Chika Unigwe
(Nigeria, 1974), a writer and literary scholar, lived in Belgium for years and moved to the US in 2013 where she teaches Creative Writing at the University of Georgia. Besides novels she also writes poetry, children's books, educational books and short stories. In 2005 she debuted as a novelist with De feniks (The Phoenix), a portrait of a young Nigerian in Belgium who struggles with feelings of depression and uprooting after the death of her five-year-old son. This was followed by the novels On Black Sisters' Street (2011, the original version in Dutch was published as Fata Morgana in 2008) about four Nigerian women who end up as sex workers in Antwerp, Nachtdanser (Night Dancer, 2011) and De zwarte messias (The Black Messiah, 2013). In 2019, her collection of short stories Better Never than Late, about the unusual lives and relationships of a group of Nigerian immigrants making their way in Belgium, appeared. Her new novel The Middle Daughter will be published in April 2023.
Past events
Dream Language
‘Come to me, my language, come back’, Derek Walcott wrote. How does it feel to write in another language than your own? Does this new language also become the language in which you dream? Asis Aynan presents Ahmad Al Malik, Rodaan Al Galidi, Raj Mohan and Chika Unigwe, who will share their experiences. With musical accompaniment by guitarist Lourens van Haaften. In Dutch .
VPRO De Avonden
In the square in front of the theatre there is De Kas. The whole evening Jeroen van Kan talks with writers at the festival for the VPRO radio programme De Avonden Live. Visitors are allowed to peek freely and listen in. In Dutch and English.
21.17: Bernice Chauly
21.35: Ghalia Benali
22.05: Bejan Matur
22.15: Rodaan Al Galidi and Chika Unigwe
22.35: Nazmiye Oral and Kader Abdolah
