Book of My Life with Ellen Deckwitz

About The Evenings (De avonden) by Gerard Reve.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 20 January 2024 21:00 tot 21:20 uur
Location Filmhuis - Studio A
Price Early bird price until 26 December €25
Regular €30
All up to 30 years / Ooievaarspas €15
DenHaagPas €27,50

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: Hassnae Bouazza.

Ellen Deckwitz chose as her favorite The Evenings (De avonden, 1947) by Gerard Reve, his 1947 debut novel about Frits van Egters, a 23-year-old failed grammar school student plagued by terrible dreams. He is annoyed with his father, his mother and with his friends.

Ellen Deckwitz

(The Netherlands, 1982) is a poet, columnist, critic and presenter at literary events, including Writers Unlimited. For De steen vreest mij (2011), she was awarded the C. Buddingh’ Prize for the best poetry debut. Her collection Hogere natuurkunde (2019) is part travelogue, part myth and part testimony, and the outcome of conversations Deckwitz engaged in with individuals whose roots also trace back to the former Dutch East Indies. In 2022, Eerste hulp bij poëzie was published, an omnibus containing her collections Olijven moet je leren lezen (2020) and Dit gaat niet over grasmaaien (2021). Deckwitz writes columns for national daily newspaper NRC. In her NPO Luister podcast Poëzie vandaag, she presents a Dutch or translated poem every workday morning. She is one of three critics of podcast Boeken FM. Since Autumn 2025, she has been one of the presenters of Nooit meer Slapen, the VPRO's night-time cultural radio programme.

Instagram: @la_deck
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Hassnae Bouazza

(Morocco, 1973) is a journalist, columnist, translator, researcher and producer. She publishes in various media (including Dutch national daily newspaper NRC and women's magazine Linda); runs her own online magazine for culture lovers, Aicha Qandisha. She compiled a story collection about Arab women, Achter de sluier (Behind the Veil, 1999); 2013 saw the publication of her book Arabieren kijken (Looking at Arabs), about "ordinary" people in the Arab world. She made TV programs for various broadcasters, including the documentary series Seks en de Zonde (Sex and Sin). Together with Michelin-starred chef Soenil Bahadoer, she wrote the culinary books Spicy Chef (2020) and Streetfood (2022). She published two further books in 2022: Een koffer vol citroenen (A Suitcase Full of Lemons), a requiem for and portrait of her mother, and Arbeidsmigranten in Nederland (Migrant Labourers in the Netherlands).
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