Unlimited, 2020Samanta Schweblin
Instagram
Video: Samanta Schweblin talks about her book Duizend ogen (Little Eyes, 2020)Jaap Tielbeke
Essays and articles by Jaap Tielbeke in De Groene Amsterdammer - The Religion of Group Identity | Arnon Grunberg
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Opening Night: It's Up to Us & PEN Award
With: Arnon Grunberg, Eva Meijer, Jaap Tielbeke, Mirthe Frese, Raoul de Jong, Salena Godden, Samanta Schweblin, Simon(e) van Saarloos, Tsitsi Dangarembga
"It's Up to Us" is a statement made by philosopher, songwriter and author Eva Meijer in a radio program, as she was speaking about her novel De nieuwe rivier (The New River), which deals with the climate crisis. It's no longer up to you, the individual, to make the difference, but up to us. This statement was chosen as the theme of this online edition of the Winternachten Festival. However, we pose the question of which "us" we are talking about. Who is we?
We discussed this matter with writers Arnon Grunberg, Eva Meijer, Raoul de Jong, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Samanta Schweblin, moderated by Mirthe Frese.
Arnon Grunberg opened the discussion with a statement from New York. In his Dutch Remembrance Day speech, Grunberg made it clear that we must take a good long look at ourselves; racism is deeply rooted in our culture. Our "we" is still far from inclusive.
In connection with his new novel Jaguarman, Raoul de Jong told the Dutch daily De Volkskrant that, these days, one is often expected to represent a group. He prefers to stay true to his own rhythm and message.
The Zimbabwean writer and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga, taking part from Harare, spoke about what "we" means to her in Zimbabwe's current postwar society. Dangarembga's novel This Mourning Body was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
The Argentinean author Samanta Schweblin spoke about the interconnectedness of mankind, and about humanity in an era of new technologies. These appear to form a new universal language between people. In her novel Little Eyes, Schweblin investigates how technology creates togetherness and alienation.
To broaden the sense of "we", the Winternachten Festival commissioned three authors to write a short piece on the Winternachten festival theme. From their own perspectives, we heard from Salena Godden, Simon(e) van Saarloos and Jaap Tielbeke. From whose idea of "we" do they intend to make a difference? What is needed to feel a sense of "us"? And is it even really up to us? To conclude, Arnon Grunberg reflected on the conversations and shared his thoughts.
Following this discussion, the PEN Award for Freedom of Expression was presented to Tsitsi Dangarembga. In a coproduction with PIP The Hague, which supports this prize, the writers' organization PEN International honours authors who currently seek out and speak the truth at risk to their freedom and lives with the PEN Award.
Watch a film portrait of Tsitsi Dangarembga here.You can read the contributions commissioned for this program by the Winternachten International Literature Festival The Hague here:
- The Religion of Group Identity | Arnon Grunberg
- A Different Kind of We | Eva Meijer
- Letter to My Younger Self | Jaap Tielbeke
- Everything is Anana | Raoul de Jong
- We Could be Heroes | Salena Godden
- I Have Little Time and Lots to Say | Simon(e) van Saarloos
(Find the Dutch-language versions here/Lees hier de Nederlandstalige versies)More background:
Tsitsi Dangarembga
"Life in an 'ever narrowing Zimbabwe'", interview with Tsitsi Dangarembga, Al-Jazeera, 2020
Video: "Being shorlisted for the Booker Prize changed my life", interview with Tsitsi Dangarembga, France24, 2020
Salena Godden
website
Video: Salena Godden recites her poem The Letter from the collection Pessimism is for Lightweights, ArtHouse Jersey, 2020
Video: Salena Godden, spoken-word performance I want to be your wife, lead track of her newly released The Lockdown EP, Nymphs & Thugs, 2020Arnon Grunberg
website
Video: conversation with Arnon Grunberg about what the covid19 pandemic means for our society and democracy, De Balie Live, 2020Raoul de Jong
website
Audio: interview with Raoul de Jong about his novel Jaguarman, Radio Rijnmond, 2020Eva Meijer
website
Interview with Eva Meijer about De nieuwe rivier (The New River), Het Parool, 2020
Video: Interview with Eva Meijer about her book De nieuwe rivier (The New River), Kunststof, NPO Radio 1Simon(e) van Saarloos
website
Instagram
Audio The Asterisk Conversation #1 podcast: Simon(e) van Saarloos, Nalo Hopkinson, Tirsa With, Writers Unlimited, 2020Samanta Schweblin
Instagram
Video: Samanta Schweblin talks about her book Duizend ogen (Little Eyes, 2020)Jaap Tielbeke
Essays and articles by Jaap Tielbeke in De Groene Amsterdammer - The Religion of Group Identity | Arnon Grunberg
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World Storytelling in the Institute of Social Studies
With: Kees Biekart, Piotr Ibrahim Kalwas, Salena Godden
Listen to stories from near and far. They will be told by African, Latin American and Asian students, as well as by Winternachten Festival guests Salena Godden (UK) and Piotr Ibrahim Kalwas (Poland). Do you have a story that fits the bill? Come down to the ISS and get registered. In English
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Saturday Night Wintercafé: Spot on Young Poets
Francis Broekhuijsen presents students of Hague high schools reading their own poetry, the result of workshops led by members of the Hague Poets' Guild. Young poet and 2014 C. Buddingh Prize winner Maarten van der Graaff and British poet and performer Salena Godden keep them company. During each Spot on Young Poets event (Friday and Saturday), one finalist for the Young Campert Prize will be chosen. Both finalists will read their poems during Sunday's Writers' Festival event, ahead of the award ceremony of the Jan Campert Foundation prizes. The public will choose one of them as the winner of this new prize for best Hague student poet. Come down and witness the literary future! Dutch spoken
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Friday Night Wintercafé: Spot on Young Poets
Francis Broekhuijsen presents students of Hague high schools reading their own poetry, the result of workshops led by members of the Hague Poets' Guild. Young poet and 2016 C. Buddingh Prize winner Marieke Rijneveld and British poet and performer Salena Godden keep them company. During each Spot on Young Poets event (Friday and Saturday), one finalist for the Young Campert Prize will be chosen. Both finalists will read their poems during Sunday's Writers' Festival event, ahead of the award ceremony of the Jan Campert Foundation prizes. The public will choose one of them as the winner of this new prize for best Hague student poet. Come down and witness the literary future!
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My Secret City
Can the secrets of a city a collection of microcosms, a collection of past and layered histories ever be completely and commonly uncovered? The festival asked seven authors to write about their own "secret" cities. Not the city that they see when they walk out the door and onto the street, but the city that they occasionally and unexpectedly come across. Participants read in their own language, with English and Dutch translations projected simultaneously.
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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
"The world is a story we tell ourselves about the world," according to Indian writer Vikram Chandra. Hanna Bervoets used the quote as a motto for her novel Efter, in which she investigates the fairy tales we tell ourselves and others to come to grips with our surroundings. Because we do tell one another fairy tales: about how the world appears, but also about how we ourselves appear. On Facebook, Instagram and vlogs we show our best side: photos are Photoshopped or simply "not allowed on timeline." Thus the world is not only a story we tell ourselves about the world, but also a story we tell the world about ourselves. With Hanna Bervoets, Salena Godden and others.
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In the Mirror of Refugees
The image that refugees have of Europe does not match the reality they experience upon arrival. Europe is a fiction. German-Azerbaijani writer Olga Grjasnowa wrote about the displaced in a globalized world; the Russian Michaïl Sjisjkin translated for asylumseekers in Vienna for years, which led to his novel Venus Hair; and novelist and filmmaker Hassan Blasim fled Irak and ended up turning his experiences into a book in Finland. Dutchman Tommy Wieringa delved into the motives of refugees for Dit zijn de namen (These Are the Names). What do they find in Europe? Moderator: Jeroen van Kan.
