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International literature and music festival

the first names of the line up of the Crossing Border Festival 2024

, which will take place between 30 October and 2 November in various venues in The Hague.

After two sold-out events Crossing Border will move to a larger venue for the evening programme: 

. We are thrilled to come back to this beautiful theatre where Crossing Border had many magical past editions.

 in the Royal Theatre will take place on 

 in venues throughout the city, including 


Tickets are now on sale, daytickets and passepartouts for the evening programme and separate tickets for the authors in the day programme.



You can read more about the programme per day

. The full programme will be announced on 5 september.

This year, we once again present an eclectic array of authors from all over the world. Pulitzer Prize winner 

, that paints a human portrait of the tragic struggle and history of Israel and Palestine. We also welcome the Scottish musician and now author 

, known as the lead singer and songwriter of Glasgow's 

 about romantic music lover Stephen, who is diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome after a lengthy hospital stay and has a spiritual awakening through music. 

, also known as Camae Ayewa, is an international jack-of-all-trades: she travels the world as a musician, composer, poet, visual artist and curator, and has exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum and the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. During Crossing Border, Moor Mother will recite lyrics from her latest album, 

 interweaving past, present and future through her Afrofuturist lense.

Croatian writer 

, which he worked on for eight years. The story is an ode to the city of Zagreb and its humble heroes. Presenting the fourth novel of her seven-part series, we welcome Danish writer 

 about time-prisoners trapped on the date 18 November. 

 was born in New York where his father was a diplomat for Libya. Matar is an activist against totalitarian regimes in the Middle East and is known for his thought-provoking opinion pieces. At Crossing Border he will join us to discuss his new book 

.

Furthermore, we welcome French author 

 whose work is known for its narrative and emotional power. The long-awaited Dutch translation of acclaimed novel 

 will be published in October 2024, just before his visit to Crossing Border. 

 presents a slightly melancholic yet always cheerful literary carousel with three generations of Duyns. Father Cherry and son Don have once again put together a varied programme of stature. Not only will they perform their own texts: there will also be guest performances by playwright 

, the band around singer and guitarist Django Duyns. A unique opportunity to see three generations of one family at work.


More great authors have been confirmed, including 

Ariana Harwicz, Jonas Eika, Sofie Verdoodt, Safae El Khannoussi, Kaveh Akbar



The music programme this year includes: 

, which stands for The Los Angeles League of Musicians. The group presents a genre-transcending repertoire reflecting the musical diaspora of the Angelenos. We also welcome 

 who are doing a special tour together. They will be playing intimate solo-ish sets, joined by a couple of musical friends as they will traverse songs of their sprawling catalogs and try-out some works-in-progress. Each will play a set of their own, followed by a collaborative set to coles out the evenings. 

 presents her debut EP. Her Jamaican reggae roots blend with a deep love for other styles: first folk music and songwriting from the 1960s and 1970s, later also jazz and early soul. We also welcome 

 who has been using his love of poetry, music and storytelling to escape from everyday life all his life. He grew up in East Africa. At 19, he embarked on a long world tour, using his voice to connect with communities from all over the world. 

 bring their alternative rock with a touch of sixties-style California to Crossing Border - as well as their new album But I'll Wait for You.



For more information about the programme click

The Crossing Border children's book programme

 is back this year. The second edition will take place on 

 The programme consists of writers and illustrators from different countries who have earned their spurs internationally. A diverse selection of voices, languages and life experiences.


The writers read their own stories in their native languages and there is also a Dutch translator reading along. There are interviews about the creative and artistic processes behind the stories, followed by interactive workshops. There are separate events for different age groups. Each event lasts +/- one hour. The books are for babies and toddlers (0-4), beginning readers (4-8) and advanced readers (8-12+). The age categories are an estimate.

, an award-winning illustrator and picture book maker who presents 

 a gorgeously painted, tender story about a young child who loves dressing up as a butterfly. A joyful celebration of creativity, self-expression, and family. 

 was born in Bologna and has been illustrating books by all kinds of writers for over 20 years: from Appolinaire to Astrid Lindgren. Paint, pastel, chalk, India ink, pencils, felt-tip pens and collages: whatever technique she chooses, she creates sharp, intense contrasts between dark and light. In doing so, she exposes sometimes challenging themes, such as our relationship to others, ageing and grief. 

 writes books for children and young adults, in the form of poetry, song lyrics, fiction, picture books and non-fiction and has won numerous awards for his work including recently the prestigious Theo Thijssen-prijs and the Gouden Poëziemedaille. 

 creates scenes populated by tender and bizarre characters. She has published more than 30 books in Italy and abroad; her Little Crocodile series has been translated into 13 languages. Lebanon-born 

 traveled the world over the course of her life and now lives in Berlin. She has published several children's books, including 

: An Armenian Story of Survival and Hope, about the Armenian genocide. Leila’s stories are heavily influenced by her upbringing in the Middle East and raising two young boys.


For more information about the KIDS’ Programme,

YOU’LL HAVE TO SCREAM LOUDER | 30 OCTOBER

The event for upcoming Dutch language talent is back with the first confirmations: 

: a new literary exchange project that blurs the boundaries between two language areas. CROSSED brings together Flemish and Dutch authors and offers these talents the chance to explore the possibilities of a literary stage. This year’s group consists of six very talented writers: 

Mahat Arab, Benjamin de Roover, Loeke Vanthouttenghem, Soukaïna Bennani, Nicole Kaandorp

 These writers will collectively work on a performance in the lead up to Crossing Border. Under the guidance of coach 

 they will explore how their writings might come to life most efficiently.


The festival location will be announced later.

For more information about You'll Have to Scream Louder 

Crossing Border festival: First names

Lancering eerste poëziebundel Sholeh Rezazadeh

. Zij lanceert deze avond haar langverwachte eerste poëziebundel 

. Sholeh zal geselecteerde gedichten voordragen, begeleid door live muziek, en gaat in gesprek over haar creatieve proces en inspiratiebronnen.


, gaat haar nieuwe boek verder in op vertrouwde thema’s. In haar poëzie, net als in haar romans, is de natuur niet slechts een achtergrond maar een levendig personage dat ziet, voelt, liefheeft en vergeet. Sholeh’s werk overstijgt culturele en taalbarrières, waarbij de mensheid wordt geportretteerd als onvolmaakt en verlangend naar verbinding, terwijl ze zich verwonderen over het gebrek aan aandacht dat we elkaar geven. Haar poëzie nodigt ons uit om de schoonheid en diepte om ons heen te ontdekken en moedigt ons aan om een moment te nemen om echt te observeren.


Sholeh Rezazadeh verhuisde in 2015 van Iran naar Nederland. Haar debuutroman, 'De hemel is altijd paars' (2021), won de Debuutprijs van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde en de Bronzen Uil Publieksprijs, en werd genomineerd voor de Libris Literatuur Prijs. Tot op heden zijn er meer dan 35.000 exemplaren van 'De hemel is altijd paars' verkocht. 'Ik ken een berg die op me wacht' kreeg een speciale vermelding van de Europese Unie Literatuurprijs. Dit jaar schreef ze een verhaal voor 3PAK, het geschenk van de Boekenweek van Jongeren.

De Situatie x Crossing Border bij PIP Den Haag

 de handen ineen voor een eclectische avond vol muziek, literatuur en ander talig genot bij 



Begin dit jaar begon De Situatie een schrijfwedstrijd om een jonge generatie schrijvers te ontdekken. De tien winnende stukken zullen gepresenteerd worden in een online en offline publicatie.

Daarnaast hebben we een selectie schrijvers, performers en muzikanten gecureerd, voordat DJs de nacht afsluiten.


Eind juli wordt het programma aangekondigd.


Tijd: 20:30 (inloop), literair programma: 21:00 - 00:00, DJ/feest tot 02:00.

Sholeh Rezazadeh lanceert eerste poëziebundel en De Situatie x Crossing Border

On October 5th, BorderKitchen will welcome legendary German filmmaker and author Werner Herzog at the Royal Theatre in The Hague. Herzog will join us to talk about his memoirs: Everyone for Himself and God Against All and to present the Dutch translation of his new book The Future of Truth.

Werner Herzog (Munich, 1942) became world famous with films such as Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu, Encounters at the End of the World and Grizzly Man. His films are often about outcasts who are in an extreme relationship with nature. In recent years he has increasingly established himself as an acclaimed writer.

His book The Twilight of the World was published in 2022, and tells the tale of a Japanese soldier on a small island in the Pacific Ocean, who, thirty years after the end of WWII, still thinks the war is ongoing. In his memoirs, entitled Everyone for Himself and God Against All, Werner Herzog describes a life full of adventures and borderline experiences, as if his life were his best film.

In his new book The Future of Truth (Dutch translation will be published in October 2024), Herzog once again proves himself to be a gifted writer. In a world undermined by fake news, political manipulation and artificial intelligence, he asks the philosophical question: what is true? And how does the truth of poetry and cinema relate to empirical facts? Werner Herzog weaves fascinating thoughts and memories together in his own unique way.

Both books will be on sale at the Other World Bookshop during the event.

Date: 5 October 2024
Location: The Royal Theatre, The Hague
Time: 20.00 (doors open 19.30)
Tickets: 

WERNER HERZOG: BORDERKITCHEN WELCOMES LEGENDARY FILMMAKER AND AUTHOR 

Writers for Ukraine with Tommy Wieringa, Lisa Weeda, Jelle Brandt Corstius and many others.

Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra at BorderKitchen.

BorderKitchen with Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah sold out.

 is pleased to announce a special evening with the 

 The event will take place at Theater aan het Spui on 

who provide protective gear for Ukrainian forces.

The writers, who witnessed the situation in Ukraine first-hand, formed the collective to share their stories and combat Russian disinformation.

Tommy Wieringa, Jelle Brandt Corstius, Maurits Chabot, Iris Koppe, Olaf Koens,

 will join us to discuss their experiences. Volkskrant-photographer 

 will show recent footage from the country. 

 will play music on accordion and piano. Moderator: 

. The full programme will be announced at a later date.

A small group of writers joined the third convoy sent by 

. They saw the growing equipment shortages in Kyiv, Charkiv, and Izjum, where no two soldiers wear the same shoes, but also the Ukrainians' tenacity: they will keep fighting. Unless Russia succeeds in dividing the West and ending the provision of weapons and ammunition, Ukraine is not lost.

Upon their return to the Netherlands, Tommy Wieringa and Jaap Scholten, accompanied by Ukrainian marine Andrej Mahomet, visited the Dutch parliament. They spoke to several MPs, including Kati Piri, Frans Timmermans, Derk Boswijk, Jan Paternotte and Thierry Baudet, urging them to expedite support for the Ukrainian army and draw attention to the Russian disinformation campaigns.

It leaves Putin’s troll factories as a whisper, but is amplified multiple times over in the West, instilling defeatism in Ukraine’s allies: 'The war cannot be won.' Any divisive social issues that cause unrest and can be connected to Ukraine, such as the farmers' protests, are also fuel for 

a tactic straight out of Stalin’s propaganda manual which is used to destabilise and undermine.

Chilean Writer Alejandro Zambra at BorderKitchen

 BorderKitchen presents a live conversation and Q&A with one of Latin America’s literary stars 

The book will be for sale at The Other World Bookshop and there will be a book signing after the interview.

Multi-award-winning Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra is the author of poetry, essays, and novels. His books include 

Zambra will join us at BorderKitchen to talk about his new book 

, a meditation on fatherhood and childhood exploring how the birth and growth of a child not only changes the present and the future, but also shakes up our ideas about the past.

 is a diary of fatherhood, a letter to a son, and pure fiction, with Zambra’s genres coexisting in strange harmony in this unclassifiable book. Read it as an extraordinarily varied manual for new parents, or simply as a new and brilliant chapter in the oeuvre of Alejandro Zambra.

Location: BorderKitchen, Kerkstraat 11, The Hague

Sold out BorderKitchen with Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah

 for a conversation about his latest book 

, immerses the reader in the stories of people whose lives are flung into turmoil, reflecting his own displacement from Tanzania to the United Kingdom in the 1960s. His last novel 

 in Dutch), tells the story of Ilyas, a child stolen from his parents in east Africa by German colonial soldiers, and his quest to find his family after years spent away from home fighting against his own people. Gurnah presents a vital African narrative of German colonial rule in novels which address the great inter-generational harm of colonization, while at the same time mesmerizing readers with deft storytelling and complex, empathetic characters.

Writers for Ukraine fight against ‘dezinformatsiya’ and BorderKitchen with Alejandro Zambra

Agenda BorderKitchen evenementen: Daniel Kehlmann (Duitsland) en Abdulrazak Gurnah (Tanzania).

Op 4 maart 2024 verwelkomt BorderKitchen 

 voor het eerste Nederlandse live-evenement gewijd aan zijn nieuwe boek 

 het langverwachte vervolg op de succesvolle roman 


Het nieuwe boek is te koop in onze Other World Bookshop. Murat Isik gaat na afloop signeren.


Tijd: 20.00 - 21.00 (deuren openen om 19.30)

(2017) onder de meer de Libris Literatuur Prijs 2018 en de Boekhandelsprijs. Ook werd de roman door NRC tot Boek van het Jaar 2017 uitgeroepen. Er werden al meer dan 200.000 exemplaren van verkocht. Isik debuteerde met de roman 

 (2012), die bekroond werd met de Bronzen Uil-publieksprijs. Zijn werk werd vertaald in het Duits, Zweeds en Turks. In 2019 was hij de auteur van het Boekenweekessay: 

Zomer 2001, Metin Mutlu gaat studeren in San Francisco. Met het betreden van deze nieuwe wereld is hij vastbesloten zijn oude zelf achter zich te laten: in plaats van een verlegen toehoorder wil hij in Amerika een zelfbewuste en daadkrachtige man worden. Een paar weken na zijn aankomst, op Metins vierentwintigste verjaardag, vinden de aanslagen van 11 september plaats.

Metin studeert internationaal strafrecht, maar het idee dat hij zijn leven zal slijten als jurist benauwt hem. Hij stort zich daarom vol op het keuzevak Creative Writing, waar hij de mysterieuze Joan Springfield ontmoet, een briljante dochgetroebleerde studente voor wie hij als een blok valt.

Zijn nieuwe vrije leven lijkt Metin goed af te gaan. Totdat onaangename ontwikkelingen in San Francisco én op het familiefront zijn verblijf in een heel ander licht stellen.

In de mist van Golden State Park is de schitterende nieuwe roman van Murat Isik, een epische vertelling over het zoeken naar vrijheid en autonomie, het vinden van een grote liefde, de wording van een schrijver en de onoverkomelijke band met je familie.

Naast Murat Isik op 4 maart hebben we nog twee andere bijzondere schrijvers die de komende maanden te gast zullen zijn bij BorderKitchen.

 (Duitsland) voor een gesprek over zijn nieuwe, nog te verschijnen boek 

Op 9 april verwelkomen wij Nobelprijswinnaar 

 (Tanzania, VK) voor een gesprek over zijn nieuwste boek 

Tijdens de evenementen zijn de boeken te koop, en na de interviews zullen signeersessies plaats vinden.

Murat Isik presenteert nieuwe boek bij BorderKitchen

 last month, we are thrilled to be following up with news of 

our first dedicated programme for children and teenagers and more

.

Find out more in this festival newsletter about...

1 - 4 November in beautiful venues across the centre of The Hague

 of children’s literature that showcase 

 in books for pre-readers (0-4), early readers (4-8), and middle-grade (8-12), as well as events for teenagers. 

interviews on the creative and artistic process

In our selection of authors and illustrators we have tried to bring a 

diversity of voices, languages, and life-experiences

. So far, confirmed artists and authors include 

, who has won multiple awards for her quirky and colourful books; French graphic novelist 

 gives a child's perspective on the complex issue of migration. 



: Dutch, English, French and others! Please check the programme page for details.

 focuses on Dutch-speaking talent from contemporary literature. Join us for an intimate evening in Zaal 3 and NEST, where they will share their literary, poetic, and musical tales. 


Prepare for thought-provoking discussions with soon-to-be-published novelists 

. Additionally, we'll explore the world of multidisciplinary spoken word with performers 

. The evening will also feature captivating musical performances by, among others, the new hiphop duo 

 is Crossing Border’s unique annual residency project for talented authors and translators. Each day of the festival, an up-and-coming writer works on a blog of that day’s events, capturing their insights and experiences of the artists performing on the Crossing Border stage.


At the same time, translators get to work and offer the audience a near-simultaneous translation. The translators are at the start of their literary careers, and the aim is to showcase the skill and talent of both the writer and translator and show how the process works.


So far, four authors have been confirmed: 

) explores the French working-class experience via the kitchens of a fast food restaurant; hotly-tipped Dutch author 

The Man Who Had it All (De man die alles had) 

 who examines the paradoxical existence of the migrant; and C. Buddingh Prize-winning poet, 

The translators will be announced in September

We are already delighted to have confirmed a host of top authors and musicians who will be joining us for Crossing Border 2023. Authors include 

, while musicians taking to the stage include 

Stay tuned for more exciting announcements coming in September!

Tickets for the evening programme on 2, 3 and 4 November and day programme and kids' programme on 4 November are now on sale.


The evening programme will be held once again in the Korzo Theater, while a new venue (to be announced) will be added for the literary evening programme.


The exact locations of the day programme will all be in the centre of The Hague, and will be announced in September. Venues include: The Royal Theater, KABK, Theater aan het Spui, Zaal 3, Het Mauritshuis and BorderKitchen.

Crossing Border launches new kids' programme for 2023

the first artists in the line-up for our 2023 festival

, with an exciting mix of award-winning authors, up-and-coming musicians, and unique collaborations blurring the boundaries between genres.



. Venues include: Korzo Theater, The Royal Theater, KABK, Theater aan het Spui, Zaal 3, Het Mauritshuis, and BorderKitchen. We are excited to add 

an additional venue for the literary programme

 this year, following high demand last year for the literary events. 


stay tuned for more announcements in the coming weeks

, who makes her first foray into historical fiction with 

, the intertwined stories of a Scottish housekeeper in 1873 and a Jamaican former slave.


Also appearing is Nigerian-American author 

 weaves a mosaic of literature, music, race, and history to explore what constitutes a meaningful life.


 accompanied by Belgian composer and musician 

, whose improvised beats will create a fitting backdrop for Porter's multi-voice tale of a depressed teenager escaping into the night.


 is a New Delhi-set novel exploring wealth disparities that is equal parts thriller and family saga. And 

, one of the greatest Colombian authors of her generation, will discuss her new novel 

Crossing Border evenings Sold Out!

Latest news

Crossing Border festival: First names

Sholeh Rezazadeh lanceert eerste poëziebundel en De Situatie x Crossing Border

WERNER HERZOG: BORDERKITCHEN WELCOMES LEGENDARY FILMMAKER AND AUTHOR