Joost Oomen

Archive available for: Joost Oomen

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  Writers Unlimited 2025

  Playing with Fire: jubilee show 30 years Writers Unlimited

  With: Abdelkader Benali, Babs Gons, Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio, Eli Wing, Joost Oomen, Koninklijk Conservatorium Dans, Rosabelle Illes, Saartje Van Camp, Shirma Rouse, Spinvis, XILLAN, Zaïre Krieger

  Be warmed by the fire of writers, dancers and musical artists! Writers Unlimited presents Playing with Fire in Amare Den Haag, a show full of literature, music and dance in which words, rhythm, melody and movement meet.

  For thirty years, Writers Unlimited has offered a stage to passionate and groundbreaking writers, poets, thinkers, musicians and other performers from the Netherlands and abroad during the International Literature Festival The Hague in January.

  In honour of this anniversary, enjoy a unique line-up of artists and writers this wintery Sunday afternoon in the beautiful Danstheater auditorium of Amare Den Haag (a five-minute walk from The Hague Central Station).

  Writers Unlimited asked well-known artists and authors to perform work in which fire in all its (concrete and abstract) guises - as the germ of artistry and source of inspiration, as a terrifying phenomenon or scorching love, as a symbol of revolution and struggle - takes centre stage.

  And so, during Playing with Fire you will hear, see and experience existing and new material by a host of artists such as Spinvis (Erik de Jong) and cellist and singer Saartje Van Camp, and a performance by forty-five young dancers from the Royal Conservatoire Dance in Festina Lente by choreographer Tessa Cooke.

  Writer and theatre-maker Joost Oomen will recite on the committed Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, pn being an artist in turbulent times and on 'duende' - a term from flamenco, one of the most passionate, fiery dance forms there is, of which you will see a beautiful sample by the Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio (i.c.w. Flamenco Biënnale Nederland). The trio is formed by Claudia Karapanou (dance), Lucas Arango (guitar) and Erminia Fernandez Cordoba (vocals).

  Dutch pop artist and Queen of Soul Shirma Rouse performs warming songs from her repertoire and alternative R&B singer-songwriter XILLAN, singing and playing the piano, tells something about the fire under his yet-to-be-published novel. Poet Laureate of The Netherlands Babs Gons, spoken word artist Zaïre Krieger and Aruban artist, poet and performer Rosabelle Illes recite texts written especially for this show about what playing with fire means to them.

  The programme will be closed by Pulse conducted by Eli Wing, a percussion formation that will not leave anyone sitting still. Pulse members are Mees Siderius (surdos and other percussion instruments), Remco Menting (cowbell and other percussion instruments), Ruben de Ruiter (conga's) and Mark Ooman (shakers). Writer Abdelkader Benali will guide you through the show and introduce the artists.

  Festival motto: On Fire
  The 30th festival edition's motto is On Fire. "Fire represents love, desire and passion, but also burning issues such as war, migration and climate," says Judith Uyterlinde, director of Writers Unlimited. "Fire is the source of inspiration for talks and readings on issues including freedom of expression, war and remembrance, gender and eroticism, and a host of other issues that ignite writers, poets and audiences."

  Festival tip: for the full festival experience, join us for the grand festival events Friday Night Unlimited (24 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (25 January)! Both nights you choose your own route along some 20 performances, readings and conversations on five stages in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag. English and Dutch spoken.

  
  From 23 to 26 January 2025, Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague is to be found in theatres, libraries and schools throughout the city: from Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, Amare and Paard to Theater Dakota, Theater De Vaillant, the Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries and De Haagse Hogeschool. With over 120 writers, poets and spoken-word artists and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. With readings, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical talks, films and music.

  
  Playing with Fire is curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Jet Steinz and is realised in cooperation with Amare, with contributions from the City of The Hague and the Dutch Foundation for Literature.

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  Writers Unlimited 2025 – Saturday Night Unlimited

  Humour and discomfort

  Humour is delightful, popular and interesting. Because with humour, all kinds of discomfort can be laughed away. Books and poems are quite often uncomfortable. Writers, theatre makers and stage artists Joost Oomen and Viv Groskop - both very skilled at handling laughter - examine the role of humour and discomfort in literature in a conversation moderated by poet Ellen Deckwitz. English spoken.

  Joost Oomen is a poet, writer, theatre-maker and drummer. His debut novel Het Perenlied (The Pear Song, 2022) is a "tender, joyful, optimistic and overwhelming story" (Tzum). Visjes: een avontuur op Salina (Small fish: an adventure on Salina, 2022) is both travelogue and paean to Italian islands. Lievegedicht (Dear Poem, 2023) his first collection of poetry, received - unusually for poetry - reprint after reprint. His novel Het paradijs van slapen (The Paradise of Sleeping, 2024) is about love, death, Friesland, Terschelling, art and euthanasia. Joost regularly recites poems in TV programmes; in his theatre performance Alle dichters hebben gouden helikopters (All poets have golden helicopters), he explained how poetry works through stories about poets and his own work. He is also one of the three founders of the instagram channel @poezieiseendaad.

  Viv Groskop is a writer, stand up comedian, broadcaster and performance coach. She is the author of best-sellers as How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking (2018) and Happy High Status: How to Be Effortlessly Confident (2023). Her podcast How to Own the Room is the biggest public speaking podcast in the world and features interviews with Hillary Clinton, Margaret Atwood and Julie Andrews. Her other books include The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature and Au Revoir, Tristesse: Lessons in Happiness from French Literature. She appears regularly on BBC TV and radio and for six years she did a run of sold-out one-woman comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

  Ellen Deckwitz is a poet, columnist, critic and presenter at literary events, including Writers Unlimited. For De steen vreest mij (The stone fears me, 2011), she was awarded the C. Buddingh' Prize for the best poetry debut. Her collection Hogere natuurkunde (Higher physics, 2019) is part travelogue, part myth and part testimony, and the outcome of conversations Deckwitz engaged in with individuals whose roots also trace back to the former Dutch East Indies. In 2022, Eerste hulp bij poezie (First aid at poetry) was published, an omnibus containing her collections Olijven moet je leren lezen (Olives must be read, 2020) and Dit gaat niet over grasmaaien (This is not about lawn mowing, 2021). Deckwitz writes columns for national daily newspaper NRC. In her NPO Luister podcast Poezie vandaag, she presents a Dutch or translated poem every workday morning. She is one of three critics of podcast Boeken FM.

  Humour and discomfort is curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Ilonka Reintjens.