Fifty Ways to Free Your Language

How do writers relate to decolonizing language and literature, not only in their subject matter but also in the form of their poetry and stories?

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Information

Date and time Friday 17 January 2020 20:00 tot 21:05 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - Zaal 1

How do writers relate to decolonizing language and literature, not only in their subject matter but also in the form of their poetry and stories?

During the Friday Night Unlimited program, several events will focus on the decolonization of the mind. How free is our mind, what does freedom mean, and are we truly free, or caught in the framework of our culture, society and history? This theme is partly based on the essay collection Decolonizing the Mind by the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o, in which he discusses colonized language and how its influence is still notable. Since he believes that language plays a constructive role in culture, history and identity, he argues for "linguistic decolonization".

This first program will be opened with a speech by writer Mukoma Wa Ngugi (USA, and son of Ngugi wa Thiong'o); then Simone Zeefuik discusses this subject with him and with poet Simone Atangana Bekone (Netherlands), poet and writer Antjie Krog (South Africa) and writer Petina Gappah (Zimbabwe).

Tip: Petina Gappah also appears at Opening Night - A Free Mind on Wednesday, 15 January, at Theater aan het Spui; Antjie Krog appears at Saturday Night Unlimited, 18 January, and during the Winternachten New Year's Concert on Sunday afternoon, 19 January, at the Zuiderstrand Theatre.

Line-up

Antjie Krog

(South Africa, 1952) is a poet, writer, academic and a cherished reciter. Her book Country of My Skull (2000, adapted for film in 2004) is a personal account of the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She published her autobiographical memoirs as A Change of Tongue (2003). Krog has won many prizes, including the Hertzog prize in South Africa and the 2018 Gouden Ganzenveer in the Netherlands. An anthology of her poetry was published in Dutch in 2010, titled Hoe zeg je dat (How Do You Say That), and Begging to be Black, the sequel to Country of My Skull and A Change of Tongue.
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Simone Atangana Bekono

(The Netherlands, 1991) is a writer of prose and poetry. She has written columns and essays for various newspapers and magazines and is an editor at the literary magazine De Revisor. In 2016, she graduated from the Creative Writing program at ArtEZ with a collection of poems and letters titled Hoe de eerste vonken zichtbaar waren (How the first sparks became visible). In 2018, the collection was awarded the Poëziedebuutprijs Aan Zee. Her debut novel Confrontaties (Confrontations) was highly praised and won the Hebban Debut Prize, the Anton Wachter Prize, and the Best Book for Young Adults Award. In 2022, Simone wrote the novella Zo hoog de zon stond for the Brabants Book Present. In 2024, her second poetry collection Marshmallow was awarded with the Jan Campert-prijs.
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Petina Gappah

(Zimbabwe, 1971) debuted in 2009 with the short-story collection An Elegy for Easterly, followed by her first novel The Book of Memory (2015) and another story collection, Rotten Row (2016). Her new book Out of Darkness, Shining Light tells the story of the perilous, months-long trek made in 1873 by 69 workers to transport the body of the explorer David Livinstone from central Africa to the Zanzibar coast, so it could eventually be buried in England. "I write the history of the black people of Zimbabwe, those about whom nobody ever speaks." Gappah studied law in Zimbabwe and Cambridge, worked as a lawyer, and lives in Berlin as artist-in-residence. She has won many international prizes for her work.
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Simone Zeefuik

is an Afro-Dutch writer, cultural programmer and organiser whose work revolves around everyday life, joy and social justice. She focuses on imagination as access, on (de)spectacularising Blackness and on (digital) archives. Zeefuik is a programmer at the Bijlmer Parktheater in Amsterdam and a lecturer at Zawdie Sandvliet's Afro-Dutch Studies. From 2021 to 2023, she was programme director of the temporary master's programme Blacker Blackness at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, which she initiated. Her work focuses on imagination as a method to decolonise, decode and liberate representations of Black people and Blackness in art and design.

Go to the website of Simone Zeefuik
Instagram: @lazeefuik
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Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ

(USA, 1971) grew up in Kenya but returned to the US to study political science, English and creative writing. He is a writer, political analyst and columnist for BBC Focus on Africa Magazine. Wa Ngũgĩ wrote several novels, including Nairobi Heat (2009), Black Star Nairobi (2013) and Mrs. Shaw (2015), as well as two volumes of poetry: Hurling Words at Consciousness (2006) en Logotherapy a decade later. He also wrote non-fiction titles, including Conversing with Africa: Politics of Change (2003) and The Rise of the African Novel: Politics of Language, Identity and Ownership (2018). He has written many political essays and columns for publications like the LA Times and World LIterature Today. Wa Ngũgĩ is a professor of English at Cornell University in New York and the son of the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.
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Laura Stavinoha

is a vocalist, songwriter, loop artist, vocal coach and producer. As a singer she has sung a variety of genres, from baroque to deep house and from her own pop songs to avant-garde classical. For years she has performed as a classical soprano, in the Netherlands and abroad. Nowadays she strives for an authentic, intuitive use of voice outside the usual traditions. Two EPs of Laura's own work have been released: Sweet Life (2012) and Looping Patterns (2015). As one of the first vocal looping artists in the Netherlands she works with song based live looping: she makes songs by sampling her voice with a loop station.
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