The Dutch Spring

The Arab Spring created a stir in the Netherlands. Perhabs secretly we long for a Dutch Spring too. What would our country look like after such a spring? Kader Abdolah, Nazmiye Oral and Tommy Wieringa will tell us. Host: Naima Azough. In Dutch.

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Information

Date and time Friday 20 January 2012 20:30 tot 21:20 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - grote zaal

The Arab Spring created a stir in the Netherlands. Perhabs secretly we long for a Dutch Spring too. What would our country look like after such a spring? Writers, tell us!

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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Naïma Azough

(Morocco, 1972) came to Rotterdam at age three, the daughter of a metal worker. She studied in Antwerp (German and English) and in the Netherlands (international relations) and worked at De Balie and KIT among others. She was an editor with IKON and the Dutch Muslim Channel (NMO). In addition she wrote for the GroenLinks Magazine and was the author of two books. Het patatpantheon (The French fries pantheon: the group culture of a new generation) and Marokkanen, landgenoten: drie generaties Marokkanen in Nederland (Moroccans compatriots, three generations of Moroccans in the Netherlands). From 2002-2010 she was Member of Parliament for GroenLinks. In 2010 she left Parliament and worked as a freelance presenter and programme maker. Since then she has made a series of documentaries on elderly Moroccan women, among others.
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Kader Abdolah

(1954, Iran) is the pen name of Hossein Sadjadi Ghaemmaghami Farahani. Since his debut De Adelaars (The Eagles) in 1993 he has navigated between two worlds, the Netherlands and the country of his birth. Abdolah grew up in a harsh, Islamic region. Since he was twelve he read western literature and caught the scent of freedom. While studying physics in Teheran, he joined a secret leftwing party. In 1980 he published two collections of short stories clandestinely under the name Kader Abdolah. In 1988 he fled Iran and ended up in the Netherlands where he has since published a large body of works consisting of novels, short story collections and collected columns, published under the pen name Mirza in de Volkskrant. In Papegaai vloog over de IJssel (Parrot flew over the IJssel, 2014) four migrant families build a new existence in typically Dutch villages along the river; in Salam Europa (2016) the Shah of Persia travels through Europe late in the 19th century, accompanied by a large following of bickering courtiers.
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Nazmiye Oral

is a writer, actress and theatre artist. Her 2011 debut novel Zehra features a Turkish girl who is disowned because she is different. All her work poses one central question: how does one relate to those with different opinions without denying oneself? As an actress, Nazmiye Oral performed in Oesters van Nam Kee, Combat, Hertenkamp and Baantjer. She also toured the Netherlands, Belgium and US with Gesluierde Monologen (Veiled Monologues). She wrote one of these monologues, about a wife who loses contact with her husband. In 2010 Retour Hollands Spoor premiered, her second play for the Nationale Theatre, which she wrote with Gerardjan Rijnders. In 2020, she was a featured guest in prominent Dutch TV interview program Zomergasten (Summer Guests).
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