Alicja Gescinska has written a short essay especially for this evening on the voices of women in their pursuit of freedom – sometimes at the risk of their own lives. Moderated by Teddy Tops, she will engage in conversation with Suzanna Jansen, author of The Pauper’s Paradise (Het pauperparadijs), among other works. Together, they delve into history to better understand the present.

Writer, theatre-maker and spoken word artist Daniëlle Zawadi and singer and performer Elisabeth Hetherington will present a first preview of fragments from their unique multidisciplinary production Love, Rewritten. In this production, they give a new voice to Schumann’s well-known love songs, under musical accompaniment by pianist Caspar Vos.

Alicja Gescinska is a Flemish-Polish writer, philosopher and chair of PEN Vlaanderen. In her acclaimed book Women in Dark Times (Vrouwen in duistere tijden), she portrays women who have played important roles in history but have nevertheless remained underexposed.

Suzanna Jansen followed her bestselling debut The Pauper’s Paradise (Het pauperparadijs) with, among other works, Revolution or the Century of Women (Omwenteling of de eeuw van de vrouw), focusing on the lives of ordinary people and how major social developments affect them.

Daniëlle Zawadi is a writer of prose, spoken word, theatre and columns. She performs on stages throughout the Netherlands, publishes in literary magazines and made her theatre debut with the one-woman show Alstublieft, Zawadi, followed by Ondervonden (2023). Her stories often explore what it means to be Gen Z in the Netherlands as a bicultural person of the second generation, her Congolese roots and friendship. In 2025, she published Ik kan eigenlijk niet op deze manier werken, a collection of performance texts dedicated to the Free Palestine, Free Sudan and Free Congo movements. She is also a literary programmer. In her hometown of The Hague, Daniëlle founded Het Zwarte Schaap in 2019, a platform for word art and spoken literature.

Elisabeth Hetherington is a Canadian soprano, based in the Netherlands, known for her bold artistic vision and versatility across repertoire ranging from early to contemporary and modern music. As the winner of the Dutch Music Prize – the highest distinction for classical musicians in the Netherlands – Elisabeth has become a sought-after soloist throughout Europe.