Ronelda S. Kamfer and Christine Otten

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Ronelda S. Kamfer is one of the most exciting young South-African poets. She will perform and speak with the Dutch writer Christine Otten.

Kamfer grew up in Cape Town. She studied at the University of Western Cape with the well known writer Antjie Krog. For her first collection of poems 'Noudat Slapende Honde' (2008) she was awarded the prestigious Eugene Marais Prize. In 2010 she was introduced to the Dutch audience at the Writers Unlimited festival. Her performance was a sensation. All copies of her books were sold instantatiously. Her new collection, 'Santenkraam', was published this month in Dutch translation at Podium publishing house.

During this evening in Writers Unlimited The Series, she will talk to writer, performer and journalist Christine Otten. In her work she shows affinity with the South-African poet: 'Ronelda S. Kamfer converts the raw dayly reality of South-Africa into crystal clear poetry, that leaves the reader speechless.' Otten is known by her novels 'The Last Poets'(2006), 'In Wonderland' (2010) and 'Als Casablanca' (2008). With Writers Unlimited she tourned to South-Africa, and performed at festivals in Durban and Cape Town.

The talk between Kamfer and Otten will be moderated by the radio- and televisionpresentor Jeroen van Kan (VPRO De Avonden).

Information

Date and time Thursday 7 June 2012 from 20:30 to 22:00 hrs
Location Podium B - Centrale Bibliotheek Den Haag, Spui 68, 5e etage

Line-up

Ronelda S. Kamfer

(South Africa, 1981) is one of today's most important South African authors. She writes in Cape-Afrikaans, a spoken language containing English words and slang. Her work has been translated into Dutch, French, Greek, Italian and English. Her first poetry collection Noudat Slapende Honde (Now Then Sleeping Dogs, 2008) paints a sharp picture of poverty. Santekraam (2012) contains stories in verse about a fishing village that must make way for a military site. Mammie (2017) is a loving as well as raw ode to her mother. Chinatown (2021) is typically hard-hitting. Kamfer's poems, as controlled as they are intimate and darkly humourous, tackle violence, the position of women, love and parenthood. Her first novel, Kompoun, was published in 2021. She compiled Die maan is swart (The Moon is Black, 2022), a collection of poetry by Adam Small, and has translated two of Kirsty Applebaum's Princess Minna children's books into Afrikaans.
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Christine Otten

(Deventer, NL, 1961) is a writer, performer and theatre producer. Her 2004 breakthrough came with De laatste dichters (The Last Poets), nominated for the Libris Literature Prize. This novel about the lives of four black Americans who became famous as "The Last Poets" was adapted for theatre. We hadden liefde, we hadden wapens (We Had Love, We Had Weapons), Otten's swirling 2016 novel, is about the life of the black citizen's rights activist Robert F. Williams in America, and about taking a stand for the right to be who you are, regardless of the consequences. Een van ons (One of Us, 2020), her novel about lifelong prisoner Luc was performed as a theatre monologue. In her novel Als ik je eenmaal mijn verhaal heb verteld (Once I told you my story, 2024), Anir tries to build a new life ‘outside’ after 12 years of detention. The Blocknotes Foundation, co-founded by Otten in 2020, uses creative writing for empowerment and talent development of people in prison.
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Jeroen van Kan

(Hoorn, 1968) is a journalist who started his career at local radio station Amsterdam FM; after that he became editor of De Digitale Stad, hosted AT5's newshow and talkshows. Then he returned to making radio: first at BNR Nieuwsradio and afterwards at VPRO's programme De Avonden which he presented every Monday and Friday. Since 2015 Van Kan is radio news show host at national public broadcaster NOS; he also can be heard as voice over during TV news shows. Spring 2016, he hosted literary TV programme Boeken. Next to this, Van Kan is active as editor of literary magazines. Until 2007 he was part of the editorial board of De Tweede Ronde. Afterwards he moved to literary magazine Tirade. Together with Wim Brands he is co-editor of Nederland. Een objectief zelfportret in 51 voorwerpen (The Netherlands. An objective autoportrait in 51 objects), a collection of texts about typically Dutch objects by the same number of writers.
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