Sophie Derkzen
(The Netherlands, 1984) is a journalist and presenter with a fascination for international politics and culture. On Dutch national broadcaster NPO Radio 1 she presents Bureau Buitenland for VPRO, awarded the prestigious Silver Reiss Microphone for best radio programme of the year in 2022. She made the podcasts Stad in Oorlog: Charkiv één jaar onder vuur (City at War: Kharkiv one year under fire; winner Silver Reiss Microphone 2023) and Generatie Merkel (4**** in de Volkskrant). She can also be heard on Radio 1 in the VPRO Marathon interviews, Nooit Meer Slapen and Publieke Tribune (HUMAN). She previously wrote for major Dutch publications, was a guest editor at the German newspaper Die Zeit, and worked in the political section of the Dutch Embassy in Berlin.
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Archive available for: Sophie Derkzen
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Captor and Captive
Power and powerlessness are rewarding themes in literature, drawn from extreme situations in history and real life. Emilienne Malfatto wrote the confrontational novel Le colonel ne dort pas (The Colonel Doesn't Sleep), about the power imbalance between a soldier and a prisoner, from the colonel's perspective. Burhan Sömnez wrote his novel Istanbul, Istanbul from the prisoner's perspective.
How do they portray this power imbalance, a per definition unequal situation of prisoner and guard? Both authors read an excerpt from their work and discussed power and powerlessness with Sophie Derkzen, host of a daily Radio 1 program for the VPRO broadcasting company.
Emilienne Malfatto is an award-winning photographer, journalist and writer. Her work deals with social, feminist and post-conflict issues in the Middle East, Latin Ameria and Europe. Her novel Le colonel ne dort pas (The Colonel Doesn't Sleep, 2021) brings to life three characters struggling with a war they cannot win.
Burhan Sönmez is a writer and board member of PEN International. His novels have been translated into 40 languages and won many awards. He became internationally known with his novel Istanbul, Istanbul, in which prisoners tell one another stories full of compassion and humour that are gradually more and more about life outside, in the city.
Festival tip: Emilienne Malfatto and Burhan Sönmez also appeared during Opening Night on 18 January 2024, and Malfatto again, together with Sacha Bronwasser, in the event Picture This during Saturday Night Unlimited (20 January 2024).
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Postponed: Eastern Europe and beyond
With: Lisa Weeda, Nino Haratischwili, Sophie Derkzen
Postponed due to measures against the coronavirus. We are exploring the possibility of presenting the program online or at a later point in time. We will inform you by our newsletter and social media.
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The Georgian-Ukrainian Connection: talking about family, roots and defining moments in history with the Hamburg-based Georgian writer Nino Haratischwili and Dutch-Ukrainian writer Lisa Weeda. Haratischwili had her breakthrough in 2014 with The Eight Life, in her latest novel The Cat and the General, she writes about the Chechen wars. In 2016 Petrovsky's Legs by Lisa Weeda was released, the literary reflection of two trips she made to and through Ukraine. Last year Weeda directed the VR production ROZSYPNE about the war zone in Ukraine. English spoken.Moderator: Sophie Derkzen
Program curated by Ilonka Reintjens (Writers Unlimited)
Books for sale courtesy of De Vries Van Stockum Books
