Winternachten 2009: Fake

December 2008 -

Fake is the theme of the next edition of the literary festival Winternachten in The Hague. Writers are masters when it comes to manipulating reality. They use day-to-day life and history to tell their own stories and uncover the truth behind reality. read more...

Winternachten lecture 2009 by Nuruddin Farah

January 2009 -

What does living in two worlds mean to an immigrant? Somali writer Nuruddin Farah speaks from experience.

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Jose Eduardo Agualusa: "We are not only writers, but interpreters as well"

January 2009 -

According to the Angolese writer, identity is always the central issue in the modern literature of young countries.

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Interview

Nury Vittachi: "I am an Earthling"

December 2008 -

Full interview with the Sri Lanka born and Hongkong based writer Nury Vittachi about the differences between Asia and Europe, his work and his literary projects.

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Essay

Nury Vittachi: Book prizes change lives

October 2008 -

Writer and humorist Nury Vittachi had to leave his homeland Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) because of ethnic clashes between Tamils and Singhalese. Thanks to an international award for a book his father wrote, the family was able to leave for Singapore.

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Interview

Perihan Magden: "If people offend my country I do feel Turkish"

December 2008 -

Perihan Magden (Istanbul, 1960) latest novel Who were we running from, mother is about the fears she felt when she was prosecuted and taunted because of her support of a conscientious objector. "I feared for my life," says Magden in an interview about her books, her life and the power of a columnist.

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Interview

Indira Goswami catches hard life in poetry

December 2008 -

Indira Goswami was relatively unknown in Europe until now, but after winning the Principal Prince Claus Award 2008, that is sure to change.

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The Journey - Indira Goswami

december 2008 -

In addition to novels and poems, Indira Goswami also writes short stories. Her collection of short stories The Shadow of Kamakhya, describing life in the province of Assam, where she was born, was published in 2001. The story The Journey is exemplary for Goswami's style. It is poetic despite the serious themes of poverty and the struggle for independence. Two travellers are stranded with an impoverished family, and observe how life has taken its toll.

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Nuruddin Farah keeps Somalia alive with his pen

November 2008 -

Somali author Nuruddin Farah is considered by many to be the most important African candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. The oeuvre with which Farah established his reputation primarily has one theme: his homeland Somalia, from which he fled in 1974 during the reign of dictator Siad Barre.

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Essay

Binyavanga Wainaina: How to write about Africa

December 2008 -

Against all odds, the Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina sometimes tries to correct the traditional image of Africa in the media. In one of his most well-known essays, How to write about Africa, he lays waste all the clichés that exist regarding Africa.

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Essay

Breyten Breytenbach: Thinking Birdness

February 2006 -

On behalf of Winternachten – International literature festival The Hague, Breyten Breytenbach and Afshin Ellian both wrote an essay centering on the theme ‘Heroes of the Mind’.

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More reading: literary links

December 2008 -

"Internet has triggered a revolution in Arabic literature," said the Algerian poet Lamis Saidi during Winternachten 2008. The Internet has made it possible for writers to reach a global public without a publisher as intermediary.

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