Connie Palmen
(The Netherlands, 1955) is always exploring the boundaries between fact and fiction. She shot to fame with her first novel De wetten (The Laws, 1991). Her two subsequent novels, De vriendschap (Friendship, 1995) and I.M. (1998), also became bestsellers. She went on to publish Geheel de uwe (Sincerely Yours, 2004), Lucifer (2007) and Logboek van een onbarmhartig jaar (Logbook of a Merciless Year, 2011). Palmen has written several collections of essays, such as Een kleine filosofie van de moord (A Brief Philosophy of Murder, 2004), Het geluk van de eenzaamheid (The Joy of Loneliness, 2009) and Het drama van de afhankelijkheid (The Drama of Dependence, 2017). Many of her novels are based on events in her own life; her essays are exceptionally narrative. In 2023, she published Voornamelijk vrouwen (Mainly Women), personal essays about eleven women and one man who shape their lives in idiosyncratic ways. Palmen engages with them, challenges them, and discovers differences and similarities with her own life. Her multi-award-winning work is also internationally successful and has been translated into twenty languages.
Past events
Fleeting Time
Connie Palmen and Annelies Verbeke about how writers speed up or slow down time. Moderator: Mira Feticu
The Voice - In search of the character's soul
Connie Palmen, Celeste Ng and Sacha Bronwasser on the voice of their characters
The Limits of Empathy
Does evil lurk in every relationship? Neel Mukherjee wrote The Lives of Others, a tale of missing bonds within a large family. Connie Palmen in Jij zegt het (Whatever You Say) gives a voice to poet Ted Hughes, whose wife, poetess Sylvia Plath, committed suicide after the limits of their love had been reached.
The Text of my Life: Connie Palmen
The first in a series of short talks with the audience and the writer. Which texts from world literature has Dutch writer Connie Palmen cherished as long as she lives? This most beautiful or most inspiring text can be a poem, an excerpt from a novel or a song-text. She discusses the text with the audience. Presented by Arjan Peters and Tanja Jadnanansing. In Dutch.
Nothing to hide! A debate with the audience
My whole life on Facebook. Or rather, surely not? Together with host Ruben Maes we try to find out the do's and don't's. Writer and philosopher Connie Palmen, expert on primates Jan van Hooff and Maurits Martijn, a journalist and expert in the field privacy and surveillance, help us out. In Dutch.
Can I put my heart at your feet?
Connie Palmen and Sabri Saad El Hamus plunge into the world of sweet voices, bliss and temptation, hosted by Fouad Laroui. And HartenJagers Daniel Cornelissen and Simon Heijmans play Hartstuk by Heiner Müller. In Dutch.
Connie Palmen's State of the Novel: 'Fake it till you make it'
Especially for Winternachten Dutch writer Connie Palmen wrote a State of the Novel: ‘Fake it, till you make it’. After her lecture she'll talk with Christiaan Weijts on truth and falsehood. Host: Kees ’t Hart. In Dutch.
