'Bibi Koetis voor altijd' by Lin Scholte, with Jannah Loontjens, Annelies Verbeke (Fixdit), Gustaaf Peek, Vilan van de Loo

Dutch-Indonesian author Lin Scholte's (1921-1997) work provides a vivid insight into the colonial period in Indonesia and its aftermath. She was born in Batudjadjar, the daughter of a Dutch father and a Javanese mother. She was one of the few to describe Indonesian barracks life and the revenge of KNIL soldiers and their families from the inside with great attention to detail, focusing on four generations of women.

Her second book Bibi Koetis voor altijd (1974, Bibi Koetis Forever) focuses on Auntie (bibi) Koetis. In rhythmic, precise wording, Scholte draws the setting, the barracks customs and the strong family bond, but also how history intervenes in the lives of all of them.

Together with Dutch literary magazine De Gids, writers Jannah Loontjens and Annelies Verbeke create the Fixdit podcast series Moderne klassiekers (Modern classics) written by women.

In this fifth episode of the Fixdit podcast, Jannah Loontjens and Annelies Verbeke talked to writers Gustaaf Peek and Vilan van de Loo. The latter is the compiler of the collected work of Lin Scholte which, with an extensive biographical introduction, was published in 2007 by Stichting Tong Tong.

This episode of the series was recorded live with an audience on Thursday 4 November 2021 in cooperation with Writers Unlimited as a Writers Series programme in a beautiful and fitting setting: Museum Sophiahof in The Hague.

This Writers Series programme by Writers Unlimited, also live Fixdit podcast recording, was captured on video. Watch the video recording via Writers Unlimited's image and sound archive here. Note: the conversation is in Dutch.

About Fixdit
Writers collective Fixdit is committed to promoting the work of women authors who deserve a wide readership. In collaboration with literary magazine De Gids, writers Jannah Loontjens and Annelies Verbeke create the Fixdit podcast series Moderne klassiekers (Modern Classics) in which they highlight a literary classic written by a woman. In 2022, the Fixdit manifesto Optimistische woede: fix het seksisme in de literatuur (Optimistic Anger: Fix Sexism in Literature) was published, with contributions from the eleven Fixdit authors 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 & Writers Unlimited
Fixdit and Writers Unlimited have joined forces to highlight female international authors who deserve a place in the literary canon. Together, Fixdit and Writers Unlimited created the Fixdit podcast episodes Bibi Koetis voor altijd (Bibi Koetis Forever) about Indonesian author Lin Scholte (November 2021) and De val van de imam (The Fall of the Imam) about legendary Egyptian writer Nawal El Saadawi (June 2022, during the summer edition of the Winternachten festival The Hague, view the Dutch spoken video registration here). On 25 September 2022, the Fixdit manifesto Optimistische woede (Optimistic Anger) was presented during a Writers Series programme by Writers Unlimited.