Women in (Frisian) literature
How visible are women in literature? How often do women’s names appear in reading lists, tip lists, reviews, in history books, on prize lists? (Still less than 30%.) More importantly, how are women writers perceived? Why are books with so-called “female” subjects seen as inferior (giving birth, really? gross.)? But when women write about so-called ‘male’ subjects, such as philosophy, they are not taken seriously at all. And how is it possible that a Frisian writer like Ella Wassenaer, who was far ahead of both her time and her male colleagues, has remained so under the radar? Lots of questions! HOW CAN THAT BE?
Annelies Verbeke, herself a writer who works hard for the visibility of female authors, will be in conversation with Albertina Soepboer and Marleen Nagtegaal. Soepboer (poet, writer, visual artist) wrote an essay on the work of Ella Wassenaer and found out how greatly underappreciated this writer actually was and is. And it’s not just Ella. The Frisian literary field is by no means an exception when it comes to (un)appreciation of the writing woman, quite the contrary. In her work as artistic director of Explore the North, Nagtegaal deals with gender inequality in the world of literature: she sees it happening to others and experiences it herself.
Flemish writer Caro van Thuyne gives a beautiful lecture on finding legitimacy as a female writer. What kind of unlikely things happen when you send a piece of writing into the world as a woman?
Language: Dutch