The Text of my Life: Arie Boomsma

Discuss his choice of a text from world literature. Presented by Wim Brands and Simone van Saarloos. In Dutch.

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Information

Date and time Friday 17 January 2014 21:35 tot 21:55 uur
Location Filmhuis - Studio A

Which texts from world literature has Dutch poetry anthologist and tv anchor Arie Boomsma cherished as long as he lives? This most beautiful or most inspiring text can be a poem, an excerpt from a novel or a song-text. He discusses the text with the audience. In Dutch.

Wim Brands

(Brummen, NL, 1959 - Amsterdam, 2016) was a poet, journalist, and media presenter. At a young age he debuted as a poet in the Dutch literary magazine Hollands Maandblad. Since then he has published books of poetry quite regularly, such as Neem me mee zei de hond (Take Me With You Said the Dog, 2010). After the publication of his first collection Inslag (Impact, 1985), he began working as an interviewer for the VPRO broadcasting company. Later he became head producer of the Radio 6 programme "De Avonden." Since 2005  he talked to writers on VPRO's book programme "Boeken" on both TV and radio. He put together Briefgeheimen (Postcard Secrets, 2007), a colourful compilation of postcards linked to a website where people can divulge their deepest secrets. Overkomst dringend gewenst (Return Voyage Urgently Requested), his anthology of the work of poet Jan Emmens, was published in 2012, and his most recent poetry collection, 's Middags zwem ik in de Noordzee (In the Afternoons I Swim in the North Sea) in 2014. Brands was one of the "Lonely Departure" poets who compose and present a final poetic tribute to people who pass away without friends or family.
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Arie Boomsma

(Marken, 1974) is a tv host, a model and a writer. Recently he published Waarom ben je niet bij mij (Why are you not with me), an anthology of love poems: from classics like Kloos, Slauerhoff and Bloem, to younger poets such as Van Heemstra, Mohlmann and Deckwitz. In his youth Boomsma roamed the Netherlands as the son of a minister in the church and studied psychology and communication in the US. He made his debut on tv with Veronica and transferred to EO after having published a book on religious questions with his father and brother. One of the most striking tv programmes he made was 40 dagen zonder seks (Forty days without sex). The relationship with EO flagged when Boomsma, scantily dressed, had himself photographed for L’Homo, a one-off edition of LINDA. Somewhat later he joined KRO where he has presented several programmes on homosexuality. In 2011 he published his debut novel Relishow, about a popular evangelist who propagates the love of Jesus first and foremost in a physical sense. In January 2014 his Troost (Comfort) appears, an essay for the CPNB Month of the spiritual book.
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Simon(e) van Saarloos

is a writer, artistic collaborator and curator. They are the author of Against Ageism. A Queer Manifesto (2023); Take ‘Em Down. Scattered Monuments and Queer Forgetting (2021) and Playing Monogamy (2019) as well as several books in Dutch: Herdenken herdacht (2019); Enz. Het Wildersproces (2018); the novel De vrouw die (2016); the collection of columns Ik deug / deug niet ( 2015) and Het monogame drama (2015). . Van Saarloos works as an independent curator of public programming and artistic collaborations. A current PhD candidate in Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, they are interested in Black feminist engagements with quantum physics and focused on the rhetorical (im)possibility of existence without defense. Van Saarloos is currently writing a new book for AK Press, titled Trans Despair: Staying Unrelated and Insecure.

Go the website of Simon(e) van Saarloos
Instagram: @svansaarloos
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