Howard Jacobson & Micha Wertheim

For over four decades, Howard Jacobson has been one of the most unique voices of British literature – in all its variety -, having mastered both comedy and drama, never shying away from the world’s issues, yet always creating his very own universe in anything he writes. Jacobson explicitly presents himself as a Jewish author, although he never forgets that self-mockery is essential to human life. Additionally, he is a well-beloved professor who will just as easily engage in razor-sharp controversy. One thing is clear: Howard Jacobson is one of a kind.

In his latest novel, Live a Little, he treats us to the adventures of two ancient Londoners. One is Beril Dusinbery, an lady suffering from Alzheimer’s who has forgotten everything except for her natural gift of driving people up the wall. The other is Shimi Carmelli, a Don Juan with dentures, the ‘most eligible elderly bachelor of London’, and above all, a delightfully treacherous character. Leave it to Jacobson to not only make their worlds collide, but to simultaneously explain all sorts of things about our society with his distinctive brand of dark humour, making Live a Little a brilliant plea for the right to self-determination.

Howard Jacobson (1942, Manchester) is an English writer of fiction and nonfiction. In 2010, he won the Man Booker Prize, a mark of honour that could barely fit into his well-stocked trophy cabinet.

Micha Wertheim (1972) is a dramatist, publicist, columnist and writer of children’s books. After his degree in cultural studies at the University of Maastricht, he made ten satirical theatre shows, including the experimental Ergens anders (‘Somewhere else’) in which he literally was somewhere else. His most recent cabaret show Voor alle duidelijkheid (‘To be very clear’) was greeted with wide acclaim.

Besides his theatre shows, he has been hosting and producing Echt gebeurd, the Netherlands’ most popular podcast, for over ten years with fellow writer and comedian Paulien Cornelisse, inviting people to tell stories that have actually happened to them.

Wertheim has published four children’s books and writes a weekly column called ‘The Transition Team’ for Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, and presents another one in radio show OVT. He regularly writes essays on arts and culture for online journal De Correspondent and NRC Handelsblad.