Wietse Leenders
(1997) enjoys writing stories in which narrators sing rather than tell, characters stumble and get caught between time, bears are traded, fathers are chased in reverse, and madness always threatens to strike but never really does. Wietse studied Theatre Studies (UU) and Creative Writing (ArtEZ). He published short stories, including in De Revisor, his graduation novella was nominated for the Nieuwe Types Afstudeerprijs 2022 and he participated in the Slow Writing Lab in 2023. He makes literary programmes, teaches at ArtEZ Arnhem, writes for de Theaterkrant and is co-founder of the still shadowy post-punk duo RIP Rib Ruimteschip.
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Archive available for: Wietse Leenders
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FFÛH x Writers Unlimited Festival: Open Mic
With: Fester Vogels, Frank van den Boom, Helen Weeres, HIlde Onis, Jan Wester, L.J. de Brouwer, Naomi van Kleef, Noah Gorrissen, Wietse Leenders
Come listen to poetry, support your poets or recite your own poem! The microphone will be ready Saturday afternoon 25 January 2025 on the foyer stage of Theater aan het Spui during the Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague.
Together with Writers Unlimited, FFÛH brings literary delights to the foyer of Theater aan het Spui in two parts:
- from 13:00 to 14:00: open mic with readings by poets from FFÛH circles and by six authors who took part in Oude werken, jonge schrijvers by deBuren, Flemish-Dutch House for culture and debate, in which they read their special poem to a painting on Friday night 24 January 2025 at Het Mauritshuis. Support, listen or recite your own work. Everyone is welcome.
- From 15:00 to 16:30: festive presentation of the first FFÛH anthology with readings of the poems it contains. Nine young poets worked for a year on the publication whose main theme is the sea. The collection is called Zilt en Asfalt (Salty and Asphalt), and is published by PIP. The nine poets are: Lila Maria de Coninck, June Versluis, Gijs Huizinga, Frank van den Boom, Fester Vogels, Wouter van den Elzen, Agata Luisa Dohne, Jady van Zijl en Berthe Kemperman.
Saturday afternoon 25 January, the foyer of Theater aan het Spui is accessible free of charge. The FFÛH anthology is available after the presentation at the festival stand of bookshop De Vries Van Stockum in the foyer of Theater aan het Spui.
FFÛH is a poetry collective in its infancy. In FFÛH there is a great desire for a wider stage for the young writing talent hiding in The Hague. FFÛH is committed to putting the city behind the dunes on the map as a breeding ground for poetry. The first idea that grew out of that desire was to publish a collection of poems - by, for and about The Hague. Meanwhile, FFÛH also emerged as a platform for poetry evenings, open mics and collective writing sessions. In 2024, there were FFÛH meetings at De Utopie on Waldeck Pyrmontkade, at Waterkant in Westbroek Park and at Museum West, the former US embassy on Lange Voorhout.
Festival tip 1: 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.
Festivaltip 2: as Writers Unlimited presents its literature festival for 30 years, we celebrate this anniversary with Playing with Fire, a show full of music, dance and literature at Amare (Danstheater) on Sunday afternoon, 26 January. You will see and hear Spinvis, Shirma Rouse, XILLAN, Babs Gons, Joost Oomen, Zaïre Krieger, Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio, Royal Conservatoire Dance and percussion group Pulse led by Eli Wing, among others. Book now! Tickets are 11 euros (under 29s or students), or 16 - 35 euros (depending on seat chosen). Note: 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 Laakkwartier, Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries, the Institute of Social Studies 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.
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Oude werken, jonge schrijvers | Het alternatief (Old works, young writers | The alternative)
With: Aska Hayakawa, Dan Afrifa, Emilie Pariel, emma ydiers, Frances Welling, Helen Weeres, HIlde Onis, Jan Wester, L.J. de Brouwer, Lennert De Vroey, Lin An Phoa, Mei-yun Boswinkel, Mieke 'Mik' Schelstraete, Naomi van Kleef, Roan Kasanmonadi, Sad Banana, Stefanie Parisius-Sewotaroeno, Wietse Leenders
In the series Oude werken, jonge schrijvers (Old works, young writers), eighteen Flemish and Dutch writing talents who took part in deBuren's 2024 writing residency are inspired by works from the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague.
The common theme is The Alternative: the young makers looked at the centuries-old paintings with an eye for alternative history and bring them to life in short, powerful texts in their own artistic language. With poetry, prose, essays and song lyrics, they let you experience the old works in a unique way.The young makers recite their texts live in the Mauritshuis during the Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague on Friday evening 24 January 2025, start 18:30 hours, end 20:00 hours. The performances will be in Dutch.
Festival tip: afterwards, walk from the Mauritshuis to Theater aan het Spui in ten minutes. From 20:00 (doors open from 19:00), the grand festival night Friday Night Unlimited will start there and in the adjacent Filmhuis Den Haag on five stages. Choose your own route along the many readings, talks and performances by many foreign and Dutch authors and artists.
Authors
Aska Hayakawa, Dan Afrifa, Emilie Pariel, emma ydiers, Frances Welling, Helen Weeres, Hilde Onis, Jan Wester, Lennert De Vroey, Lin An Phoa, L.J. De Brouwer, Mei-yun Boswinkel, Mieke 'Mik' Schelstraete, Naomi van Kleef, Roan Kasanmonadi, Sad Banana, Stefanie Parisius-Sewotaroeno and Wietse Leenders.
Some authors can also be seen and heard elsewhere in the festival edition 2025. Stefanie Parisius-Sewotaroeno and singer XILLAN perform as the support act of the theatre production BRADA about Surinamese freedom fighters in Theater De Vaillant (pay what you can for a ticket here). Authors L.J. de Brouwer, Naomi van Kleef, Wietse Leenders, Hilde Onis, Helen Weeres and Jan Wester perform on Saturday afternoon 25 January 2025 in the foyer of Theater aan het Spui during the Open Mic event of The Hague poetry collective FFÛH (13-14 hours, admission free).
The texts of these 18 authors will be published early December 2024 in a special of Dutch literary magazine De Revisor, flanked by new work by five alumni writing residents: Frank Heinen (writing residency 2013), Alma Mathijsen (writing residency 2015), Bob Vanden Broeck (writing residency 2017), Amarylis De Gryse (writing residency 2019) and Zindzi Tillot Owusu (writing residency 2023). Order a copy of the Revisor-special Het alternatief here on the website of De Revisor.
The deBuren writing residency
Every summer since 2012, Flemish-Dutch house deBuren has been taking up-and-coming writing talent from the Low Countries to Paris on a writing residency. They stay there for a fortnight to get to know each other's work and ideas across borders and to work on new material.
In Oude werken, jonge schrijvers, the 2024 batch of young writers will bring paintings from the 17th-century collection of museum the Mauritshuis in The Hague to life in a unique way in short prose, poetry and audio stories. Our question to them was as simple as it was challenging: write a new text about an old work, starting from one key question: what do you see when you look at these artefacts with an eye for 'The Alternative', alternative history?
All texts of Oude werken, jonge schrijvers are published in literary magazine De Revisor, and can be read and listened to in deBuren's digital Magazine and on the website of cultural organisation de lage landen.
Find more information on the writings residency on the website of deBuren here.Oude werken, jonge schrijvers is organised by Flemish-Dutch house deBuren in collaboration with Mauritshuis, De Revisor and Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague.
