Writers Unlimited Festival Cafe

Meet with drinks and snacks. The right atmosphere came from host and DJ Francis Broekhuijsen. The Hague poet Sjaak Kroes wrote poem especially for you. Poet Dorien Dijkhuis took you on a seven-minute journey with her poetic VR installation VER. Bookstore De Vries Van Stockum offered a rich selection of books by festival authors.

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Information

Date and time Friday 24 January 2025 21:15 tot 23:15 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - foyer
Price SOLD OUT

Meet up in the heart of the festival with a drink and a bite to eat. Host and DJ Francis Broekhuijsen created the right atmosphere with his virtual Writers Unlimited Radio Show, and guided you through the extensive festival programme. You were welcome to request your favourite song to be played.

Well-known Hague poet Sjaak Kroes created a tailor-made poem for you with his Woordenwisseling (Exchange of words). Poet Dorien Dijkhuis took you on a seven minute journey in VER, her poetic VR installation (Dutch spoken). De Vries Van Stockum's bookshop was open all evening and richly stocked with books or cd's by festival authors and artists; you could also meet them there and have their work signed:

20:30 hours: Tommy Wieringa
21:15 hours: Robin Block, George Abraham, Rešoketšwe Manenzhe
21:35 hours: Yael van der Wouden, Andrej Koerkov
22:30 hours: Elif Shafak, Asta Olivia Nordenhof, Dario Goldbach, Marjolijn van Heemstra
23:00 hours: Alejandra Ortiz
23:45 hours: Saartje van Camp

Together with the Silent Eclectic Disco Show by DJ Socrates, we were dancing into the late night from 23:15. Didn't want to dance but have a nice chat? Then there was plenty of room for that. No obligations, do as you like...that was the credo of the Writers Unlimited Festival heart!

Line-up

Francis Broekhuijsen

(The Netherlands, 1970) is a presenter, producer, actor and voice-over artist specializing in music, literature, arts and culture. After graduating as actor from the Toneelschool Amsterdam he was a member, among others, of the ensemble of the Nationale Toneel. He was a presenter at Amsterdam-based broadcaster AT5 and a radio producer with the KRO on national network NPO Radio 1. He narrates audio books, and was shortlisted for the Storytel Award 2019 for Best Audio Book with his reading of Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's novel Grand Hotel Europa. Until last year, he presented on radio station Sublime the daily morning show Sublime Sunrise, the Instagram poetry programme Sublime Smooth and evening show The Sublime Experience. In 2025 he wrote and hosted the tv-series Kringlopen met Francis on regional Dutch broadcaster NH. Broekhuijsen works for Writers Unlimited as festival curator and presenter.

Go to the website of Francis Broekhuijsen
Instagram: @francisbroekhuijsen
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Sjaak Kroes

is on the road in daily life in The Hague as a poet. Many know him as the Hague Street Poet, or City Poet in the Paleistuin, on the Grote Markt or by the sea at beach entrances. Since 2016 he writes personal poetry from short conversations - on location or outside at his cargo bike with tabletop and typewriter, and on assignment at events. He takes you into a space, train of thought or zeitgeist. Conversation partners decide how much they think it's worth. Poetry from an exchange of words. Sjaak publishes his poetry himself. He published the anthologies Liefjes Van Een Straatdichter and Onder Een Boom Dronken We Fristi.
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Dorien Dijkhuis

(The Netherlands, 1978) is a writer, poet, journalist and essayist. She publishes in literary journals and collaborates in projects with artists from other disciplines such as musicians, illustrators and digital creators. In 2019, she published her debut collection Waren we dieren (Were We Animals). Her collection Dezelfde Maan (The Same Moon, 2024, Van Oorschot) is a book that transcends genre boundaries: it combines essay, poetry and prose. During Writers Unlimited Festival 2025, her seven-minute poetic virtual reality experience Ver (Far) about distance, desire and communication, can be heard and watched in the foyer of Theater aan het Spui. She made Ver with creative director Harm van de Ven, illustrator Suzan Hijink and composer Myrthe van de Weetering.
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