http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboeken.php?lang=EN Radio Books are stories by Dutch and Flemish authors written and read aloud on commission to deBuren. They are new stories which have been specially written to be listened to and not to appear in print. Radio The stories are read aloud by the authors in front of an audience once only. In addition, Radio Books are broadcast on the radio and distributed via the internet, where they can be listened to or downloaded free of charge. 2010 - Vlaams-Nederlands Huis - deBuren Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:08:07 +0200 60 en_BE Literature http://www.radioboeken.eu/img/rss/radioboeken_small.jpg http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboeken.php?lang=EN The Latin phrase ‘Memento mori’ (Remember you will die) has been an important element in art from the still life painting of the Dutch Golden Age to the Mexican festival celebrating the Day of the Dead. Memento mori was also an important literary theme in the Jacobean cult of melancholia. Vranken brings the concept into the 21st century. Why did Peter De Laet murder the mysterious stranger who knocked on his door one evening? What were the contents of the envelope left conspicuously on the coffee table? And how does an artist’s manifesto figure into the crime – if, indeed, a crime has been committed? “Death is an art. Dying is an art. Not the first art. But the final, the ultimate.” ‘Living Shouldn’t Get to be a Habit’ by Stijn Vranken was translated by Michael Blass. The story is read by David Swatling and Michael Blass.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 12:06:16 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=320&lang=EN Verhelst’s language and imagery has been described as poetic, cryptic, sensual and bizarre. All these adjectives apply to his Radio Books story. A group of archaeologists race against time to recover treasures from an ancient city on the banks of the Euphrates. “We’re following in the footsteps of the occupier, who surrounded himself with his own stories, told in brightly coloured tiles. With every new village we expose, we can hear the music better, the laughter, the sweet nothings the Romans whispered to each other in the shadowy recesses of the atrium. We dream their dreams…” ‘Legion’ by Peter Vehelst was translated by Sherry Marx (also translator of Verhelst’s novel ‘Tongue Cat’ published in English by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.) The story is read by Jacky Spears.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 12:01:20 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=319&lang=EN Verbogt often uses autobiographical elements in his work. His contribution for Radio Books has this very personal sensibility. During visits to a very sick friend, a man reflects on animal whisperers, baby whisperers and the intimate whispers exchanged between friends – past and present. “When I was young I had a teddy bear and when I myself was learning to talk I made him talk too, but in a language which deviated from mine. I had him say the word honey in every sentence, as  I had seen in pictures that bears liked this, and as I had decided that my bear was an English bear, he also said yes very often, because that was the only English word I knew. No, not the only one. I also knew that no meant no, but my bear didn’t say no, just yes and always twice in a row, yes, yes. He was what we would now call a ‘positive bear’. The bear and I had long conversations and later I understood that I was talking to myself. I was a boy who wanted to say yes, yes, very often.” ‘Whisperers’ by Thomas Verbogt was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 11:58:53 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=318&lang=EN In many stories Kamiel Vanhole enjoyed playing with literary conventions, often commenting directly on the writing process. In his story for Radio Books, a man looks back at his childhood but also expresses why he feels the need to turn his life into a narrative. “Some people say we tell each other stories to give form and therefore meaning to our lives... Others argue that stories contain our deepest secret, things we can only tell each other in whispers, because they contain things about us which we don't even want to know. Because we're ashamed of them or because they are beyond our understanding. Whatever the case may be, my story is one which I would have preferred not to have told… but I also know I can't go on if I don't get it out of my system." The Garden by Kamiel Vanhole was translated by Michael O’Loughlin.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 11:56:13 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=317&lang=EN “The plain lay stretched out like a green blanket across the world, pinned down here and there by lone trees, not stretched tight like a snooker table as in Holland, but more as if it was thrown onto the grass, to bleach. On the whole the blanket is flat, but seen in detail it's undulating, full of dents and bulges, folds and wrinkles.” A changing landscape is an important element in Van Elzen’s story for Radio Books. Joana has left the noise of a crowded city behind and arrives in a small rural village in Portugal. Most of the twenty residents are “ancient, black-clad women” who enjoy gossip. But can Joana unlock a secret they are unwilling to talk about? ‘White patches lost on the plain’ by Sus van Elzen was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. It’s read by Jacky Spears.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 11:54:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=316&lang=EN Theunissen has traveled extensively in Latin America and his latest novel, ‘Een vorm van vermoeidheid’ (A Form of Fatigue) is about a man who abandons his comfortable life in a small university town in Europe and travels to Patagonia. It might also be the unnamed location of his story for Radio Books. "This story is about homelessness. Philip can’t be at home. Philip Short is an engineer who has the opportunity to go with a Canadian mining company to a remote part of the world where there’ve been some protests. Because he feels there’s little he’s leaving behind in Toronto and perhaps because the distance attracts him, he accepts the offer with few second thoughts." ‘The Distance’ by Jeroen Theunissen was translated by Sherry Marx. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 11:01:22 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=315&lang=EN The recently divorced Frederic Malfait seems unable to discourage increasingly annoying calls from a persistent telemarketer. “He heard the vehemence in his voice when he told her he wasn’t interested… It was true that he had said three times that he hadn’t got time and that she could ring him again at a different time. It was true that she had been patient. It was all true. But he simply wasn’t interested in the advantages of  independent health insurance. That was also true. The fact that the woman had rung him up four times with great patience didn’t alter that. After a short silence she said that he could at least have the politeness to let her finish. He said that in that case she would just be wasting both their times. He said she should ring someone else. He said ‘Goodbye, Madam’ and put down the receiver.” ‘For the Sake of Peace’ by Peter Terrin was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 10:59:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=314&lang=EN In his Radio Books story ‘Brass and Us’ Reugebrink puts a modern spin on the ancient myth of Marsyas – the flute-playing satyr who challenged the Greek god Apollo. The Apollo Brass Band is the pride and joy of a small village. But perfect harmony is threatened when a boy named Marc Suys resolves to become a member of the band. “It moved us, this harmony, this blending of timbres, this stirring wind… Out of the windows of the low reception hall behind the Star Café-Restaurant, notes ascended that seemed at the same time to settle over the village like a bell-jar. Women stood still, head slightly tilted, hand on throat or heaving bosom. Men looked up and took a deep breath. Children stopped their game and panted. And even after the last notes had died away, it was often as if the music played on, and transmitted its vibrations to everything that made our village what it was and ought to be.” ‘Brass and Us’ by Marc Reugebrink was translated by Michael Blass and read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 10:57:13 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=313&lang=EN In Pruis's contribution for Radio Books, the past intersects with the present when a young woman travels with her lover to Venice. This is the city where her mother left her family years ago. Memories are stirred as the woman wonders whether she should try to reconnect with her long lost mother. “You still don’t care much for pizza. For you, twenty years later, the taste of melted cheese and tomato still instantly evokes an intense sense of loss. That look in your mother’s eyes as she looked at you over her virtually untouched pizza, before she supposedly went off to the bank around the corner to get some money - you wouldn’t see that look again until three years later on your grandfather’s face the evening before he died. A look somewhere between despair and resignation.” ‘A Woman of Principles’ by Marja Pruis was translated by John Nieuwenhuizen. The story is read by Jacky Spears.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 10:42:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=312&lang=EN Although Pleysier has written stories set in China, India, Africa and most recently Equador, most of his work takes place in the countryside where he has lived his whole life. Memories of how the landscape once was and how it has changed also play an important role. Landscape and memory are elements of his contribution for Radio Books. The narrator contemplates the past and present while airborne in a hot-air balloon.  “Now we are flying a bit lower and I have already recognized a couple of the church steeples which rise up out of the landscape here and there. A little bit as it used to be in this far-flung corner of Belgium, when churches and spires were the orientation points, both for the lonely shepherd heading home in the evening with his flock and for the stranger passing through en route to Breda or Den Bosch. Because remember that at that time you were constantly in danger of getting lost in the wilderness of this lonely heather-covered area.” ‘Ascension Day’ by Leo Pleysier was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 10:41:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=311&lang=EN Mortier presented his contribution for Radio Books in Antwerp on World Book Day in April 2009. It’s a contemplative and very personal ode to books and those who read them. "The disillusionment of the reader is always the disillusionment of the book, and in the delight of the reader the book flaps its wings with pleasure, as when you see someone again unexpectedly. The heart leaps up, the throat becomes dry, the roots of the hair send tremors over the skin… Books do not change the world, the world changes our books, turns us into different writers and readers.” ‘What Is Past Is Just Beginning’ by Erwin Mortier was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story was read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 10:40:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=310&lang=EN Like most of his work, his Radio Books story is full of references to popular culture. A young man decides to propose to his Japanese girlfriend inspired by a scene from a Steven Spielberg movie. “What I didn’t say was that Spielberg makes me sick. I like science fiction but what Spielberg cooks up is too sweet for me. Close Encounters of the Third Kind was OK until all the characters went down the new age road before the term had been invented. Jurassic Park was a clever way for Universal Studios’ merchandising and marketing department to break records. Raiders of the Lost Ark is escapism with too big a budget, and the sequels were computer games for which you had to buy cinema tickets. Minority Report and War of the Worlds were weighed down by the presence of that performing rodent Tom Cruise. And if I ever find anything like E.T. in the cellar, I’ll put down rat poison.” ‘The Proposal’ by Paul Mennes was translated by Michael Blass. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 10:01:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=309&lang=EN In 2006, Lauwerys was commissioned to translate von Rezzori’s tales into Dutch. Blurring the lines between memoir and fiction even further, Lauwerys has turned his experience of translating the work into a somewhat autobiographical contribution for Radio Books. “Translating ‘Memoirs of an Anti-Semite’ drives my self-consciousness to unknown heights, for example, when a sentence finally fits into place. But some days my inadequacy drives me almost over the edge of despair. Why am I doing this to myself? Why couldn’t I just remain a teacher in a university in a provincial town?… “Why do I translate? Of course, I’ve been reading since my earliest youth. Certainly, I feel at home in that ironic-melancholy literature of old Austria, by Joseph Roth and yourself. Your melancholy-drenched descriptions of Bukovina and Vienna of the 1930s, your humour -  they seem tailor-made for me. “But perhaps through translation I want to rise above myself, want to force myself to press the maximum out of myself, or I just want to give my life an artistic cachet. In that to and fro of joy and doubt am I not looking for something like the relief that my everyday life seldom offers? A disturbing idea…”  ‘A Journey and Two Declarations of Love’ by Kris Lauwerys was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 10:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=308&lang=EN Her Radio Books story shows why Lamrabet is considered one of the most exciting new voices in Dutch literature. Layer by intimate layer the writer gently reveals the emotional consequences of a traumatic family tragedy. In an attempt to escape her grief, the unnamed woman joins a scientific expedition in Columbia. “Counting frogs was all she wanted to do. Making an inventory of survivors. Of amphibians who themselves were not aware of their approaching extermination. For now,  they croaked and rustled carefree through the leaves and in the ponds and pools which were left behind by the floods and which were now swarming and seething with small wriggling and transparent organisms which moved through the warm, muddy pool with the charm of released spermatozoa.”  ‘Frog’ by Rachida Lamrabet was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by Jacky Spears. Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 09:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=307&lang=EN In his Radio Books story, Koch continues to explore the complicated boundaries between truth and lies, fact and fiction, reality and the creative imagination. “…Thus I learnt at the age of five, without being entirely aware of it at the time, the most important lesson a writer sooner or later has to learn: that the truth and a plausible lie go hand in glove, and that a plausible lie is far preferable to an implausible truth.” ‘A Brief History of Deceit’ by Herman Koch was translated by Michael Blass. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 09:10:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=306&lang=EN Japin’s contribution for Radio Books is set in contemporary Ghana. It is 13 year old Kwaku’s birthday and he has high hopes for a special day.  “All the boys in Kwaku’s class want to be footballers. So does he. Even more so now. Three months ago, an uburuni was standing at the field behind the school, watching them play. They had done their best. After the game, the man had beckoned to Michael, Kwaku’s best friend. He had visited his parents that evening. He gave them fifty dollars and some pocket money for Michael. He guaranteed that he would turn the boy into a professional footballer…” ‘What Kwaku Knows’ by Arthur Japin was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 08:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=305&lang=EN Harmens’ Radio Books contribution combines his poetic wordplay with his interest in personal relationships – set in an anonymous post 9/11 urban environment where a terrorist attack seems to have occurred.  “…and out of the corner of my eye I saw someone feeling in his bag, and for a moment I thought he was feeling for a mobile phone, but instead everything went white and when I opened my eyes I was lying here, I don’t know where exactly but it’s a place I’ve absolutely made my own, a home can be a terraced house, a hotel room, a filthy cellar, a clown’s caravan, but also a niche under the ground where you would never end up if someone hadn’t had the idea that this city in general and this square in particular should be grabbed by the balls, disrupted, neutralised by means of an act of terrorism.” Love by Erik Jan Harmens was translated by Michael Blass. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-04 07:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=304&lang=EN A young man decides to enlist for military service after graduation from high school. He quickly realizes he’s made a serious error in judgment. “Not everyone saw things the way I did: most of the guys in my 40-strong platoon – burly lads with the guileless ambition to become lorry drivers or tile setters – were taking pleasure, if not utter delight, in sticking up and defacing pornographic posters, burping on demand and releasing the entire contents of their bladder into each other’s clodhoppers, as our rock-hard combat boots were affectionately called. Of course, the others noticed that I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy, which didn’t make me popular. But they left me alone – except the time I had the nerve to read a book in bed…” 'Instincts’ by Stephan Enter was translated by Imogen Cohen. It’s read by Chris Chambers. Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-03 16:12:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=303&lang=EN It should come as no surprise that Enquist’s contibution for RadioBooks is set in the classical music world. A cellist who has some serious psychological issues prepares for a performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet Opus 59 no. 1 in F major. “As a cellist you have two functions. You are the guardian of the depths; you have to play the lowest tones full and pure so that the high instruments can ring out gloriously above. You are also in conversation with the first violin. Then you climb into the heights and play virtuoso solos hoping that the viola will support you with a steady bass line. You have to move with lightning speed between these two roles. On the same instrument! With the same arms! The same head!” ‘The Musician’ by Anna Enquist was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by Jacky Spears.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-03 16:02:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=302&lang=EN An artist finds himself somewhat lost when he sets out to create a series of paintings of his former lover. He invents a writer to pen seven letters to his beloved (possibly a reference to the seven surviving letters written by Rembrandt.) Can words release the images which appear to be trapped in the artist’s mind?  “I have tried to paint your back from memory. A naked back from naked memory. It didn’t work. I worked on it all day, in a small format, that seemed the most convenient. The light was greyish today, as I had hoped it would be. It could not become a sweet painting. But all that fuss about the light. Northern light, flat light, morning light, afternoon light, evening light. It’s the light in the head that matters.” ‘The Back’ by Bernard Dewulf was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by David Swatling.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-03 16:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=301&lang=EN “Now, 30 years later, the son of a leader has become the new great leader. He was already Mayor of Aalbeke, succeeding his father. He had been elected with a monster majority. Nobody could stand up to these people. These people were afraid of no one. Shouldn’t someone like me stand up in order to finally make those people afraid, not with words but with deeds? A great deed, a good deed, a deed of the Word, of my Word, the Word of the way, the truth and the life.” The story explains the background to an incident between a priest and a politician. In 1978 the priest taught music and religion at a school in Aalbeke when first introduced to the “blond boy with his curly head” who would become his country’s leader. 'The Birds’ by Luc De Vos was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. It’s read by Chris Chambers.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-03 15:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=300&lang=EN Josse De Pauw's Radio Books story is about a man called Narcissus Flycatcher, named for a bird native to Japan with the yellow colouring common to the narcissus flower. He awakes in his Brussels apartment one morning in a state of confusion. “As he wildly and helplessly looked around him without seeing anything, the remains of a dream popped into his mind, which made the overpowering confusion even greater: he had dreamt of a bamboo forest. A bamboo forest gently stirring in the wind. He sprang for the door like a cornered animal, flung it open and stood naked and panting in the stairway. He raised his head to the light that entered through the glass skylight, as if he wanted to escape through it, to fly away, and at the same time he pressed his pale body convulsively against the wall as if he wanted to disappear into it.” An Asian neighbour comes to his aid and a bond forms between them. Much to his surprise, he finds himself falling in love with her. When she leaves to visit her family in Japan, he makes an extraordinary decision. ‘Forever, or The Love of Narcissus Flycatcher’ by Josse De Pauw was translated and read by Michael Blass.Produced by Radio Netherlands Wordwide 2010-08-03 15:25:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=299&lang=EN In 2008 Nada published her first novel, an unusual story of the love between a mother and daughter, provocatively titled ‘Waarom ik mijn moeder de hals doorsneed’ (Why I slit my mother’s throat). Her Radio Books story contains some of the conflicting dualities with which the writer has grappled in her own life. “She had long ago realised that she belonged nowhere. And that hurt her. But still she didn't want to convert. Because living as a stranger in your own skin is a thousand times worse than being cast out by everyone around you. And the choice seemed to her terribly unfair: Either you can live like a stowaway with him. Or you can stay alone by yourself. Because neither the Belgians nor the Moroccans liked her. She was stuck.” ‘The Angel’ by Nadia Dala was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by Jacky Spears.Produced by radio Netherlands Wordwide 2010-08-03 15:15:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=298&lang=EN Daen often writes her stories in the local vernacular of the area where she grew up and uses her own childhood experiences. The stories usually focus on the clash between a young girl’s dreams and the harsh reality of the world. This can be heard in her contribution for Radio Books – a modern fairy tale complete with the requisite cruelty one associates with the Brothers Grimm. “Papa cursed and scolded and hit me before he even got in the door of our modest rented dwelling, Number 7 Happy Future Street. He knew I’d gotten a bad report from school before he had even seen it. The stick was always ready behind the door…  Papa grabbed the stick and raised it high in his left hand, while he leafed through my school report with the other. He could smell my fear which made his contempt even greater.” ‘Worthless’ by Geertrui Daem was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by Jacky Spears. Produced by Radio Netherlands Wordwide 2010-08-03 15:10:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=297&lang=EN Tango with goat is Rodaan Al Galidi's second Radio Book. It's a very quirky tale of two unfortunate brothers. Both Radio Book stories by Rodaan Al Galidi - ‘February in Schipol’ and ‘Tango with Goat’ - were translated by Irish writer and poet Michael O’Loughlin whose work is included in the acclaimed collection ‘Turning Tides: Modern Dutch & Flemish Verse in English Versions by Irish Poets.’ 2010-08-03 15:01:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=295&lang=EN Broeckhoven’s short story ‘Clair-obscur’ about the American Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt is included in the collection ‘Painting in a Man’s World’ published in English last year in conjunction with an exhibition in Frankfurt. Cassatt settled in Paris in 1874. An incident four years earlier may have inspired Broeckhoven’s story for Radio Books. “My dear Victor Noir… More than a century ago, you were shot down, right in front of your own house, by your rival in love, Pierre Bonaparte – yes, nephew of, no less. The fact that a hundred thousand people came to your funeral must have been a comfort and an honour for a young, unknown journalist... What really made you immortal was your reputation as a Casanova.” Victor Noir was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery. The life-size bronze statue at his gravesite still attracts female visitors who leave gifts in an upturned top hat in the belief that it will increase their fertility. In Broeckhoven’s story, a woman plans a rendezvous there with a lover she has not seen in seventeen years. ‘A Man of Bronze’ by Diane Broeckhoven was translated by John Nieuwenhuizen. It’s read by Jacky Spears.Produced by Radio Netherlands Wordwide 2010-08-03 15:05:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=296&lang=EN As a present for St. Valentine's day, the narrator in Niq Mhlongo's Radio Book invites his wife Mmabatho for a trip to the wilderness of the Savanna lands, at the Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve near the Kruger National Park. They go for a drive with some people in a jeep to look for wild animals to take pictures of. Unfortunately, the wilderness doesn't seem very  eager to accommodate the uninvited guests. 2009-07-02 13:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=267&lang=EN For Radio Books, Bernlef introduces us to the owner of a small down-and-out hotel which she inherited from her parents. “In order to fool myself into thinking that the hotel was still in use, I slept in a different room every night… I tried to imprint myself on the hotel, to live in it as if it was an ordinary house. A house with numbered rooms. But a hotel is not a home. It only prospers in an atmosphere of the temporary, of suitcases being brought back and forth, of keys handed in, a register full of names and dates of arrival and departure. There was never enough time to really get to know guests. A hotel is a temporary refuge, and exciting as that had seemed to me as a child, it made me sad now that I was an adult and was alone with all those empty rooms, without any guests to look after.” ‘La Promesse’ by Bernlef was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by Jacky Spears. 2010-08-03 15:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=294&lang=EN These days it’s difficult to turn on the television or radio or read a newspaper in Europe without being confronted with something to do with Islam and its current impact on western life. It appears to be monopolising and polarising the political debate. But what about the impact of westernisation on Muslim countries and the counter force of radical Islam? It’s this that Naima Albdiouni is focusing on with her story for Radio Books. It’s set in Morocco as the country prepares for a visit by the Sheik of Qatar – a visit which highlights stark differences and is the catalyst for potentially catastrophic events.   “Arab heads of state were invited to see the country, to inspect it and make an offer for whatever had caught their acquisitive eye. Everything was for sale, everything and everyone had a price tag. In the name of progress. The Sheik of Qatar, for example, had bought  a stretch of beach  nine kilometers long on his last visit. He had grandiose plans, intended to install there luxury hotels, designer boutiques, casinos, discos, to give the city a more exclusive, international air. Like a completely renewed, young, beautiful body which was eaten up by a parasitic tumour.” ‘Ice-creams at Easter’ by Naima Albdiouni  was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by Chris Chambers.Produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010-08-02 15:28:29 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=321&lang=EN Irena lives alone. Her only companions are a large number of dog roses, which have completely overgrown the apartment. When a young burglar enters through one of the windows, he gets hopelessly entangled in the plants. After the boy has given up his fierce attempts to free himself, the elderly woman and the boy enter into conversation.Read & translated by Simon Shrimpton-Smith 2009-07-02 16:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=275&lang=EN James Cairns offers a satirical look at the new South Africa using a clever narrative and a cell phone conversation between two lovers. This story is very pertinent to present-day South Africa and questions of remapping, identity and rewriting history. 2009-07-02 12:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=264&lang=EN The Radio Book by Kurt Egelhof captures the atmosphere of the seventies and eighties, and the unthought-through choices of two students who are rebels without a cause. Their anti - world of drugs, music and sex brings them into conflict with those who have political goals and aim to overthrow the apartheid government. The juxtaposition of disorganised, disinterested youth who have no claim to any real musicianship and who drift into the political manoeuvrings of double crossing, double agents, offers a fascinating re-enactment of those disenchanted times. 2009-07-02 13:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=266&lang=EN Using a mixture of prose and verse a personal narrative unfolds of a recognisable character in the midst of the racial and gender conundrums of South Africa. The voice is always aware of narrating to an audience and the problematics and pitfalls of narrating  It is always aware of the problematics of depicting self and gender through words. 2009-07-02 12:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=265&lang=EN A beautiful and lyrical feminist meditation, seemingly on landscape, but really about the problematics of a troublesome father-daughter relationship and the "remapping" of this relationship. 2009-07-02 13:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=268&lang=EN "Poetry and science are two completely different worlds," says Flemish author Jan Lauwereyns. "Science is a search for truth and poetry is a quest for beauty." His Radio Books contribution is a long narrative poem inspired by the myth of Europa. 2009-04-02 15:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=241&lang=EN Moroccan-Dutch journalist Hassnae Bouazza is no stranger to controversy. Her newspaper columns provoke strong reactions. For Radio Books, she writes a gentle story about a young girl and her persistent but undesirable suitor. 2009-04-02 14:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=240&lang=EN Belgian author and playwright Jeroen Olyslaegers has been called the enfant terrible of Dutch literature. Film is an important inspiration in his work. In his Radio Books story an alcoholic film producer has a disturbing vision of the future. His latest project has been rejected by the Film Fund and his wife is about to leave him. 2009-04-02 13:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=239&lang=EN Belgian writer Diane De Keyzer has a special interest in social history, particularly regarding women. Her recent research into abortion in the early 20th century uncovered documents she uses in her story ‘The Full Apron.' 2009-04-02 12:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=238&lang=EN "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. 2009-04-02 11:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=237&lang=EN Belgian actress and director Hilde Van Mieghem has won many accolades for her work in film. Her Radio Books story marked her literary debut. The story has a strong cinematic structure moving both forward and backward in time. It's about a woman who's been rewarded for her hard work with a luxury holiday at a gastronomic hotel in Provence. But events spiral out of her control after an evening of celebration and too much champagne. 2009-04-02 10:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=236&lang=EN 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. 2009-03-31 09:40:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=235&lang=EN The gulf between emigrant parents and their westernised children is an important theme in stories by Said el Haji. For Radio Books he paints a bleak portrait of a group of disenfranchised Moroccan youth in The Netherlands. 2009-03-31 09:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=234&lang=EN 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. 2009-03-31 09:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=233&lang=EN Author Jan van Aken has been called the Dutch Umberto Eco because of his elegant, witty and complex historical novels. His Radio Books story is set in the European Middle Ages: a time of Holy Wars, crusades and secret love affairs. 2009-03-31 09:10:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=232&lang=EN A clash of religious beliefs is an important element in Nelleke Noordervliet's story for Radio Books. A mysterious young Dutchman living in New York City in the 1960's befriends his neighbours - a newlywed couple grappling with a serious problem. 2009-03-31 09:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=231&lang=EN "Provocation is my hobby," says Belgian author Herman Brusselmans. The so-called ‘angry young man' of Flemish literature often includes autobiographical elements in his best-selling novels. His quirky story ‘Coma' is no exception. Famous writer Herman Brusselmans sets off to surprise his wife Tania by dropping in on her at work. Along the way he ruminates about his life, his dogs, his literary rivals and other odd digressions... 2009-01-31 11:01:34 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=214&lang=EN that the puppet show, in which the main roles are a fork and a soup spoon, is too experimental for the audience. A teenager starts the resulting public mutiny and the show is stopped. Driving home in the dark the puppeteer loses her way. Her car gets stuck in the mud and she is forced to continue on foot. Between the trees she sees a burning light. Arming herself with the fork as a weapon of defence, Mrs. Oef walks towards the unknown house. 2009-01-31 11:00:19 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=213&lang=EN Mehdi is a boarder at the French grammar school in Casablanca. It is Christmas and all the boys are collected by their families with the exception of Mehdi. His family doesn't seem to care about him and he hasn't seen or spoken to his mother for months. When the principal asks him who his best friend is he makes up a friendship with a blond French boy in his class. The boy's father is filled with pity and goes along with the deception; Medhi is allowed to spend the Christmas weekend with the Berger family. Through his deception he discovers a new way of life. Finally he has to choose between his old and his new world. 2009-01-31 10:58:55 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=212&lang=EN In the Radio Book by Rashid Novaire, a VOC ship arrives on the Gold Coast in Africa. One of the crew members is welcomed with open arms by a woman who turns out to be a member of the local royal family and who seems to have been expecting him for a long time. However, as he does not speak the language, it is not clear what she expects of him. Nevertheless he enjoys the good fortune that has come his way in the hope that it will bring him gold or merchandise. However it proves to be a misunderstanding with disastrous consequences. 2009-01-31 10:57:45 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=211&lang=EN The main character in the book, Nimrod Groen, looks back on his childhood years spent in Surinam, where he was born the son of a Jewish father and a much younger Creole mother. His mother died giving birth to her second child and in the aftermath of the December killings and the unstable situation in Surinam his father decided to leave and return to Amsterdam. It was here that Nimrod spent the rest of his youth. When it appears that his father is incurably ill, images of the past inevitably loom up. Although he and his father have never been really close, after the death of his father Nimrod's life takes a new turn. 2009-01-31 10:56:05 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=210&lang=EN The Bijlmer, Paramaribo, Güell Park, Schlossgarten and so on. Clark Accord's Radio Book is a poetic story in fragments in which a homeless man pictures his homeland of Surinam and his wanderings through Europe. He remembers the enormous contrast between the cold concrete of the Bijlmer and the warm sepia of the street in Paramaribo. But his daydreams are disturbed. In the park that has become his home, young artists are working on a cryptic project of which he has unintentionally become a part. 2009-01-31 10:52:11 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=209&lang=EN Hafid Bouazza's Radio Book, Spotvogel, is written in the flowery poetic style that is typical of much of his work. It is a fairy-tale about forbidden love. The story is set in the town of Gortoum on the River Mirwadi and is a place that probably appears more exotic than it is. Although the storyteller, whose name we are never told, uses the two lovers' letters as a thread in his story, the question is how much poetic freedom he allows himself. For, as he states at the beginning of the story, 'memory is always prepared to gloss over worn-out images and so give a wasted past life the semblance of value and to sell picturesque dried droppings as if they were gold'. 2009-01-31 10:49:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=208&lang=EN In Het simpele leven (The simple life), Naema Tahir has written a Pakistani version of a classical story, namely a Romeo and Juliet in Lahore. A fairy-tale Radio Book in which the attentive reader will encounter plenty of modern wisdom. 2009-01-31 10:45:06 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=207&lang=EN In the Radio Book by Hassan Bahara we meet Kamiel, a boy from the suburbs, who divides his time between unsavoury characters and a highly respectable school. He spends the afternoon in a doorway where two of his friends sell their wares in between smoking, composing raps and playing on the Game Boy. The rich, white outside world occasionally visits the doorway, which is wreathed in smoke and the smell of dope, either as customers or to engage in cynical discussions about the pros and cons of a conventional lifestyle. Kamiel is trapped in a no mans land between life in flat number 5 and the future his parents have planned for him. 2009-01-31 10:41:22 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=206&lang=EN Nigün Yerli starts her Radio Book Feelings without frontiers by asking herself 'Does a fish know it is wet?' She decides probably not. In her book she describes how, after living in the Netherlands for 28 years, she returns to Turkey. Looking through her Dutch eyes, she is surprised at many things she encounters there. At the same time however the Turks are also taken aback by her. In the Netherlands she is regarded as a Turk and in Turkey she is suddenly very Dutch. Like the fish who is not aware of its wetness until it is taken out of the water, the main character in Feelings without frontiers also acquires new insights once she leaves her social environment. 2009-01-31 10:33:17 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=205&lang=EN Every now and then she has to open doors for colleagues of the Red Cross aid agency, but she also writes love letters to Ludovic who works as a ticket inspector for the National Railway Company. Although she never gets a reply she has no intention of giving up her love for the man who once caught a glimpse of her red knickers. She decides to deliver the thousandth letter to Ludovic's house personally. 2009-01-31 10:29:49 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=204&lang=EN The social worker Beckman is made redundant after many years of faithful service. In the city centre, where he has always worked, he finds himself recognising many of his former clients. He is determined to let the city know that over the years he has made an important contribution towards it, but all his attempts to make the inhabitants aware of this are met with unwillingness and irritation. After so many years of effort he refuses to accept this and personally discovers that the 'divide between an ex-social worker and a hooligan is apparently very thin'. 2009-01-31 10:28:01 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=203&lang=EN In ‘The Old Man and the Prize’, by Flemish author Yves Petry, the critics have constantly ignored the work of Walter Verbruggen, but now he has been nominated for a prestigious literary award. It’s time for revenge. 2009-03-31 09:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=176&lang=EN Lieve Joris says that she ‘is not a writer of fiction’. Her Radio Book is an autobiographical work and deals with her father who, after the death of his wife, is unable to look after himself and, much against his will, has to move to a home for the elderly. This is a moving and often tragicomic story about the loneliness of old age and children’s feelings of powerlessness. 2008-12-19 15:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=168&lang=EN 'Geen Leeftijd' is Sevtap Baycili’s story about physical age and spiritual youth. Many years ago she discovered that her mother’s spirit was in fact younger than her own. At a certain point the unavoidable aging process makes her realise that she too is getting older and she finds this difficult to accept. Body and mind are more united than we sometimes like to admit. 2008-12-19 14:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=174&lang=EN Zlatka and her new lover Nik are in the Mediterranean resort of Zantiadi. Soon after their arrival it is clear that their relationship will not last. They soon get on each other’s nerves and decide to go their separate ways. When Zlatka goes for a walk and falls asleep on a river bank she wakes up to find a strange young man beside her. He asks her to meet him there again at eleven o’clock that night for an evening walk and Zatla hesitatingly agrees. 2008-12-19 12:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=173&lang=EN In the Radio Book entitled 'The Connector' by Ruth Lasters the main character – who becomes attached to people with exceptional speed – becomes a tourist attraction. 2008-12-19 11:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=172&lang=EN ‘Is depression a European thing? A Dutch thing? Is it a part of integration?’ This is the reaction Hind, who is Moroccan, gets when she confides to her mother that she is depressed. In her opinion ‘Moroccans are not depressive’. In her Radio Book 'Taboo', Naima El Bazaz describes how the Moroccan community deals with depression. ‘It is all in your mind. Stop thinking about it, eat well and dress more femininely. After all you are twenty-six now and your eggs don’t have an unlimited shelf life. Be thankful you are living in Europe. If you had lived in Rabat and Nador like your cousins, no man would have asked for your hand in marriage. Your value is determined by the country you live in, so behave and be a good woman. We will go to Morocco this summer and there you will find yourself a good husband. Once you get married and have children you will forget all this nonsense. It’s as simple as that.’ 2008-12-19 11:15:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=171&lang=EN In 'Reno' the first-person narrator reports sick for one day to escape the drudgery of the work he does in a large shed where he has to move packages from A to B without knowing why. Once he is outside he experiences the city as massive, hostile and dirty. The difference between this and the workplace appears to be alarmingly small. ‘The street, a conveyer belt, did not falter for a single minute and there were hardly any open spaces. Somewhere highly efficient, work was being carried out, probably by someone who enjoyed it, and somewhere else half-finished products were removed from the belt and thrown into large containers which were then stacked high. The supply appeared to be inexhaustible. I was not curious about the end product.’ 2008-12-19 12:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=169&lang=EN The writer, poet and columnist Tom Naegels relates the disturbing holiday story of the young white European, Axel, who ends up spending an hour with a Masai woman one night in a hotel room in the Tanzanian town of Arusha. 2008-12-19 11:50:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=175&lang=EN After spending thirty years at an African mission post Daniel returns to his home town somewhere in Southern Europe. He has his reasons for returning but he has not informed his family of his imminent arrival. However there is no question of a real homecoming, as when he gets there he sees that the town has changed beyond all recognition. His sense of alienation grows when his family fails to welcome him as the prodigal son who has finally returned. His family appear to be more concerned about the advent of the HST which will link the town with the capital, an idea which pleases some but not others. 2008-12-19 11:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=167&lang=EN Kees ‘t Hart reads a story entitled 'The pigeon'. During the interval in a film a man meets a former sweetheart from his adolescent years. The encounter releases a flood of memories, including an incident involving a dove, a camping holiday and the first sexual overtures. 2008-12-19 10:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=166&lang=EN Not everyone is brave enough to go against the flow. To just do what you feel like, even though others may criticise you for it, is only for the few. Ronnie is like this and initially it earns him the respect and high regard of his high-school classmates. However, when his friends learn something unexpected about him, the popularity and friendship quickly wane and he becomes an outcast. The narrator in Karin Amatmoekrin’s Radio Book is among those who, even if they want to, cannot pluck up enough courage to approach Ronnie after the incident. It takes courage to stick up for someone whose origins are not accepted. Unfortunately ‘we are not big-hearted’ 2008-12-19 10:10:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=165&lang=EN Joseph Pearce is the author of the Radio Book Legacy. In this story we meet an elderly guide in the ‘De Gebeurtenis’ (The Event) Museum who, on the eve of his retirement, starts to worry about the way younger generations regard history. 2008-12-19 10:00:05 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=164&lang=EN In De eenzame martelaar we meet the 12 year-old son of a political refugee from Iran. When his father goes to the front to fight the Iraqis he leaves the boy and his mother behind. His father is absent for longer than expected and there is no contact between him and his family. Consequently his wife and son believe he has been killed. Suddenly he returns very much the worse for wear and filled with disappointment that he did not die a martyr's death. As he has largely lost the power of speech he starts to write. Although his writing is successful in Iran, the ayatollahs consider it too critical. He dreams of picking up the thread far away in the Netherlands. However, once there, he and his family end up in the endless maelstrom of seeking asylum and the official procedures associated with it. 2008-12-19 10:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=163&lang=EN Following a period of radio silence between him and his parents, the main character in the story gets a phone call from his father who tells him some startling news. His mother is ill. He is forced to travel to his parents' house and this proves to be the start of a journey through his dreams, past and family history. 2008-12-05 12:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=160&lang=EN Aukelien Weverling is the author of the Radio Book The Song of Aunt Magda. This story, in which misunderstandings between various generations and cultures are ruthlessly exposed, is often absolutely hilarious. 2008-12-19 10:12:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=161&lang=EN In her Radio Book, Chris Van Camp reveals some startling facts about her origins, about 'digging for my roots' something which she says she seems never to outgrow. A tragicomic story which has been burning on her lips for forty-four years. 2008-11-28 10:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=162&lang=EN The Radio Book by Kader Abdolah is a surprising, musical and very personal contribution that deals with forgotten Persian songs. Here the writer is inspired by songs he learned as a child in Iran. 2008-07-01 09:55:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=102&lang=EN In Benno Barnard's Radio Book, The pendant, a lonely descendant of an old family falls for the charms of a poorly paid but accommodating young housekeeper. An heirloom in the shape of a sparkling red antique pendant plays an ill-fated role in this story, which reminds us of the atmosphere in the works of Oscar Wilde. 2008-07-01 09:51:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=103&lang=EN In Oversized domestic waste and the neighbours an older man complains to an unknown conversation partner, in an unwittingly comic way, about his neighbours, his wife and the rest of the world. In this Radiobook by Erik Vlaminck the sting is in the tail. 2008-07-01 09:50:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=106&lang=EN In Kristien Hemmerechts' Radio Book Honey, certain members of a group of friends are, for mysterious reasons, not invited to go on a holiday with the rest. Indications that the bond uniting them is not as close as they presumed now start to mount up. 2008-07-01 09:45:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=108&lang=EN Ralph Koorman, 35 years old, is spending a weekend with his four year-old son and wife Suzy Dansaert in Paris. Suddenly he is sick of everything. To his own amazement and to the horror of his wife he changes into an unpleasant character in an attempt to regain his manliness. However he achieves the complete opposite. 2008-07-01 09:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=98&lang=EN In his Radio Book, Al Galidi (who has recently started working under the name of Rodaan) describes his arrival at Schiphol airport. One winter's day in February 1998 his China Airlines plane lands at Schiphol. His journey, using a false passport, had started in Saigon in Vietnam and lasted for more than twenty hours, with a five-hour stop in Taipei and an hour in Bangkok. Every time the plane landed he prayed to God that it would not take off without him because then he would land up in prison. Once he reached the Netherlands however he found himself in a bureaucratic inferno. 2008-07-01 08:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=100&lang=EN Corvus Corax is a Radiobook by Willem van Zadelhoff. It is a moving story with plenty of irony and humour, in which the main character thinks back to his favourite uncle, a troublemaker who not only caused upset but also injected some life into the family. 2008-06-06 10:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=109&lang=EN In Anne Provoost's Radio Book, Looking into the sun, a young woman attempts to reconcile herself to the sobering fact that her mother is gradually and irrevocably going blind. 2008-06-06 10:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=70&lang=EN In this highly imaginative and tragicomic Radio Book, Geert van Istendael tells the story of three very different poets, all endeavouring to write everlasting poetry. Two of them are friends. While one of them ends up as a misunderstood drifter, the other seems to be well on the way to becoming an immortal poet. Until profound poetic musings are smothered by crude violence. The third poet, however, succeeds in imbuing his poetry with a cosmic sense of eternity. 2008-06-06 09:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=104&lang=EN Oscar van den Boogaard's Radio Book, We are all astronauts, is about a man who concludes a period in his life. He leaves his flat in Montreal and takes a plane to Europe. 2008-05-26 08:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=69&lang=EN In The Contemporary we meet the eternal seventeen-year-old William, who sleeps during the day and lives according to the laws of the night. A story about life in the third person and about working on one's own myth. 2008-06-06 09:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=71&lang=EN In Pulling a crocodile by the tongue, Emily Longes receives a mysterious telephone call from a woman she doesn't know. The woman appears to know her, however, and what follows is the beginning of a very personal conversation which seems to have an almost hypnotic effect on Emily, who is a rather lonely person. Only after some time does she manage to tear herself away from the tenacious stalker. But then the conversation has some unexpected results… 2008-05-14 09:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=97&lang=EN During the ten years that Hella Haasse lived just north of Paris, she was a regular guest at the Institut Néerlandais in the rue de Lille. It was here, on 27th October 2006, that the 88-year-old writer was expected to read her Radio Book. A large audience gathered to hear Hella Haasse read out the story, Een kruik uit Arelate. It was an unforgettable evening. However you can still enjoy the experience in a different way by listening to the podcast of this Radio Book. 2008-04-25 09:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=95&lang=EN Dimitri Verhulst, author of Problemski Hotel and De helaasheid der dingen, sets his story in Havana. Who drank Hector Hernandez? is the hilarious story of a white tourist who is set a highly important task by a Cuban family…> Translated by David Colmer, read by David Swatling. 2008-04-04 16:30:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=68&lang=EN Annelies Verbeke is the author of a Radio Book entitled It exists, a story about a cashier who, seated at a conveyer belt, dreams of a great and compelling love. At any moment the dark-haired customer with his beautiful dark eyes could appear at her cash register, but not because he has come to cash in his savings stamps.> Translated by Michael Blass, read by Chris Chambers 2008-04-04 14:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=101&lang=EN The poet, novelist and essayist Stefan Hertmans wrote Star of salvation, a Radio Book that transports us to the other end of the planet. Now that the days of the earth are numbered, the crowd reacts hysterically or with resignation. Some are mad with fear, while others decide to party their way to death or to experience a final romance.> Translated by Paul Vincent, read by Daniel Frankl 2008-04-04 15:41:52 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=65&lang=EN Christiaan Weijts' Radio Book, The day Juliet Capulet wrote back, is a story within a story with a surprise ending.> Translated by Michael O'Loughlin, read by Chris Chambers. 2008-04-04 14:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=105&lang=EN In Kellerkatze, when their superiors suddenly leave, the servants of a noble family are suddenly confronted with a mysterious cigar box with apparently ominous contents. In this Radiobook Bart Moeyaert manages to keep the reader in suspense right to the very end of the story.> Translated by David Colmer, read by Ginger da Silva. 2008-04-04 14:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=107&lang=EN The Radio Book by Tjitske Jansen is very typical of her work, which ranges from loving memories to observations seen through the eyes of a child and written with plenty of humour and minor tragedy (seen through the eyes of an adult). > Translated by Michael O'Loughlin, read by Ginger da Silva 2008-04-04 14:00:00 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=99&lang=EN In her Radio Book, Odin is asleep, Anne Vegter, author of children's books, poems and plays, tells the story of a young woman who is concerned about the difficulties of growing up in the city, for which Rotterdam serves as a model.> Translated by Michael O'Loughlin, read by Ginger da Silva 2008-04-04 15:43:35 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=73&lang=EN Complex A is the Radio Book by Tommy Wieringa. About the vicissitudes of a small businessman who is arrested in China and charged with fraud. He ends up in an obscure, Kafkaesque situation.> Translated by Sam Garrett, read by David Swatling 2008-04-04 15:41:38 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=72&lang=EN A story by the Dutch writer, philosopher and columnist Désanne van Brederode, about a poet who is invited to attend a symposium for young executives and inspire a new generations of top-ranking officials with his 'crazy and comical' artistic skills. He decides to give these bigheads a good taste of their own medicine by launching a thunderous attack on anything that displeases him. However things turn out very differently…> Translated by Michael Blass, read by David Swatling. 2008-04-04 12:21:05 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=66&lang=EN Wanda Reisel, who is famous for novels such as Het blauwe uur, Het beloofde leven and Baby Storm, reads her story, The art of delivering a love letter, in which an eccentric young man, orphan and child of artists, wanders aimlessly through the streets of the metropolis as a postman.> Translated and read by Michael Blass 2008-04-04 12:26:04 http://www.radioboeken.eu/radioboek.php?id=67&lang=EN