Lyrics about toothache and odes to pneumonia

Rob van Essen, Thomas Heerma van Voss, Mariken Heitman, Lieke Marsman, Lize Spit and Nadia de Vries recited from their (new) work. Dutch spoken.

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Information

Date and time Friday 23 January 2026 21:10 tot 22:10 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - Zaal 1
Price 15,- (up to 30 years or Ooievaarspas)
25,- (Early Bird, up to 26 December, after 35,-)
32,50 (DenHaagPas).

January 2026 marked exactly one hundred years since Virginia Woolf's essay On Being Ill was published. Why does illness play such a marginal role in literature, she wondered, lying in bed herself, forced to come to a standstill. Rob van Essen, Thomas Heerma van Voss, Mariken Heitman, Lieke Marsman, Lize Spit and Nadia de Vries recited from their (new) work. Trumpeteer Mark Nieuwenhuis performed during the musical interlude.

Why is illness — and the overwhelming mental changes that accompany it, the essential transition from “standing” to “lying down” — not as important a literary theme as love, struggle and jealousy? 'One would expect novels to be devoted to the flu; heroic poems to typhoid; odes to pneumonia; lyrical poetry to toothache.“ But no, says Woolf: ”[...] an account of this everyday drama of the body is lacking.'

A hundred years later, something seems to have changed: more and more writers and poets have, in Woolf's words, had the courage to look their physicality straight in the eye; they have thematised illness, found language for it and built a plot around it. In this programme, six of them follow the festival thema Let's get physical and present a literary account of the everyday drama of the body, in largely newly written texts.

Lyrics about toothache and odes to pneumonia was curated for Writers Unlimited Festival samengesteld by Jet Steinz, who also moderates it.

Line-up

Jet Steinz

(The Netherlands, 1990) is a writer and programme maker for the Writers Unlimited Festival The Hague. Together with her father, Pieter Steinz, she published Steinz. Gids voor de wereldliteratuur (Steinz: Guide to world literature, 2005). In this reference book, the writers give an overview of narrative fiction including 416 writers, 104 masterpieces, 52 bookwebs, 52 literary maps, 26 themes, 26 quizzes and 26 one-book wonders. In 2016 her novel De tranen van Saar (The Tears of Saar) were published as part of the Young Adult-book series Sterren van morgen (Stars of Tomorrow). In 2019, she published P.S. Van liefdespost tot hatemail (P.S. From Love Letters to Hatemail), a collection of 150 remarkable, funny or moving letters in Dutch she found in archives. Together with her essayistic descriptions, the facsimiles tell the history of letters while also revealing a portrayal of The Netherlands through the ages.
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Lize Spit

(Belgium, 1988) grew up in the Antwerp Kempen region, but has lived in Brussels since 2005. In 2016, she made her successful debut as a novelist with The Melting (2021), a story about a girl named Eva who grows up with two boys from her small Flemish village. Everything changes when the boys reach puberty and present Eva with an impossible choice. The book was translated into fifteen languages and won several awards. In 2020, her second novel Ik ben er niet (I am not there) was published, a story about devotion and betrayal, about two people who are flawed in their own way, but who do their utmost to be noticed, to love and to live. Lize also publishes prose and poetry in various literary magazines and is a columnist for Flemish daily newspaper De Morgen. Her critically acclaimed book Autobiografie van mijn lichaam (Autobiography of My Body, 2024) is a poignant, confrontational, but also loving exploration by a daughter who tries to understand not only her mother, but also her own troubled relationship with her body.

Go to the website of Lize Spit
Instagram: @lizespit
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Thomas Heerma van Voss

(The Netherlands,1990) is a writer of novels, short stories, reviews and essays. He made his debut at the age of 19 with the novel De Allestafel. This was followed by the highly acclaimed novels Stern (2013) and Condities (2020). In Condities, Vincent Pek has been struggling for years with a book that refuses to come together and battling an illness that refuses to go away. He decides to seek refuge in a last resort: writing about his chronic condition. His novel Het archief (The Archive, 2024) is partly based on his experiences as an editor of the literary magazine De Revisor. It also deals with illness and the decline of loved ones, and how to relate to something that is disappearing. In 2025, De prullenbak heeft veel plezier aan mij (The wastepaper basket enjoys me) was published, for which Heerma van Voss interviewed writers Judith Herzberg, Jan Siebelink and Mensje van Keulen, among others.

Go to website of Thomas Heerma van Vos
Instagram: @thomashvv
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Nadia de Vries

(The Netherlands, 1991) is a writer, poet, and cultural scientist. Her debut novel De bakvis (2022) was longlisted for the Boekenbon Literature Prize and the Libris Literature Prize, and was translated into English (Thistle, 2024). De Vries previously wrote the essay Kleinzeer (2019). In addition to her Dutch-language work, she has written several English-language poetry collections: Dark Hour (2018), I Failed to Swoon (2021), and Know Thy Audience (2023). In 2020, she obtained her PhD from the University of Amsterdam with a research project entitled Digital Corpses. For her dissertation, she researched online images of dead human bodies and the political purposes for which these images are used. She writes regularly about art for De Witte Raaf and Metropolis M, and works as an editor for nY magazine. In 2025, Overgave op commando (Surrender on Command), her second novel, and the novella Magenta were published.

Go to the website of Nadia de Vries
Instagram: @ripnadiadevries
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Mariken Heitman

(The Netherlands, 1983) writes and works as a gardener and vegetable cultivation teacher. She has published short stories and wrote articles and essays in daily newspapers de Volkskrant, De Standaard and NRC, among others. In 2019, her debut novel De wateraap (The Water Monkey) was published, about a loner's gentle resistance to the straitjacket of convention. How do you become human, if that means being either a woman or a man? Her second novel Wormmaan (Worm Moon, 2021) was awarded the Libris Literature Prize. After setbacks at work, plant breeder Elke retreats to a Wadden Sea island with a forgotten pea variety, an androgynous crop that is difficult to control. Slowly, she realises that she shapes crops in the same way that society tries to shape her. In her novel De mierenkaravaan (The Ant Caravan, 2024), gardener Kiek discovers a hare one day. Although every living creature has its role to play, the animal threatens to disrupt the ecological balance on the farm. At the same time, a progressive disease announces itself that will irrevocably change Kiek's life.

Go to website of Mariken Heitman
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Lieke Marsman

(The Netherlands, 1990) was awarded the Constantijn Huygens Prize 2025 for her oeuvre. According to the jury, that oeuvre is ‘leading within contemporary Dutch literature. She dares to experiment with form and knows how to appeal to a large, often young audience’. Marsman made her debut in 2010 with the poetry collection Wat ik mijzelf graag voorhoud (What I like to tell myself), which won several awards. Her first novel, Het tegenovergestelde van een mens (The opposite of a human being), was published in 2017. In it, she interweaves prose with poetry and essays to highlight the theme of climate change. In De volgende scan duurt vijf minuten (The next scan will take five minutes, 2018), she explores how a sick body relates to a sick world. Mijn mand (My basket, 2021) tackles major themes: the value of life and the place of death in a human life. In 2025, Op een andere planeet kunnen ze me redden (On another planet they can save me) was published. Living with death changed Marsman's worldview. The book is a philosophical journey into the depths of the human mind, interspersed with diary excerpts describing how death is hot on her heels.

Instagram: @liekemarsman
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Rob van Essen

(The Netherlands, 1963) occupies a unique place in Dutch-language literature with his novels, nonfiction books, and stories; his oeuvre is unlike any other, evoking memories of José Saramago, Paul Auster, and J.M. Coetzee at most. He was awarded the J.M.A. Biesheuvel Prize for Hier wonen ook mensen (People Live Here Too) and the Libris Literature Prize 2019 for De goede zoon (The Good Son). His novel Miniapolis was published in October 2021. In February 2022, a reissue of Engeland is gesloten (England is Closed) from 2004 was published, and Rob van Essen made his debut as a poet in 2022 with Alleen de warme dagen waren echt (Only the Warm Days Were Real). In 2023, his novel Ik kom hier nog op terug (I'll come back to this) was published, for which he won the Libris Literature Prize again in 2024. In it, the main character is offered the chance to travel back in time in a time machine to make amends for something. It takes him back to traumatic events from his youth. Van Essen masterfully blends everyday reality with the unreal and impossible.

Instagram: @robvanessen1
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Mark Nieuwenhuis

(1981) plays trumpet, composes and produces various styles of music. As a trumpet player, he plays in bands, with DJs and as a solo artist. He has played on countless stages at home and abroad, such as at Lowlands, Concertgebouw, Extrema Outdoor, Paradiso, Oerol and Mawazine Festival (Morocco). He composes on commission for film, television and theatre, as well as autonomously for ensembles and orchestras. He has collaborated with Sizzer Amsterdam, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Born Digital and Theatergroep Gehring and Ketelaars, among others.
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