Happy Poetry

Poetry makes you happy! Allow yourself to be inspired tonight and get carried along by poets and performers Kees van Kooten, Rodaan Al Galidi (Iraq) and Marjolijn Heemstra, who get happy from poetry and want to share that happiness with others. Presented by Trio Lang & Gelukkig. In Dutch.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 22 January 2011 23:05 tot 23:50 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - grote zaal

Poetry makes you happy! Allow yourself to be inspired tonight and get carries along by poets and performers Kees van Kooten, Rodaan Al Galidi (Iraq) and Marjolijn Heemstra, who get happy from poetry and want to share that happiness with others. Kees van Kooten brings the poetry of Billy Collins. Rodaan Al Galidi and Marjolijn van Heemstra read their own work. Host: rhymewriter and musician Peer de Graaf (singing & percussion) with his trio Lang & Gelukkig! (With Henk Koekkoek (ukelele & sax) and Piet Maas (double bass). In Dutch.

Kees van Kooten

(The Netherlands, 1941) is a satirist and writer. Already in his school days he formed a cabaret duo with Wim de Bie, who died in 2023. They gained great fame, influence and popularity as satirists in The Netherlands, first on the radio and, as of 1965, on TV. From the mid-1960s onward, Van Kooten published works such as Treitertrends, short satirical pieces in the Haagse Post, and bestselling short-story collections. The successful collections Modermismen and Meer modermismen followed in the 1980s. In 1998, Van Kooten stopped appearing on television. His children's book Het Schaampaard (The Shameless Horse) was published in 1999. The anthologies Karrevrachten pennevruchten (2017) and Sterk verdund (2018) are describe as "witty and pointed, with an insane pleasure in language, touching and awkward in doses, but above all, irresistibly funny."
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Marjolijn van Heemstra

(Amsterdam, 1981) - writer, poet, and journalist – gained attention in 2009 with her first poetry collection Als Mozes had doorgevraagd. In 2012, her debut novel De laatste Aedema was published. In her work, she explores how we can think differently about ourselves and the world. Since 2019, she has written about how space can help us see the Earth from a new perspective, in a.o. her essay Wat is ruimte waard. The theatre play based on this book, Maankoorts, premiered in June 2024. Since 2019, Van Heemstra has been a space correspondent at De Correspondent. She creates podcasts (including Sør, Stadsastronaut en Als geschiedenis in je opstaat) and recently conducted research on the value of the night. In 2025 she performs her stage play Observaties van een theaterrat.
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Rodaan Al Galidi

(Iraq, 1971) fled his country in 1998 after completing architecture studies, was given asylum in the Netherlands and settled there legally in 2007. Since then he has published poetry, novels and collections of his columns. He received the 2000 El Hizjra literature award and the 2011 Literature Prize of the European Union. In 2013 he published Liever niet, antwoordt de liefde (Maybe Not, Was Love's Reply), an anthology of refreshing love poetry. His novel Hoe ik talent voor het leven kreeg (Two Blankets, Three Sheets) tells of his experiences as an asylum seeker in the Netherlands. Al Galidi published the short story collection Duizend-en-een-nachtmerries (A Thousand and One Nightmares) in 2017 and a poem collection Neem de titel serieus (Take the title seriously) in 2018.
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Lang & Gelukkig

A trio with Peer de Graaf. Peer began in 1978 as ‘Meneertje Peertje’ (Mr Pear) in the theatre. Meneertje Peertje is still active, but meanwhile Peer de Graaf has grown into an adult actor, cabaret artist, musician, host and improviser. De Graaf not only performs in the theatre, but is also active in education and health care. Together with Thijs Borsten he forms the duo Trapperdetrap which applies itself to grown-up songs for children. Every CD features a special guest star, like Mathilde Santing, Wende Snijders and Denise Jannah. The aim of the duo is to make good music which also addresses non-parents. De Graaf is an all-round performer who sings with the greatest ease, cracks jokes and tells stories. He has been doing this for a great number of years in bands, in theatres, during De Parade and neighbourhood parties.
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