Yasmine Allas
(Somalia, 1967) fled her native country and settled in the Netherlands in 1987. First she wanted to become an actress, but now she has made a name for herself as a writer. In her novel Een nagelaten verhaal (A Bequeathed Story (2009), she describes a young woman who, invited by a documentary film maker, returns to her motherland for the first time after 23 years. It turns out to be an emotional journey, as she discovers that the country has been ruined, and little is left of her past. Yasmine Allas has been involved in the public debate in the Netherlands. Her book Ontheemd en toch thuis (Homeless Yet Home, 2006) is a collection of essays on life in the multicultural Netherlands, published in the Volkskrant. She calls a spade a spade and often touches sour spots. To her, religious fanaticism is a divisive element in society and must be battled. Social wrongs have played a role in her work from her debut, Idil, een meisje (Idil, a Girl, 1998), in which she describes the troubled life of a Somali girl and exposes the circumcision of women.
(WU 2013 GR)Archive available for: Yasmine Allas
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Shameless
How shameless or how intimate do writers dare to be? Do they feel embarrassed by their own divulgences or do they enjoy their shamelessness? What is it like to read sexually charged passages that can excite the audience or give it vicarious shame? Kristien Hemmerechts, Ted van Lieshout and Yasmine Allas give themselves away. Host: Elsbeth Etty. In Dutch.
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Tori fu dya nanga abrawatra - Stories from here and overseas
With: Alida Neslo, Annemarie Sanches, Bas Heijne, Bernice Chauly, Iman Humaydan, John Wladimir Elskamp, Paremeru, Reggie Baay, Tessa Leuwsha, Yasmine Allas
For the fourth time Winternachten collaborates with a literary organisation in Suriname for the festival. This year Surinamese and foreign writers perform in On Stage, the drama school of actress Helen Kamperveen. The programme offers music, readings by writers from Suriname and by authors Bas Heijne, Iman Humaydan, Yasmine Allas en Bernice Chauly, representing Winternachten from Lebanon, Malaysia and The Netherlands. An evening full of prose, poetry, talks and music, around the theme 'A Sense of Belonging'.
Except for this evening for a general audience, the writers will also visit schools, like the schools in the remote village of Brownsweg (Brokopondo). They will there perform together with the popular Surinamese poet and singer Dorus Vrede.
A closed writer's conference brings the foreign writers together with Surinamese authors together to talk on writers' issues, like 'Writing local - writing global'.
Performance in On Stage, Wednesday 21 April, 8 p.m., admission is free. Mgr. Wulfinghstraat #5, Paramaribo
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Crusa Lama - Aruba
With: Anthony Gario & Le Groove, Bas Heijne, Belinda de Veer, Bernice Chauly, Caresse Isings, Iman Humaydan, Luciano Milliard, Victor Mathilda, Yasmine Allas
Crusa Lama - Papiamento for Crossing the Seas - brings a programme with foreign and Aruban authors and musicians. Belinda de Veer, Luciano Milliard en Caresse Isings - all from Aruba - perform together with the authors who have come to Aruba on behalf of Winternachten international literature festival The Hauge: Bernice Chauly (Malaysia), Bas Heijne (Netherlands), Yasmine Allas (Netherlands/Somalia) and Iman Humaydan (Lebanon). The programme consists of readings by the authors, a conversation with the writers on the theme 'A Sense of Belonging', and musical perormances by Le Groove, with singer Anthony Gario. The programme has been made by the Bibliotéca Nacional (National Library) of Aruba.
The authors also perform for students, on Monday 19 April, at the Colegio EPI. Here they will read from their work, and have a discussion with the students, moderated by Victor Mathilda and Pancho Geerman.
The programme starts at 7 p.m. on Sunday 18 April. Admission AFL 5,-. Adress: Hardin Arubiana/Caribiana, Bachstraat # 5, Oranjestad. Information at 00 297 582 1580 or 582 6924, www.bibliotecanacional.aw
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Krusa Laman - Kaminda rais a kue tera/A Sense of Belonging - Curaçao
With: Bas Heijne, Bernice Chauly, Bòi Antoin, Diana Lebacs, Dolce Música, Iman Humaydan, Johnny Kleinmoedig, Mario Kleinmoedig, Yasmine Allas
Debate, film and music. Three literary debates betweem two authors. One debate in Dutch, one in Papiamentu and one in English. Theme of the talks is 'Sense of Belonging'. The talented, multi-lingual publicist and activist Mario Kleinmoedig is the moderator. At the end of the evening we see a short impressive fragment from a documentary on the African writer Koulsy Lamko (Tsjaad, 1957). This will put the debates in a special perspective. During the evening, there will be music by the Curaçao group Dolce Música and pianist Johnny Kleinmoedig.
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Krusa Laman - Curaçao
With: Bas Heijne, Bernice Chauly, Dennis Aalse Ensemble, Diana Lebacs, Elia Isenia, Frouwkje Smit, Iman Humaydan, Roland Colastica, Roy Evers, Shrinivási, Yasmine Allas
On Curaçao the Fundashon pa Planifikashon di Idioma (Foundation for language planning), is the organisational partner for Winternachten. During the festival Krusa Laman on Curaçao all writers and performers will use their own language. Their words will be projected in the local language, Papiamentu. The translations have been taken care of by the FPI. This year's theme 'A sense of belonging' has been translated as the metaphor Kaminda rais a kue tera.
This theme is leading for the festival in Curaçao, and will be dealt with from different perspectives. A substheme is migration, and migration in literature. For FPI, the Curaçao anthropologist Richenel Ansano wrote a sensitive essay, Between Love and Terror: Having a Sense of Belonging is no Joke. This essay is available for free for the audience.The public library of Curaçao also gives special attention to the theme Kaminda rais a kue tera. On 9 April there will be a festive opening of an exhibition on Krusa Laman and the theme, with all sorts of information on the participating writers and artists, their work, countries of origin, etc..
Then there are the workshops for secondary school pupils, at the schools that will be visited by the authors. Creative writer Elodie Heloise is preparing the children and students for the festival in workshops. During these workshop the pupils will deal with the theme, and deliver materials for the exhibition in the library.
Of course the theme A Sense of Belonging is also present in the public performances. There are the readings of the authors, but besides this the visual artist Frouwkje Smit has made an artistic slideshow with pictures of a number of well known and lesser known people from the island, including writers and artists. Al the authors were asked to choose their favourite spot on Curaçao, where they feel most at home. They also chose a text with the spot. The slideshow is combined with music, and will be shown on Friday 16 April in Villa Maria, Scharloo. The versatile artist Roland Colastica will be the M.C. of that evening.
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Crossing the Seas - Sint Maarten
With: Bas Heijne, Bernice Chauly, Changa Hickinson, Clara Reyes, Iman Humaydan, Lenworth Wilson, Lucinda Audain, Mathilda Richards, Peter Lake, Yasmine Allas
On Sint Maarten, Winternachten collaborates with the Philipsburg Jubilee Library. Crossing the Seas - as the event is called here, is an evening with readings by writers and poets. The participating authors from Sint Maarten are Peter Lake, Lucinda Audain, Lenworth Wilson Jr. and Mathilda Richards, with music and song by Amin Bouabdelli, Changa Hickinson, Donovan Froston, Erika van Putten and Shanella Romey James. The foreign authors in this programme are Bas Heijne (Netherlands), Yasmine Allas (Netherlands/Somalia), Bernice Chauly (Maleysia) and Iman Humaydan (Lebanon). All texts read by the foreign authors will be projected simultaneously in English translation. The M.C. is Clara Reyes.
Except for this public programme, the library also organises peformances of the writers in high schools and at the Sint Maarten University.
Philipsburg Community and Cultural Center, Backstreet. Wednesday 14 April, 7 p.m. Admission is free.
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NRC's Readers' Club Live
With: Bas Heijne, Elsbeth Etty, Pieter Steinz, Yasmine Allas
Nuruddin Farah's novel Maps was the subject of the special live edition of NRC Handelsblad's readers' club. The novel, on geographical as well as mental boundaries, is part of the newspaper's AfriCanon.
Farah's Africa and Africa in the media: do they match? A discussion hosted by NRC's Pieter Steinz, with NRC editors Bas Heijne and Elsbeth Etty and Somali born writer Yasmine Allas, and audience participation.
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Double Fatherland
Foreigners in Holland are often amazed about the low esteem that the Dutch show for their culture. What about those writers in our country that have a second or maybe a a third home-country? What made the Maroccan writer Fouad Laroui come to the Netherlands, via France? Where lies the fatherland of Mala Kishoendajal, Hindustani Surinamese living in Holland? What made the Somali writer Yasmine Allas choose for the Netherlands? Three authors migrating in their books. They write about being a stranger, about adaptation, feeling at home, and loyalty to the country of origin.