Book of My Life: Hanna Bervoets in conversation with Lin An Phoa

About A Little Life by Hanya Yanagahira.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 24 January 2026 21:40 tot 22:00 uur
Location Filmhuis - Studio A
Price 15,- (up to 30 years or Ooievaarspas)
25,- (Early Bird, up to 26 December, thereafter 35,-)
32,50 (DenHaagPas).

Writers tell us about their favourite book: the book that inspires or touches them, that set their artistic, moral or intellectual compass. In short, the book they would recommend to everyone. Interview: Lin An Phoa.

Hanna Bervoets chose A LIttle Life by Hanya Yanagahira. Her 2015 novel became an international bestseller. Four college friends are finding their way in New York: the charming actor Willem, the eccentric artist JB, the talented architect Malcolm, and Jude St. Francis. Jude is withdrawn, intelligent and enigmatic, and his friends know better than to ask questions about his past. They try to ease his pain, but as the decades pass, the question arises as to whether Jude can ever be freed from the demons of his past.

Line-up

Lin An Phoa

(1995) writes poetry and performs as a spoken word artist. In her work, she explores how language, poetry, and the stage can be welcoming spaces, with room for underrepresented perspectives. She investigates questions surrounding cultural identity, feminism, choice menus, systemic criticism, muscle memory, and self-care culture. Her poetry is an invitation to connection, softening, and change. Her texts have appeared in De Revisor and the anthology Stip op de Horizon, among others. She can be seen as both a performer and host at many cultural venues and festivals.

Go to the website of Lin An Phoa
Instagram: @linanph
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Hanna Bervoets

(The Netherlands, 1984) is a writer of novels, screenplays, plays, short stories and essays on media and popular (online) culture. Bervoets made her debut in 2009 with Of hoe waarom (Or How Why), followed two years later by Lieve Céline (Dear Céline), which was awarded the Opzij Literature Prize. A year later, the bestseller Alles wat er was (Everything That Was) was published, followed by Efter (2014), Ivanov (2016), Fuzzie (2017) and Welkom in het Rijk der zieken (Welcome to the Kingdom of the Sick) (2019). In 2017, Bervoets won the BNG Bank Literature Prize for Ivanov, and in the same year she also won the Frans Kellendonk Prize for her entire oeuvre. In 2021, her first collection of short stories, Een modern verlangen (A Modern Desire), was published and awarded the J.M.A. Biesheuvel Prize. In 2025, her tenth novel, Geld verdienen (Earning Money), was published. When Ellie and Freya each need money for their own reasons, they decide to take control of the stock market. After all, don't they deserve to be rich too?

Go to the website of Hanna Bervoets
Instagram: @hannabervoets
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