Issues of identity and belonging continue to dominate our politics, society and art. During this evening we will explore the impact of identity and identity-thinking with three Dutch authors. Does our identity determine how we think or how we should think?
On Thursday 14 March 2019 authors Karin Amatmoekrim, Johan Fretz and Mano Bouzamour will read from their work and discuss questions of who we are, where we belong and how we fit in.
This literature/debate evening is a collaboration between the Dutch Centre at Austin Friars and the University of Sheffield and supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands. The event has been curated by Sheffield students in their final year. Not only have they researched the topic, but they have also translated extracts of the Dutch novels into English to present the work of the authors to a British audience.
The evening is moderated by Henriette Louwerse.
The Authors
Karin Amatmoekrim is an award-winning Surinamese writer who was born in Paramaribo. She studied Psychology and Modern Literature at the University of Amsterdam and has since written six novels, as well as writing for Dutch newspapers. Her areas of interest and themes of her writing include modern and post-colonial literature, and migration and identity. She is currently working on her PhD research in Oxford; a study of Dutch-Surinamese writer Anil Ramdas and his beliefs about identity, multiculturalism and the role of the black intellectual in western societies.
Johan Fretz is a Dutch author, stand-up comedian and musician. He was nominated for a Flemish debut award for his first novel 2025 and has since written his second novel Onder de Paramariboom, an exploration of his personal past and his mother’s Surinamese heritage, which was accompanied by a successful theatre production. His unique combination of comedy and race and identity politics is a prominent theme in his work, and he has recently worked with University of Sheffield students on a translation of Onder de Paramariboom into English. This novel was awarded the Bookshop Prize 2019.
Mano Bouzamour is a Dutch novelist and columnist who was born in Amsterdam. He wrote his first novel De belofte van Pisa in 2013, telling the story of a son of Moroccan parents who immigrated to The Netherlands. De belofte van Pisa was a best-seller in The Netherlands, has been translated into German and Spanish and is now being made into a movie to be released at the end of 2019. His second novel Bestsellerboy was published in 2018.