Roos van Rijswijk
(The Netherlands, 1985) is a presenter, interviewer and writer of prose, essays, interviews, columns, theatre pieces and reviews for a variety of Dutch publications. In 2016 she debuted with the novel Onheilig (Unholy), which won the Anton Wachter Prize. In 2017 her prose poem Calligram was published, upon which the daily newspaper De Volkskrant named her literary talent of the year. She wrote the collections Wat ben ik meer dan stilte – verhalen van geesten (What Am I But Silence - Stories of Ghosts, 2018), De olifant van de bovenbuurman (The Elephant of the Upstairs Neighbor, 2018, a picture book for adults with drawings by Sylvia Weve), and De Dwaler (The Wanderer, 2021). Van Rijswijk reviews translated fiction for Dutch national daily newspaper NRC and teaches at the Schrijversvakschool in Amsterdam.
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Archive available for: Roos van Rijswijk
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Money to Burn
The trigger for this conversation about the destructive power of greed and capitalism is Danish author Asta Olivia Nordenhof's magnificent novel Money to Burn (Dutch title: Geld als water).
Money to Burn is the first part of a novel project as impressive as it is daring, the kick-off of a seven-part series, the second part of which, The Devil's Book, will be published in January 2025. Each volume will be linked to the for-profit fire on the cruise ship the Scandinavian Star in 1990, in which 159 people lost their lives.
Dario Goldbach, in his debut novel De man die alles had (The Man Who Had Everything, 2023), takes readers on a world tour of the excesses of capitalism. And writer and theatre-maker Marjolijn van Heemstra describes how the human urge to colonise is no longer limited to other countries, but also extends to other planets.
Moderator Roos van Rijswijk will lead the discussion and use the authors' books to explore this topic in more depth. Does capitalism have a future or is the moment of the bubble bursting near?
Money to Burn is curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Ilonka Reintjens.
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You Do Something to Me - Connie Palmen and Sven Ratzke on Marlene Dietrich
With: Connie Palmen, Jetse de Jong, Roos van Rijswijk, Sven Ratzke
Top author Connie Palmen and international star artist Sven Ratzke worked together on a theatre production about Marlene Dietrich. Palmen co-wrote the text and Ratzke interprets it in the show. They talked about their collaboration and about Dietrich, their collabprations, masculinity. femininity and gender in performace. Writer and journalist Roos van Rijswijk moderated the discussion.
Sven performed some famous Dietrich songs, accompanied by his pianist Jetse de Jong: Illusions from the 1948 Billy Wilder film A Foreign Affair and, both from 1930, Wenn ich mir was wünschen dürfte and Falling in Love Again.
Marlene can be seen in Dutch theatres as of 28 February 2024. A whirlwind musical theatre show about Dietrich the legend, the mysterious and glamorous film goddess, who had a second international career a chansonnière and then chose complete isolation for the last years of her life in her Parisian apartment. The show gives insight into the insanity, the showbiz and Marlene's memories, and culminates in her 1960 Berlin concert. Ratzke, known for productions such as the Rocky Horror Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and his famous one-man performances, embodies Marlene. Like no other, he is able to switch between genders and interpret the work of icons. Infused with wonderful music and framed by Palmen's texts and the costumes of Ian Griffiths (art direction by Max Mara), Marlene provides a glimpse into the soul of a world-famous legend.
All her reading life, Connie Palmen has been mesmerised by female artistry. In her latest book Voornamelijk vrouwen (Mostly Women), she describes them: women like Marilyn Monroe, Marguerite Duras, Patricia Highsmith and Jane Bowles, who each in their own way crossed the boundaries of prevailing morality and their gender. The book is Palmen's literary paean to female creative power and autonomy. And it is, above all, an exploration of her own writing, reflecting all her literary themes.
Festival tip: Palmen also took part in the grand festival evenings Friday Night Unlimited (19 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (20 January)! On Friday evening, she and Annelies Verbeke talked about how writers speed up or slow down time in De vluchtige tijd; on Saturday evening, in The Voice - in search of the character's soul, she delivered a keynote speech about the voice of characters, and discussed this further with writers Sacha Bronwasser and Celeste Ng.
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Marja Pruis in Bibliotheek Nieuw Waldeck
With: Marja Pruis, Roos van Rijswijk
Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague welcomed you to the Nieuw Waldeck Library for an appearance by writer Marja Pruis. She talked to Roos van Rijswijk about her new novel, Homework, and also read excerpts from it.
In the novel, Clara Feij has come to live in the most beautiful house in Amsterdam, according to herself. The cleaning is left to a slew of maids who have all fled their own countries. When Rose moves in, everything changes. How can you help someone you know nothing about? And how can you trust someone when all evidence seems against her?
Homework is a confrontational novel about intimate happiness and domestic betrayal. About being in charge and not wanting to be. With great precision, Marja Pruis exposes the confusion that traps Westerners with all their good intentions.
Marja Pruis has been writing about the expectations men and women have of each other and of life since her debut novel Bloem (Flower). Her novel Atoomgeheimen (Nuclear Secrets is about intimacy and the loss of ideals. She has been called the chronicler of contemporary womanhood; she explores her themes further in her novels De vertrouweling (The Confidant) and Zachte riten (Soft Rites). Pruis works at De Groene Amsterdammer weekly as a literary editor and columnist, writing essays on topics as diverse as humour, shyness and greed.
She received the Jan Hanlo Prize for her collection of essays Kus me, straf me (Kiss Me, Punish Me) and the J. Greshoff Prize for essayism with Genoeg nu over mij (Enough about me now). For her columns, collected in Oplossingen (Solutions), she received the J. Heldring Prize. In Boos Meisje. Over vrouwen en frictie (Angry Girl. About Women and Friction), she writes about the split in which girls and women find themselves, including portraits of writers she admires such as Renate Rubinstein and Vivian Gornick. Her recently published novel Huiswerk (Homework) is about white privilege and the tension between employer and employee.
"Huiswerk is classic Pruis: bouncy, associative, multifaceted, imaginative, humorous, you regularly burst out laughing, but ultimately more serious than anticipated." (Tzum)
Festival tip: Pruis and many other writers and poets appeared at the grand festival evening Saturday Night Unlimited (20 January 2024), during which you chose your own route between twenty events on five stages at Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag.
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New Talent in the House!
Five powerful new female stars in the literary firmament talk about their ultimate sense of being at home in specially written commentaries. Much-discussed debutante Nina Polak and her up-and-coming colleagues Bregje Hofstede, Mira Feticu, Roos van Rijswijk, and Shantie Singh appear in a varied program. Presented by Simone van Saarloos. In Dutch.
