De Volkskrant Leesclub Live focused on the diverse oevre of Remco Campert, especially his novel Het satijnen hart (The Satin Heart), and allowed the audience to get their questions answered by an amazing writers' panel of expert enthusiasts: Jan Mulder, Bert Wagendorp and Mirjam van Hengel.

If you read Dutch, you could order Camperts' novel Het satijnen hart via the Leesclub (a special edition for this occasion published by De Bezige Bij) and get a discount on your ticket!

Mulder talked about Camperts' columns, Wagendorp about his stories, and Van Hengel about his poetry. Wilma de Rek, books editor at De Volkskrant newspaper, participated as moderator.

For a musical-poetic intermezzo, Frederique van Rijn and actor/singer Frans van Deursen performed an excerpt from the Campert's show PoÃ"zie is mijn adem (Poetry is my Breath) featuring his own poems, accompanied by Mark Nieuwenhuis (compositions, trumpet, samples, beats) and Frank van Bommel (compositions, piano, various percussion).

Born in The Hague, Remco Campert (1929-2022) was one of The Netherlands' most loved and multifaceted writers. Besides poetry, he wrote several novels and novellas, several of which have become contemporary classics. From 1989 until 1995, together with Jan Mulder and Bart Chabot, he read from his own work in theatres. From 1996 to 2006, together with Mulder, he wrote the joint column CaMu that appeared on the front page of the Volkskrant daily newspaper. His bestselling novel Een liefde in Parijs (A Love in Paris) came out in 2004, followed by 2006's Het satijnen hart (The Satin Heart), a wistful portrait of a painter who can't choose between love and art all the way into old age. His last works were 2019's Aanelkaar (To Each Other), an exchange of letters with Kees van Kooten, and the poetry collection Mijn dood en ik (My death and I, 2019), in which he lucidly looks death in the eye.

Festival tip: Ode to Remco Campert & Award Ceremony Hague Literature Prizes (Koninklijke Schouwburg, Sunday afternoon, 21 January 2024) with appearaces by Kees van Kooten, Ramsey Nasr, Alma Mathijsen, Ronelda Kamfer, Ellen ten Damme, Benjamin Herman and Corrie van Binsbergen, followed by the ceremony of the Hague Literature Prizes to be awarded to Anjet Daanje, Tomas Lieske, Rozalie Hirs and Tjibbe Veldkamp.