Watch, Listen, Read: Winternachten 2007
VPRO's OVT - Live in Winternachten
Winternachten 2007
The last sounds from Winternachten 2007 were heard on Sunday morning from The Hague in a live broadcast of OVT, the history programme of VPRO radio. The programme was dedicated to Winternachten and the relationship between history and literature. …
read moreAllard Schröder, H.J.A. Hofland, Jakarta Street Band, Mathijs Deen, Paul van der Gaag, Thomas Rosenboom
Living together multi-coloured: the Antilles, Surinam, the Netherlands
Winternachten 2007
A debate. Creole, Hindostani or Javanese, Bakra, Makamba or Indian. How do the various population groups live together on the Antilles and in Surinam? Are there problems with integration or have the colour barriers been levelled? What is the …
read moreChanga Hickinson, Cynthia Mc Leod, John Jansen van Galen, Mito Croes, Ruben Severina, Sombra
Reading Club Live
Winternachten 2007
The NRC-Handelsblad reading club came live from Winternachten. Bas Heijne, Elsbeth Etty and Sjoerd de Jong publicly discussed Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, in the translation by Bas Heijne. Last year Winternachten experienced the …
read moreBas Heijne, Elsbeth Etty, Pieter Steinz, Sjoerd de Jong
Winternachten lecture
Winternachten 2007
The Indian writer Pankaj Mishra opened the festival in the Nieuwe kerk with the first Winternachten lecture. He spoke about the influence of globalization on literature. The lecture in English and Dutch can be downloaded as an Acrobat Reader …
read moreMichaël Zeeman, Pankaj Mishra
Two Houses
Winternachten 2007
A daily topic of conversation in the Arab press still: Omaret Yacoubian , the adaptation of the novel by Alaa Al Aswany. A story about corruption, fundamentalism, adultery, drugs, trade and homosexuality. People cry out against the film, but the …
read moreAlaa al Aswani, Margot Dijkgraaf, Michiel van Kempen
The great crossing
Winternachten 2007
From Tanger to Europe go the harragas . They risk their lives in rickety boats, expecting the fulfilment of their dangerous desires at the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar. Moroccan immigrants, driven by misfortune to the most desperate acts, …
read moreAbdelkader Benali, Laila Lalami
Young poets - part 1
Winternachten 2007
' I t is our explicit wish to remain anonymous', wrote poet Alfred Schaffer in his last anthology , Schuim (Foam). Nevertheless he and five other poets from the young generation read from their work. In this first part: Alfred Schaffer, made his …
read moreAlfred Schaffer, Rustum Kozain, Tsead Bruinja, Vrouwkje Tuinman
Sonologic landscape
Winternachten 2007
Languages clash and mingle in the new country. Composer Jos Janssen put poems by the famous Sundanese author Ajip Rosidi to wonderful electronic sounds. The Sundanese journalist and editor Hawé Setiawan talked to Rosidi and the Sundanese/Dutch art …
read moreAjip Rosidi, Alit Djajasoebrata, Hawé Setiawan, Jos Janssen
Berber poetry - the advance of the Tamazight
Winternachten 2007
The way Fadma El Ouariachi reads is impressive. This poet from the Rif mountains writes poems in Tamazight, the language of the Berbers of North Africa. Young Dutch poet Khadija al Mourabit writes poets in this language. They performed together with …
read moreAbdelkader Benali, Alfred Schaffer, Fadma El Ouariachi, Khadija al Mourabit
Journey to a dreamed Netherlands
Winternachten 2007
'There was a time which, according to some, still continues. In that time the Netherlands was much bigger than now.' This is how Cees Nooteboom once began a fairytale about the Netherlands. In his opening speech about a journey to a dreamed …
read moreCees Nooteboom, Lieve Joris, Maarten Asscher
The world goose board
Winternachten 2007
In a well or in jail? Miss one turn or tell your travel story. Adriaan van Dis, Cynthia McLeod, Reggie Baay and Thomas Rosenboom played the World Goose Board, a risky journey through the world, in search of the ideal destination. Dutch spoken. De …
read moreAdriaan van Dis, Cynthia Mc Leod, Paul van der Gaag, Reggie Baay, Thomas Rosenboom
Gulliver's New Travels
Winternachten 2007
'My little friend Grildrig... I cannot but conclude that the majority of your inhabitants belongs to the most damaging and the most detestable vermin that Mother nature ever allowed to walk on the face of the earth,' Jonathan Swift wrote in his …
read moreAllard Schröder, Atte Jongstra, Bas Heijne, Nukila Amal, Rustum Kozain
In search of pure Islam
Winternachten 2007
Hosted by writer/journalist Joris Luyendijk, journalist Rachida Azough and writer/essayist Ian Buruma talked to the Moroccan/Dutch writer Fouad Laroui on his book On Islamism. A Personal Rebuttal. He dissects and refutes the principles of islamism …
read moreFouad Laroui, Ian Buruma, Joris Luyendijk, Rachida Azough
In search of the soul. Part 1: Science
Winternachten 2007
'Your soul is something holy, she has been breathed in by God and as she gets older she grows little hairs.' That's how the soul was thought of in the Middle Ages. But what is the present state of affairs, is she still breathed in by God, and if so: …
read moreDésanne van Brederode, Douwe Draaisma, Michaël Zeeman, Midas Dekkers
In search of the soul. Part 2: Religion
Winternachten 2007
Is the soul purely religious? The answer to that question and to the alleged divine sides of the soul were provided by the Indian writer Pankaj Mishra and the British writer Karen Armstrong. Pankaj Mishra wrote the eassay-like travel novel The …
read moreKaren Armstrong, Michaël Zeeman, Pankaj Mishra
In search of the soul. Part 3: Art
Winternachten 2007
If there is one occupational group tackling its own spiritual welfare then is is the artists' guild. Are the eyes the mirror of the soul? Is the soul paramount? What benefits the soul the most, the world or an Elysian island? What would Achterberg …
read moreAllard Schröder, Klaas de Vries, Michaël Zeeman, Theo Jansen
Downright performers: Surinam and St Maarten
Winternachten 2007
Overwhelmingly and defiantly Changa Hickinson of St.-Maarten brings his committed, activist poetry to the stage, booming and singing about colonialism and slavery, alternating this with whispers about poverty and suppression. Just as committed is …
read moreChanga Hickinson, Michiel van Kempen, Sombra
For the sake of love - Surinamese and Aruban female writers in the Netherlands
Winternachten 2007
Family ties, migration as an exploratory expedition, and the quest for love. These are the themes in the work of three Caribbean writers in the Netherlands. They write about the search for a new existence overseas. In the Sranantongo poems of the …
read moreCelestine Raalte, Giselle Ecury, Karin Amatmoekrim, Noraly Beyer
Women on expedition
Winternachten 2007
What lady would leave the beaten track? Why run the risk of illness, robbery and the unknown bush ? Two travel writers and a professor talked to one another. Karin Anema ventured into the Surinamese interior, Ineke Holtwijk made her acquaintance …
read moreBert Paasman, Ineke Holtwijk, Karin Anema, Paul van der Gaag
Decolonization on location
Winternachten 2007
Historiography in the present Indonesia hardly differs from the previous generation, at the time of president Suharto's New Order. A new class of young, aspiring historians looks at its own history with a fresh view. Programme coordinator Muhamad …
read moreMuhamad Hisyam
Power and Violence
Winternachten 2007
Neither the 'liberation' by the Japanese, nor independence brought the Indonesians the much hoped for peace and quiet. New violence emerged: criminally or politically motivated? Australian historian Robert Cribb told about the research into the …
read moreRobert Cribb
Cityscapes
Winternachten 2007
The powershifts in the long period of decolonisation have translated themselves in streetscapes and cityscapes. Buildings changed roles and houses and earth got other owners. What role has the government played in these changes? Fourteen researchers …
read moreBambang Purwanto, Freek Colombijn
Dictation Sranantongo
Winternachten 2007
Something new for the Netherlands! A public dictation for all those who speak Sranantongo. The lingua franca of Surinam has had an official spelling since the 1980s. But who masters it? We monitored the state of affairs: speakers of Sranantongo …
read moreCavy G., Cynthia Mc Leod, Eva Essed-Fruin, Rabin Baldewsingh, René Hart
Right and Wrong
Winternachten 2007
Living in a country torn by war means making choices, choosing between right and wrong, is the general feeling. But when is 'good' good? What does the retrospective view do with these value judgements? 'During the war you just lived your life,' says …
read moreMartijn Apituley, Sitor Situmorang
From Batavia to Jakarta in prose, poetry and film
Winternachten 2007
The past is what has been, governments cherish hush-hush policies, but history remains alive in the family memory. How do younger generations look at the making of Indonesia? What is left of the aspirations of their parents? Has the decolonization …
read moreJoss Wibisono, Martien de Vletter, Nukila Amal, Zeffry Alkatiri
Young poets - part 2
Winternachten 2007
'It is our explicit wish to remain anonymous', wrote poet Alfred Schaffer in his last anthology, Schuim (Foam). Nevertheless he and five other poets of the young generation read from their work. In this second part: the former Antwerp 'city poet' …
read moreFlorence Tonk, Ramsey Nasr, Tsead Bruinja, Willem Thies
Pupils in search of poetry
Winternachten 2007
Tense and a little uncomfortably they roamed the theatre: the pupils who had to perform at the festival and who meanwhile stared at what their professional examples brought to the stage. Poet Alfred Schaffer presented the pupils from The Hague and …
read moreAlfred Schaffer
Pupil poets
Winternachten 2007
Do not underestimate them, the young talents at the secondary school in The Hague. In the past few years they made quite an impression with the poems they wrote for Winternachten. Alfred Schaffer presents the young poets, who were inspired by a poet …
read moreAlfred Schaffer
The last journey
Winternachten 2007
It happens a number of times a year in our country: a funeral where no one turns up. There are no surviving relatives or they show no interest in the deceased. The coffin is lowered into the ground under the watchful eye of the civil servant of …
read moreAlfred Schaffer, Anneke Brassinga, F. Starik, Neeltje Maria Min
Financial perkaras
Winternachten 2007
Host Paul van der Gaag talked to historians Hans Meijer and Peter Keppy about their research into administrative decisions on arrears in civil servants' salaries, material war damage and rehabilitation. On the struggle of the Dutch government and …
read moreHans Meijer, Paul van der Gaag, Peter Keppy
From the Dutch East Indies to Indonesia
Winternachten 2007
What is decolonization? It is the departure, gradually that is, of an old colonial power. Is it an arrival too? The decolonization of Indonesia is full of questions and uncertainties. Remco Raben came to mention this in his introduction. Subsequentl…
read moreRemco Raben, Zeffry Alkatiri
From Javanese Bank to Bank Indonesia
Winternachten 2007
The Dutch-East Indian province brought forth a thriving businesslife with a monopoly for Dutch enterprises. When Sukarno declared the republic Indonesia in 1945 it seemed that there was no future was Dutch companies on Indonesian soil However, …
read moreThomas Lindblad
Who is the boss?
Winternachten 2007
Along the railroads and in the harbours and the mines Indonesian workers worked in the service of the Dutch oppressor or the local native elite. How did these workers, but also the domestic workers and betjak drivers undergo the change from colonial …
read moreRatna Saptari