The inaugural discussion of the Dutch translation of The Shouting in the Dark – Op de veranda – was wide-ranging and stimulating and paid tribute to Joost Poort’s accomplished and sensitive translation. As well as Elleke Boehmer, the participants were the novelist Karin Amatmoekrim and public intellectual Naomi Wolf, and the session was chaired by cultural commentator Wim Manuhutu. After a short but impassioned introduction to this ‘life-changing’ novel by Naomi Wolf, Elleke kicked off the discussion with a reading from two sections of the novel in Netherlands. The conversation then covered a range of topics including how the novel worked as ‘crafted fury’, on white guilt against black belonging, on the lure of apartheid for post-war Netherlands immigrants to settlers, on how literature works against authoritarian systems of power, and on the novel as bio-fiction.

https://vimeo.com/debalie/boehmer

Later in the evening, Boehmer and Wolf again appeared on De Balie stage together, now to talk about what was billed Feminism 4.0 and about women’s post-millennial self-expression on various different platforms.

https://vimeo.com/debalie/feminism