For once, Adriaan van Dis recorded his podcast Van Dis Ongefilterd not in his publisher's garden house but, for a live audience, on Sunday morning in the foyer of Theater aan het Spui. With musical interludes by cello player and singer Saartje Van Camp as a treat, presenting her new album In De Naam Van. She was accompanied by Judith Rijsenbrij on keyboard.

While enjoying a cup of coffee or tea, you were welcome free of charge. Reservations were required due to the theatre foyer's visitor capacity. Eventually all seats were booked.

Festival tip: Adriaan van Dis was Saturday afternoon 25 January 2025 at Theater aan het Spui, together with writer and poet Sholeh Rezazadeh and young musician and presenter Firoza Mulahella, as a guest in De Situatie Leesclub & VPRO Club Lees x Writers Unlimited Festival.

Entertaining, funny, instructive: the great thing about Van Dis Ongefilterd is that the podcasts are about books, poetry and the East Indies, but mostly about many more sensible and nonsensical topics. Not only does Van Dis rightly stress the importance of reading and books, he also answers listeners' questions. Adriaan makes Van Dis Ongefilterd with Simon Dikker Hupkes and Bart Jeroen Kiers. Simon is an editor and host. Besides Van Dis Ongefilterd, he also hosts the Wie is...? podcast. Bart Jeroen is a producer and manager e-commerce at publishing house Atlas Contact.

Adriaan van Dis is probably the author who has performed most often in the Writers Unlimited festival. Between 1997 and this 30th edition in 2025, he was there 15 times. From the beginning, Writers Unlimited has paid much attention to the close ties with Indonesia, Suriname, the Antilles and South Africa. In his books, essays and TV documentaries, he has a keen eye for the legacy of colonialism and for the post-colonial debate.

Adriaan van Dis grew up in a family with a past in the Dutch East Indies. He draws on these experiences in several of his works such as My Father's War (1995), Repatriated (2002) and recently in Naar zachtheid en een warm omhelzen (2023). Van Dis became well known via his literary television programme Here is... Adriaan van Dis (1983-1992). In addition to novels he has written novellas, travelogues, essays and plays. He presented TV documentary series and his podcast Van Dis Ongefilterd. He received the Constantijn Huygens Award for his entire body of work. Recent publication is the essay De kolonie mept terug: over witte arrogantie en voortschrijdend inzicht: een denkoefening en leesreis (2024).

Saartje van Camp makes Dutch-language pop music with lyrics and melodies that seem to come from a world all their own. A world in between everything. Between the obvious and the strange. Between what is and what could have been. Between Flanders where she is from and the Netherlands where she lives. A concussion, an everyday conversation in a shop, standing still in a traffic jam, the silent protest of women dressed in white on a square in Minsk, everything can be a song in Saartje Van Camp's world. Saartje is a cellist and singer and has worked with Spinvis for years. Now she is coming out with her own work: her album In De Naam Van. Saartje and Spinvis also perform during Writers Unlimited's anniversary show Playing with Fire, Sunday afternoon 26 January 2025, at Amare Danstheater.

Judith Rijsenbrij is a keyboard player, singer and composer. She makes music under the name puntjudith, producing pop music and composing for theatre and film. Her short film Lawines, directed by Vincent Tilanus, premiered at the Dutch Film Festival in 2022 and played at ADE and Fashion Clash, among others. In 2024, she will compose music and sound design for Tom Jaspers' show Zenith, which will play in the Netherlands in 2025. Her debut album met puntjudith will also be released in 2025.


Festival tip 1: for the full festival experience, you joined us for the grand festival events Friday Night Unlimited (24 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (25 January)! Both nights you chose your own route along some 20 performances, readings and conversations on five stages in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag. English and Dutch spoken.

Festivaltip 2: as Writers Unlimited presents its 30th literature festival edition in 2025, we celebrated this anniversary with Playing with Fire, a show full of music, dance and literature at Amare (Danstheater) on Sunday afternoon, 26 January. You sae and heard Spinvis, Shirma Rouse, XILLAN, Babs Gons, Joost Oomen, Zaïre Krieger, Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio, Royal Conservatoire Dance and percussion group Pulse led by Eli Wing, among others. Note: Dutch spoken.


From 23 to 26 January 2025, 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, Amare and Paard to Theater Dakota, Theater De Vaillant, the Laakkwartier, Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries, the Institute of Social Studies, and De Haagse Hogeschool. With over 120 writers, poets and spoken-word artists and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. With readings, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical talks, films and music.