6 August 2020 - Mireille Berman
We Slaves of Suriname by the Surinamese writer and activist Anton de Kom (1898-1945) is one of the most important anti-colonial writings of the 20th century. It is on a par with W.E.B. Du Bois’ Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Frantz Fanon’s Les damnés de la terre (1961). The book is the first, but still one of the few works to describe Dutch colonial rule and Suriname’s slave economy.
3 July 2020 - Mireille Berman
By Mireille Berman
Every year the National Committee for 4 and 5 May asks a writer to give a speech at its Remembrance Day gathering. This year it chose Arnon Grunberg, who read an impressive essay entitled ‘No’.
8 September 2014 - Mireille Berman
The Nanfang International Literary Festival took place in the South Chinese city of Guangzhou between 18th and 24th August 2014. Guangzhou, previously called Canton and, with 12 million citizens, one of the largest cities in China, is an unusual juxtaposition of the old and the inexorably encroaching new. The city’s rapid economic growth is visible everywhere.
22 August 2012 - Mireille Berman
If you walk into a Dutch bookshop – there are more than 1.500 in the Netherlands, struggling to survive – as a tourist, you will probably experience the joys of recognition. The inevitable international bestsellers – E.L. James, Suzanne Collins, Nicci French, Jonas Jonasson, Stephen King and Karin Slaughter – are all there, and selling very well. These titles, mostly translated from English, share their space on the bestseller tables with the occasional original Dutch title, like Paulien Cornelisse’s quirky observations of Dutch vernacular, and successful thrillers, all written by blond, high-heeled women authors (and if they happen to be male, they wisely use a female alias). The rest are sports books, mostly about football, which is very popular in the Netherlands.
