Europe is burning, while we casually order another drink. Do we defend our freedoms or our appetite? On the clash of religious fanaticism and freedom, from whatever.
Terror isn't blind, in fact it has its sights set on what the West has built. Europe shakes and trembles, feels suddenly transported by a revival of religious fanaticism back to an age that seemed to have been put to bed forever.
Did we feed those monsters ourselves? The urgent need for answers and solutions meets no response. Despite all that impotence we can perhaps reply to the horror by attacking with artistic beauty, attacking with literature. Let the ink flow, because there too danger threatens.
Dimitri Verhulst (1972) has emerged as one of the great European writers of the day. He has published 19 books, his work has been filmed and adapted for the stage and has appeared in 25 countries. Many of his books have won literary prizes, including the Gouden Uil Audience Prize and the Libris Literary Prize. Verhulst writes novels, stories, novellas, poetry and plays.
His classic, The Misfortunates, sold 400,000 copies; 732,000 copies of his 2015 Book Week gift De zomer hou je ook niet tegen found their way to his readers. The autumn of 2016 sees the publication of Het leven gezien van beneden and Spoo Pee Doo, two books both motivated by the same sense of urgency. In the spring of 2017, Verhulst presents the new VPRO travel series featuring key locations relating to European culture, Made in Europe.
