Storytelling in ISS was back as a part of the Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague! Visitors, authors participating in the festival, ISS students and teachers told each other stories on a wintery afternoon in ISS's wonderful Atrium of the International Institute of Social Studies (part of the Erasmus University Rotterdam) on the Kortenaerkade in The Hague's city centre.

This time, authors Rešoketšwe Manenzhe (South Africa) and Rosabelle Illes (Aruba) were also storytellers, and pianist Klaas van Dijk provided musical interludes. The stories revolved around the question ‘What Inspires You? (Even though the World is On Fire..)’

The Storytelling Afternoon is a highly regarded festival classic. Due to the COVID pandemic, among other reasons, the programme could not take place for several editions. But on Thursday afternoon, 23 January 2025, everyone was welcome again to listen and/or tell a story. Each story lasted no more than five minutes. The programme was in English and was facilitated by Kees Biekart and Beatrice Hati Gitundu, both from the ISS.

Rešoketšwe Manenzhe is a poet, short story writer and novelist from South Africa. Her short stories and poems have appeared in the Kalahari Review, Fireside Fiction, Praxis Magazine, Lolwe, FIYAH, and the 2017 Sol Plaatjie European Union Anthology, among others. She holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her debut. the historical novel Scatterlings (2020) is set in 1927, when South Africa passes the Immorality Act, prohibiting sexual intercourse between “Europeans” (white people) and “natives” (Black people). Those who break the draconian new law face imprisonment.

Rosabelle Illes is an artist, writer, and performer from Aruba. She has authored three collections of poetry and short stories and co-authored the multilingual children’s book Hearty. Her work has been published in international journals, and she has performed at literary festivals worldwide, including Colombia, Taiwan, The Netherlands, and New York City. She holds a PhD in Psychology from Leiden University and is an assistant professor at the University of Aruba. Her upcoming book, Penmanship (2025), blends her passions for psychology and poetry, celebrating the written word in its purest form.

Klaas van Dijk is a pianist and dentist from The Netherlands. During his student days, he was active as a pop and jazz pianist. When he became a father, he started working as a dentist, but he continued to play music for theatre performances. From 1986, he accompanied famous Dutch cabaret artist Paul van Vliet on piano. Since 2016, he has been part of the team of the Dutch national TV programme Met het mes op tafel (a combination of poker and knowledge quiz) as a pianist together with host Sjoerd van Ramshorst and cabaret artist Mylou Frencken.

Kees Biekart is a political scientist at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) and interested in transformative change and social movements, Together with his international students, he looks for alternative ways to support political democracy at a grassroots level. He constantly seeks out new forms of research, including "storytelling", which has become an increasingly important research method.

Beatrice Hati Gitundu is an Urban Development Specialist from Kenya. She works on the research programme Multilevel Disaster Governance: Disasters-People-Policy-Politics of the International Centre for Frugal Innovation (ICFI, The Netherlands)/Nuvoni (Kenya). She is also a Doctoral Researcher at the ISS.


30th Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague (23-25 January 2025)
Over a hundred authors, poets, spoken word artists and musicians performed in the 30th Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague. From 23 to 26 January 2025, festival events took place throughout The Hague in theatres, libraries and schools. For festival information and tickets, see writersunlimited.nl.

The festival focused on, partly English-language, live readings of poetry, stories and spoken word. Authors also discussed current topics in response to recent books. The festival opened 23 January dedicated to freedom of expression. It also included two varied festival evenings in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag, the presentation of the Hague Literature Prizes and free events in local libraries and cultural anchors. On Sunday afternoon, 26 January, the festival closed with the festive musical-literary show Playing with Fire in Amare.

Festival motto: On Fire
The 30th festival edition's motto was On Fire. ‘Fire represents love, desire and passion, but also burning issues such as war, migration and climate,’ says Judith Uyterlinde, director of Writers Unlimited. ‘Fire is the source of inspiration for talks and readings on issues including freedom of expression, war and remembrance, gender and eroticism, and a host of other issues that ignite writers, poets and audiences.’