A writer and filmmaker who mercilessly exposes the frayed edges of existence. A media personality who for years has focused on the body and continues to give it new meanings. What is the body when it no longer satisfies – or, conversely, when it must mean everything?

Writers Unlimited invited De Situatie Leesclub, literary platform of PIP Den Haag, to create a programme for the festival based on the festival theme Let's get physical. At HaagsPianoHuis (Noordeinde 64A, The Hauge), Dimitri Verhulst and Kim Holland met for a conversation, hosted by Dario Goldbach, about the body as a status symbol, the body as a result of social expectations or taboos, as a place of pleasure or decay. As something that wears out, is excluded, celebrated or, conversely, disappears in overexposure.

20:30 uur: doors open
21:00 uur: conversation
22:00 uur: drinks
23:00 uur: end

Dimitri Verhulst writes rawly and lyrically about physical decline, about drink, lust, death and the tragicomic powerlessness of human existence. In De helaasheid der dingen (The Misfortunates), he wrote about bodies destroyed by alcohol, poverty and hereditary hopelessness – but also about gentleness, survival and humanity in what seems discarded. His work touches on the grotesque and the tender, the physical as a tragicomic struggle.

Kim Holland brought the body as experience and expression into the spotlight – as an entrepreneur and the face of a hyper-physical industry; a career in which the body was both her capital and her message. Now she speaks openly about ageing, self-love, self-determination and sexuality in a world that often leaves little room for such topics.

Dario Goldbach first published the novella Vier Weekeinden, followed by De Man die Alles Had (The Man Who Had Everything, 2023): a novel about a tech giant, an ever-growing lie and an unattainable love. Monthly, Dario appears on The Beat with Justin Verkijk on Dutch national radio station 3FM with columns on nightlife. He performed at festivals such as Lowlands, Wildeburg and Writers Unlimited, and is co-founder, programme maker and presenter of De Situatie Leesclub, the literary platform of PIP Den Haag.

De Situatie is the literary platform of “The Hague cultural brothel” PIP. With the impending “decline in reading” in mind, De Situatie feels the need to pay tribute to the written word. This tribute includes an annual writing competition for new writing talent. The winning texts are published in a collection and can be read/listened to via the De Situatie website. De Situatie also organises its Reading Club: evenings where authors and artists from multiple generations and disciplines meet on the same stage.


From 22 to 25 January 2026, Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague was to be found in theatres, libraries and schools throughout the city: from Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, GR8 to Theater Dakota, Curaçaohuis, the Laakkwartier, Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries, the Institute of Social Studies and De Haagse Hogeschool. With over 100 writers, poets, spoken-word artists and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. With readings, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical talks, films and music.