English

Dimitri Verhulst

Dimitri Verhulst has just won the highest Dutch literary honour for a novel praised for its unparalleled use of language and ironic sense of humour. Both qualities are abundant in his Radio Books story.

Cuban dance group smashes clichés

Choreographer Lizt Alfonzo's Cuban dance group hasn't had a moment of rest since they began a 27-city tour of the Netherlands. Audiences have been flocking to see Fuerza y compás, a mix of flamenco and ballet.

Beirut is the new World Book Capital

Beirut is the new World Book Capital for 2009, taking over from Amsterdam. Hosting this prestigious, year long book festival is of great significance to this once war-torn city.

Recession is good for circuses

In bad times many people opt to go to circus with its cheap tickets rather than visit expensive attractions like theme parks. So why weren't there long queues in front of the Magic Circus' box office last weekend?

Across the water

In 2005 the Fair Isle community of around 65 people advertised worldwide for a family to join them. From 800 applicants, Tommy Hyndman, a hat-maker from New York, his wife and their young son were chosen.

YouTube Orchestra: 'Not just a joke'

Wednesday evening sees the first concert by the YouTube Symphony Orchestra in New York. Ninety-five musicians from all around the world, including three Dutch participants, have been rehearsing for three days.

The Peakist

Facing the future can be a dispiriting business with news bulletins full of daily doom and gloom. But former oil man Lloyd Morcom has a plan and he hopes to involve his local Australian community in the process.

Italian earthquake damages cultural treasures

There were several monuments and art treasures hit by Monday's earthquake in Abruzzo. It is still not clear how severe the damage is. Renaissance expert David Rijser takes stock.

My life so far

Five young people from the remote Canadian island of Alert Bay were loaned recording equipment, given some training, and a simple task: Tell us about your life. CBC's contribution to the series Global Perspective.

Rijksmuseum displays New York's 'birth certificate'

Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum is displaying the earliest ever document on the acquisition of Manhattan in an exhibition marking 400 years of relations between New York and the Netherlands.

U2 interview: Dutch role in fight against poverty

U2's front man Bono and bass player Adam Clayton gave an exclusive interview to Dutch TV. They talk about their new album, but also about hunger in the world, aids, debt relief, and other causes.

Planning your digital afterlife today

When you go offline forever, what happens to the personal profiles you leave behind on social networking websites like MySpace or Facebook?

Hassnae Bouazza

In 'Bifi' by Hassnae Bouazza, a young girl attracts the romantic attention of an undesirable neighbour. A chance meeting years later causes her to reconsider her careless dismissal of the man.

Stedelijk Goes to Town

The Stedelijk Museum is closed. Nevertheless, this leading museum of modern art is maintaining a presence in alternative locations in Amsterdam.

Rembrandt's Night Watch reveals new secrets

Painted 367 years ago, Rembrandt's Night Watch still hides a few secrets. New research has revealed some of those secrets. We now know who are actually in the picture.

Jeroen Olyslaegers

An alcoholic film producer whose career is on the skids has a terrifying vision of the future on the night his wife is about to leave him - Jeroen Olyslaegers's contribution to Radio Books.

Girlpower in rap

The musical world of rappers is dominated by men, but that is about to change. Dutch-Caribbean rapper ladies MC Nina and MC Farah are ringing the changes.

Diane De Keyzer

'The Full Apron' by Diane De Keyzer: based on historical documents, a gentleman-farmer who has an eye for his maidservants is involved in an abortion investigation in 1905.

Dutch King of Waltz 'conquers' France

Dutch violinist André Rieu has become a knight in France's Order of the Arts and Literature, and received the honour at his home on Thursday from the French ambassador to the Netherlands.

Hotline to Heaven

Have you ever felt the need to call God on his cellphone and leave a message? Dutch artist Johan van der Dong enables you to experience what it's like. Don't expect a return call, though.

Bart Koubaa

"I want to write about the world," says award-winning Flemish author Bart Koubaa. His novels have explored gypsy culture and Japanese history. His Radio Books story is a Kafkaesque courtroom drama.

Dutch set for carnival celebrations despite crisis

This weekend sees carnival celebrations in many parts of the world. The Dutch are ready to join in the festivities, despite the economic crisis.

The Kite Runner tops Dutch 2008 bestsellers list

Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner was the biggest selling book in the Netherlands last year, according to the Foundation for the Collective Promotion of the Dutch Book. The CPNB notes that book sales are still rising.

World Press award goes to US foreclosure photo

The World Press Photo jury has selected a photo by US photographer Anthony Suau as photo of the year 2008. The black and white photograph was part of a Time magazine report on the effects of the credit crunch.

Eric de Kuyper

Belgian writer and filmmaker Eric de Kuyper has been called the Flemish Proust. Best known for a popular series of memoirs, his Radio Books story turns a keen observational eye to all things German.

Grammy for Bernard Haitink

Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink and 'his' Chicago Symphony Orchestra have won a Grammy Award for a CD featuring the Fourth Symphony by Shostakovich.

Marjolijn Februari

Philosopher and award-winning author Marjolijn Februari writes often on the subjects of justice and morality. Her Radio Books story explores the inner turmoil of a seventeen year old boy unable to express himself.

Live! at the concertgebouw

Phenomenal performances by world-class orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Dutch are calvinists by coincidence

In Calvin's 500th anniversary year many eyes are focused on allegedly the most calvinist country in the world: the Netherlands. Are the levelheaded Dutch really Calvinist by choice?

Dutch architect to design new Barcelona district

An international jury has asked the Dutch architect Kees Kaan to design a new neighbourhood on the outskirts of Barcelona between the airport and the centre of the Spanish city.

Malkovich plans to film Dutch novel

Controversial Dutch author Arnon Grunberg's The Story of my Baldness may be filmed by John Malkovich. The author appreciates Malkovich's interest, although it is not certain whether the project will go ahead.

Slumdog Millionaire wows film world

Irish director Danny Boyle's new film Slumdog Millionaire is taking the movie world by storm but how will the citizens of Mumbai react to the poverty depicted in the film?

Baghdad Calling

Geert van Kesteren's collection of cell phone photographs from Iraq presents a unique record of life in the strife-torn country from 2005 to 2007.

Harold Pinter dead at 78

The British playwright and anti-war activist Harold Pinter died on Wednesday from liver cancer at the age of 78. Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. He wrote 32 plays and 24 screenplays, as well as poetry.

Holy inspiration in Amsterdam

According to the organisers of a new exhibition in Amsterdam, artists did not abandon religion after the birth of the modern movement but were, in fact, quite often preoccupied with it - if only in order to attack it.

Rashid Novaire

In Rashid Novaire’s short story “Returning,” a merchant of the Dutch East India Company hovers on the border between superstition and truth during a voyage to the African Gold Coast.

Singing and chilling out at the Paris Opera

Many people would like to go to the Bastille Opera theatre in Paris, but only a few of them actually get onto the stage to perform. School pupils from all over Europe are participating in an opera project there.

Breaking through the body taboo in Arab culture

The Arab world has "veiled and ignored the body as if it was something to be ashamed of." At least that is the opinion, of Lebanese journalist and poet Joumana Haddad, who has started a new magazine called Jasad.

Bollywood goes Amsterdam

Works of Indian Bollywood composer R.D. Burman were performed in a one-off collaboration between Dutch musicians and the English Indian singer Najma Akhtar at the Amsterdam India Festival.

Bride Flight: a leap into the unknown

Dozens of Dutch women emigrated to New Zealand in 1953, following their dreams and their fiancés to the other side of the world. In Bride Flight, filmmaker Ben Sombogaart tells both the dreams and the realities.

Opening India's airwaves

Democratising the Indian airwaves is the mission of the unusually named Stalin K, a film maker and journalist who has been training Indian citizens to be journalists and helping them expose corruption.

Europeana: library for the whole wide world

A place where paintings, books, films and music from all over Europe can be accessed with one click of the mouse: that's the grand idea behind the new online library Europeana.

Naema Tahir

"Choose for yourself," urges outspoken writer Naema Tahir to all Muslim women who feel oppressed. But the choice is difficult in her story ‘The Simple Life' which revisits the classic Romeo and Juliet tragedy.

Drawing the Dutch to India

The Amsterdam India Festival is not just an opportunity for a cultural exchange of ideas. The festival also serves a very practical purpose from India’s point of view: boosting Dutch tourism in India.

The paradoxical life of hijiras

As part of the Amsterdam India Festival a group of hijiras, India's third sex or transgender community, has been brought out of India for the first time. Hear more about their lives.

Hassan Bahara

'Life in Flat Block Number 5', by Young Moroccan-born author Hassan Bahara, explores the empty existence of immigrant youths in Paris.

Celebrating all things Indian

Amsterdam is hosting a three-week cultural extravaganza celebrating all things Indian.

Monsters: often talked about, seldom seen

Let yourself be taken by the very hairy – or indeed slithery - hand of monsters and spirits for a trip around the world.

Unique partnership with All India Radio

Just weeks after India launched its first mission to the moon, the subcontinent lands in Amsterdam for a three-week cultural festival dedicated to India.

Mama Africa sings no more

Never again will the world hear her sing 'Pata pata'. The voice of Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba, has gone silent for good. She died after a concert in Italy in aid of the fight against injustice and corruption..

Chasing the stunt

The Chaser is a group of satirical comedians whose mission statement is ‘striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence'. Their television programme attracts millions of avid fans.

Lieve Joris

Lieve Joris is one of Europe's most acclaimed travel writers. She doesn't write fiction, so her Radio Books story is a touching personal account of dealing with the care of her elderly father... and a cat called Bollieke.

Was Jacques Brel the last true Belgian?

A new documentary film about Jacques Brel exposes the singer-songwriter's love-hate relationship towards Belgium and his countrymen, who he often ridiculed and savaged in his lyrics.

Naima El Bezaz

"Taboos are there to be broken," says Moroccan-born author Naima El Bezaz. Her experience of severe depression became the basis for her latest novel as well as her Radio Books story "Taboo".

Futuristic pyramid to grace the French capital

A glass-covered triangular building is set to outshine Paris's Eiffel Tower. Designed by Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron, the revolutionary building was commissioned by a Franco-Dutch company.

Van Gogh's New York Nights

Often seen as the painter of landscapes and scenes in vivid colors and dazzling brushstrokes, Vincent van Gogh was also fascinated by the darkness of the night. Moma New York puts Van Gogh's nights in the spotlight.

Abdelkader Benali

Displacement is a common theme in the work of author Abdelkader Benali: the distance between countries and cultures or from a marathon's start to finish. It can also be the distance between family members...

Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull at The Rijksmuseum

In the Autumn The Rijksmuseum will be allowed to put British artist Damien Hirst's priceless skull on display but what is the significance of this controversial work of art?

An artist's view of climate change

In the Netherlands' northeast polder area, the Nature Reserves Association is restoring scale models of water structures built by the former Hydrodynamic Laboratory. It's an example of the way nature can combine with cultural inheritance.

Photos of nude children

Even works of art that appear relatively innocuous can cause huge controversy and have political repercussions. Recently, photos of nude children caused turmoil in Australia.

Forbidden art in Moscow

Images have tremendous power to inspire awe and adulation as well as fear and disgust. Throughout the ages there have been restrictions and rules about what can be depicted and how.

Olympic poetry contest - the winner

And now we present the winner and four runners-up in RNW's Olympic poetry contest - and, of course, their poems, as well as a selection of the poems entered in Radio Henan's counterpart contest in China.

Freedom of expression in the visual arts

Since Dutch artist-filmmaker Theo van Gogh was stabbed to death by a Muslim extremist, there appears to be a new edginess in the Netherlands about art that could be provocative or offensive to certain groups.

Olandiamo? Dutch art in Florence

Two top museums in Florence are exhibiting paintings and drawings from Dutch medieval artists like Hans Memling. The event is linked to the 50th anniversary of the Dutch University Institute for Art History, NIKI.

New details about Rembrandt's personal life

Newly discovered documents give new insights into Rembrandt's last years and show that he was a celebrated artist in Italy. Up until now, it was accepted that Rembrandt enjoyed little fame in Italy during his lifetime.

Be(com)ing Dutch: art about identity

The Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven has commissioned 37 artists to think about multicultural society in the Netherlands. The result is an exhibition aimed at stimulating the imagination, entitled Be(com)ing Dutch.

Radio Books contest, and the winners are...

Your 70 entries for our short story competition were of outstanding quality. Eight were shortlisted and it's now time to announce the winners.

Enter our Olympic poetry contest

The deadline for entries for the special Olympic competition, launched by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and Henan People's Radio in China, is 25 July 2008. So, hurry, budding poets!

Dutch national football team pose as pin-ups

Members of the Dutch national football team have posed as pin-ups for the European Cup supplement of the Dutch newspaper AD.

Banning books in Germany

Johano Strasser, president of PEN Germany, discusses the controversial publication ban on “Esra”, a novel by Max Biller: a case of privacy versus freedom of expression.

Summer festivals in the Netherlands

There's a festival happening somewhere in the Netherlands every day during summer. Here's a selection of the best-known festivals and events.

Amsterdam, World Book Capital 2008

UNESCO has named Amsterdam as World Book Capital 2008. A year-long programme of events related to books was launched in the Dutch capital on 23 April.

Radio Books competition closed for entries

Many thanks to all of you who sent in your short stories for our Radio Books competition. The announcement of the winner will be made - and the winning story broadcast - in May.

Naima Albdiouni

The Sheik of Qatar is visiting Morocco. His visit highlights divisions in the country; pits old against new, tradition against progress. ‘Ice-creams at Easter' is Naima Albdiouni's powerful contribution to Radio Books.

Hugo Claus, giant of Flemish literature, dies

Author Hugo Claus decided that he could no longer live with the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease. He died in Antwerp at the age of 78. Claus had requested euthanasia, which is legal in Belgium.

Jolyon Leslie - saving Afghanistan's cultural heritage

Afghanistan has been coveted by conquerors since time immemorial, and this has given it enormous cultural wealth. One South African has devoted his life to saving this cultural legacy for the future.

Cultural 'first aid': Dutch funding for local expertise

Cultural Emergency Response, or CER, is an initiative by the Dutch Prince Claus Fund and it exists to provide what is best described as emergency cultural aid, in various places across the world.

Photos from far-off lands

The Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam is devoting an exhibition to Kurt Lubinski, one of the first travel photographers who journeyed to distant countries.

Laughing at absurd prejudices

A Dutch anti-discrimination organisation and a comic strip magazine run an exhibition of cartoons about discrimination. Why? Because laughing at absurd prejudices can create a sense of solidarity.

Anne Frank... a musical?

Since the publication of her diary in 1947, Anne Frank has become a Dutch icon, beloved around the world. Now her story has been made into a Spanish musical. And it's caused quite a controversy.

The sensual Orient has become chaste

Dutch writers and artists in the 19th century took great interest in the Middle East. Some of these orientalists were out to prove the superiority of their own Western culture, while others were searching for free love.

Tommy Wieringa

‘Complex A' concerns a Dutch businessman who has concluded what he thinks is the deal of a lifetime in China. But he suddenly finds himself arrested and imprisoned on charges he cannot understand.

World Press Photo 2007 goes to Tim Hetherington

A photo by British photographer Tim Hetherington has been picked as World Press Photo of the Year 2007. It shows an exhausted US soldier, one hand over his face, resting in a bunker.

From dog to cat in one Popple

A dead dog that can be turned inside out so that's a dead cat, is this art or simply sick? The so-called Popple is an exhibit at a Rotterdam art fair and it has been stirring up a storm of response in the Dutch media.

Bach goes sustainable

A classical music concert can be responsible for some 50 tons of carbon emissions. Dutch concert organizer Fred Luiten decided to tackle that issue and set up the world's first carbon neutral concert.

Kees van Twist cultural attache in New York

The Netherlands and the United States can learn a lot from each other. With this in mind former museum director Kees van Twist embarks on a new adventure in the US.

Design Academy turns out successful designers

Dutch Design is hot. Many well-known Dutch industrial designers started out at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

Fair trade coffee in Ethiopia?

Fair trade claims to guarantee a better deal for third world producers. But are producers really getting such a good deal? Louise Williams reports from southern Ethiopia.

Anne Provoost

"I wanted to explore what it would be like if a mother can no longer see; what that process would be," says Belgian writer Anne Provoost.

The Dictator Hunter

Under the rule of Hissène Habré in Chad, thousands were tortured and murdered. He has never been tried for his crimes. But this looks set to change thanks to the efforts of human rights activist Reed Brody.

Female Kurdish leader stars in Dutch film

A documentary that premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam is centered around female Kurdish separatist Sozdar.

Anne Frank's tree to be axed next week

The only tree that Anne Frank could see while in hiding from the Nazis, still standing in Amsterdam, will be cut down. The ailing chestnut tree is in danger of collapsing onto surrounding houses.

Prison novel wins Dutch literature award

The prison novel 'Judgement by shards' by A.F.Th. van der Heijden is the winner of the 2007 AKO Literature Prize in what the jury chairman called "an exceptionally rich year" for Dutch literature.

The two hearts of Arash Yaqin

Afghan-born Arash Yaqin has read a book about two African princes who came to the Netherlands as immigrants in 1837. He sees many similarities with the dilemmas he faces as a refugee in today's Dutch society.

Touring the Dutch polders

The Netherlands played a big part in launching the career of the famous English psychedelic band Pink Floyd.

Heroin addicts of Kabul

Photo journalist Thorne Anderson has documented the hidden murky world inhabited by the ever increasing number of drug addicts in Afghanistan.

Painter in a Burmese prison

Exiled Burmese artist Htein Lin managed to paint a thousand pictures in his cell.

Dutch portraits from the Golden Age

No group before the Dutch 17th-century patricians had ever had so many portraits painted of themselves.

Blood wedding in Haiti

"It was a crazy idea," admits Hans Fels, a Dutch filmmaker. He produced Haiti's first ever opera, and his documentary about the experience premiered last weekend at the Netherlands Film Festival.