Book of My Life: Tommy Wieringa in conversation with Abdelkader Benali

Over Train Dreams by Denis Johnson.

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Date and time Friday 24 January 2025 20:05 tot 20:01 uur
Location Filmhuis - Studio A
Price SOLD OUT

Writers told 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: Abdelkader Benali.

Tommy Wieringa spoke about Train Dreams, an impressive novel of just one hundred pages by American author of novels, stories and poems Denis Johnson (1949-2017). It originally appeared as a story in 2002 in The Paris Review and was published as a novella in 2011.

Abdelkader Benali

(Morocco, 1975) is an award-winning writer, poet, playwright and curator. His 1996 debut, Bruiloft aan zee (Wedding By the Sea), was an immediate success. His second novel, De langverwachte (The Long-awaited) won him the prestigious 2003 Libris Literature Award. Benali's subjects vary, but sports and the migrant who never really feels at home are recurring themes. He has written novels about his great passion of running, about his travels, and about migrants' cultural identity (Bad Boy). His work has been published internationally. Recent books include the novel Paradijsvogel boven Hoge Woerd (Bird of Paradise over Hoge Woerd, 2022) and Het andere verhaal (The Other Story, 2022), an essay about his research into 75 years of modern Moroccan art.
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Tommy Wieringa

(The Netherlands, 1967) spent a great deal of his youth in the Antilles. He had his breakthrough in 2005 with his novel Joe Speedboat. According to the media, his 2009 novel Caesarion earnied him a place among "The Greatest Ten of Dutch Literature." Dit zijn de namen (These are the Names) appeared in 2013, about the rough journey of a group of refugees. Wieringa gave music and poetry performances and made television programs. His essays and columns appear in various newspapers and magazines. Recent publications are the short story collections Dit is mijn moeder (This is my mother, 2019), Totdat het voorbij is (Until it is over, 2019), the columns collection Gedachten over onze tijd (Thoughts on our times, 2020), the novel Nirwana (2023) and the war chronicle Konvooi (Convoy, 2024). For this last novel he travelled with a convoy to Ukraine, that he supports with his activities for the Protect Ukraine organisation.
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