Women (re)write history | WU x Prinsjesnach

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Alicja Gescinska has written a short essay especially for this evening on the voices of women in their pursuit of freedom – sometimes at the risk of their own lives. Moderated by Teddy Tops, she will engage in conversation with Suzanna Jansen, author of The Pauper’s Paradise (Het pauperparadijs), among other works. Together, they delve into history to better understand the present.

Writer, theatre-maker and spoken word artist Daniëlle Zawadi and singer and performer Elisabeth Hetherington will present a first preview of fragments from their unique multidisciplinary production Love, Rewritten. In this production, they give a new voice to Schumann’s well-known love songs, under musical accompaniment by pianist Caspar Vos.

Alicja Gescinska is a Flemish-Polish writer, philosopher and chair of PEN Vlaanderen. In her acclaimed book Women in Dark Times (Vrouwen in duistere tijden), she portrays women who have played important roles in history but have nevertheless remained underexposed.

Suzanna Jansen followed her bestselling debut The Pauper’s Paradise (Het pauperparadijs) with, among other works, Revolution or the Century of Women (Omwenteling of de eeuw van de vrouw), focusing on the lives of ordinary people and how major social developments affect them.

Daniëlle Zawadi is a writer of prose, spoken word, theatre and columns. She performs on stages throughout the Netherlands, publishes in literary magazines and made her theatre debut with the one-woman show Alstublieft, Zawadi, followed by Ondervonden (2023). Her stories often explore what it means to be Gen Z in the Netherlands as a bicultural person of the second generation, her Congolese roots and friendship. In 2025, she published Ik kan eigenlijk niet op deze manier werken, a collection of performance texts dedicated to the Free Palestine, Free Sudan and Free Congo movements. She is also a literary programmer. In her hometown of The Hague, Daniëlle founded Het Zwarte Schaap in 2019, a platform for word art and spoken literature.

Elisabeth Hetherington is a Canadian soprano, based in the Netherlands, known for her bold artistic vision and versatility across repertoire ranging from early to contemporary and modern music. As the winner of the Dutch Music Prize – the highest distinction for classical musicians in the Netherlands – Elisabeth has become a sought-after soloist throughout Europe.

Women (re)write history | WU x Prinsjesnach | Free admission
14 September, 8:00 PM, The Grey Space in the Middle, Paviljoensgracht 20-24, 2512 BP The Hague

Information

Date and time Monday 14 September 2026 from 20:00 to 21:00 hrs
Location The Grey Space in the Middle
Price Free entry

Tijdschema 14 September

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20:00 - 21:00 The Grey Space in the Middle Women (re)write history | WU x Prinsjesnach

Information

Date and time Monday 14 September 2026 from 20:00 to 21:00 hrs
Location The Grey Space in the Middle
Price Free entry

Line-up

Daniëlle Zawadi

(1999) is a writer of prose, spoken word, theatre pieces and columns. She performs throughout the Netherlands, publishes in literary magazines, and made her theatrical debut with the one-woman show Alstublieft, Zawadi (Please, Zawadi), followed by Ondervonden (Filed Under, 2023). Her stories are often about what it means to be a a second-generation bicultural GenZ-er, her Congolese roots, and friendship. In 2025, she published Ik kan eigenlijk niet op deze manier werken (I Can't Really Work This Way), a collection of recitation texts dedicated to the FreePalestine, FreeSudan, and FreeCongo movements. She is also a curator of literary programmes. In her home town The Hague, she founded Het Zwarte Schaap (The Black Sheep), a platform for word art and spoken literature that participated in the 2025 Writers Unlimited Festival with presentations and spoken-word performances.

Go to the website of Daniëlle Zawadi
Instagram: @daniellezawadi
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Suzanna Jansen

is a writer, researcher and storyteller. In her books, she explores the past because she wants to understand the present. She is interested in the lives of ordinary people and how major social developments affect them. As an engaging speaker, she also uses history to reveal the patterns underlying the major themes of our time, encouraging audiences to reflect. On the position and health of women, poverty, the necessity of making art, and what happens when war breaks out in your country.Drawing on her background in journalism and her theatre training, she combines in-depth expertise on the themes she explores with the storytelling power of a master storyteller. Building stories around complex themes to make them clear and relatable – in books, as a speaker, in audio, and more – is what she does best.
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Alicja Gescinska

The young philosopher Alicja Gescinska became known with De verovering van de vrijheid, that was awarded by DeMens.nu as the best non-fiction book of 2010 and 2011. Since then, Gescinska has written essays, opinions and
reviews regularly. In 2016 her debut novel, Een soort van liefde, was published and Gescinska decided to stop her academic career in New York and return to Belgium. Since the autumn of 2016 she is the host of the tv-series Wanderlust. In this she talks with internationally renowned philosophers, writers, scientists and artists, such as Roger Scruton, Connie Palmen and Krzysztof Zanussi.
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Teddy Tops

is a presenter, interviewer, writer and programme maker, affiliated with NPO Radio 1 and VPRO, among others. For programmes such as the Marathoninterview, Nooit Meer Slapen and her own programme Een Uur Cultuur, Tops interviews a wide range of guests. She organises festivals, evenings and club nights, and runs the spoken word platform Mensen Zeggen Dingen. In Egelskop (2025), her debut novel, two women are at the age to marry and start a family. Then the unnamed narrator, who grows up several decades later in a time when possibilities seem endless, decides to take control of the story and rewrite the history of her two grandmothers. Together with Lisa Weeda, she compiled J'accuse (2025), a collection of texts by forty Dutch, Flemish and international writers who speak out against the erasure of the Palestinians. She was voted Literary Talent of the Year 2026 by Dutch national daily newspaper de Volkskrant.
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Simone Zeefuik

is an Afro-Dutch writer, cultural programmer and organiser whose work revolves around everyday life, joy and social justice. She focuses on imagination as access, on (de)spectacularising Blackness and on (digital) archives. Zeefuik is a programmer at the Bijlmer Parktheater in Amsterdam and a lecturer at Zawdie Sandvliet's Afro-Dutch Studies. From 2021 to 2023, she was programme director of the temporary master's programme Blacker Blackness at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, which she initiated. Her work focuses on imagination as a method to decolonise, decode and liberate representations of Black people and Blackness in art and design.

Go to the website of Simone Zeefuik
Instagram: @lazeefuik
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Elisabeth Hetherington

is a Canadian soprano, based in the Netherlands, known for her bold artistic vision and versatility across repertoire ranging from early to contemporary and modern music. As the winner of the Dutch Music Prize – the highest distinction for classical musicians in the Netherlands – Elisabeth has become a sought-after soloist throughout Europe. Elisabeth has created powerful roles with major opera companies in the Netherlands and has been praised for her strong stage presence and clear, distinctive voice. Her roles include Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle, Susanna in Divorce of Figaro, Senta in The Flying Dutchman, Theodora in Theodora, and Cordelia in King Lear.
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Women (re)write history | WU x Prinsjesnach

Information

Date and time Monday 14 September 2026 20:00 tot 21:00 uur
Location The Grey Space in the Middle
Price Women (re)write history | WU x Prinsjesnach
1

Alicja Gescinska has written a short essay especially for this evening on the voices of women in their pursuit of freedom – sometimes at the risk of their own lives. Moderated by Teddy Tops, she will engage in conversation with Suzanna Jansen, author of The Pauper’s Paradise (Het pauperparadijs), among other works. Together, they delve into history to better understand the present.

Writer, theatre-maker and spoken word artist Daniëlle Zawadi and singer and performer Elisabeth Hetherington will present a first preview of fragments from their unique multidisciplinary production Love, Rewritten. In this production, they give a new voice to Schumann’s well-known love songs, under musical accompaniment by pianist Caspar Vos.

Alicja Gescinska is a Flemish-Polish writer, philosopher and chair of PEN Vlaanderen. In her acclaimed book Women in Dark Times (Vrouwen in duistere tijden), she portrays women who have played important roles in history but have nevertheless remained underexposed.

Suzanna Jansen followed her bestselling debut The Pauper’s Paradise (Het pauperparadijs) with, among other works, Revolution or the Century of Women (Omwenteling of de eeuw van de vrouw), focusing on the lives of ordinary people and how major social developments affect them.

Daniëlle Zawadi is a writer of prose, spoken word, theatre and columns. She performs on stages throughout the Netherlands, publishes in literary magazines and made her theatre debut with the one-woman show Alstublieft, Zawadi, followed by Ondervonden (2023). Her stories often explore what it means to be Gen Z in the Netherlands as a bicultural person of the second generation, her Congolese roots and friendship. In 2025, she published Ik kan eigenlijk niet op deze manier werken, a collection of performance texts dedicated to the Free Palestine, Free Sudan and Free Congo movements. She is also a literary programmer. In her hometown of The Hague, Daniëlle founded Het Zwarte Schaap in 2019, a platform for word art and spoken literature.

Elisabeth Hetherington is a Canadian soprano, based in the Netherlands, known for her bold artistic vision and versatility across repertoire ranging from early to contemporary and modern music. As the winner of the Dutch Music Prize – the highest distinction for classical musicians in the Netherlands – Elisabeth has become a sought-after soloist throughout Europe. Meer details bekijken

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