Belle van Zuylen lecture: Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood, the grande dame of international literature, will give the twelfth Belle van Zuylen Lecture at the ILFU on Thursday 1 October. Atwood is the author of award-winning novels, essays and collections of short stories, which has attracted an international audience of millions. Her best-known book is the bestselling The Handmaid’s Tale, the haunting novel about dystopian Gilead, which was made into an Emmy Award-winning TV series in 2017. Last year the successor Testaments (Prometheus) was published, for which she received the Booker Prize.

Belle van Zuylen lecture, an online edition
It is customary for the Belle van Zuylen Lecture to be recited in Utrecht. Margaret Atwood was therefore determined to travel to the Netherlands, but has had to forgo the trip due to the current health risks. She will recite her lecture at home in Canada and will be interviewed in a live broadcast from the Grote Zaal in TivoliVredenburg. The event can be followed via a livestream and a limited number of places in the hall. You can buy your live stream tickets via the ticket button on the right (creditcard option available), or buy tickets to attend the event at the venue via TivoliVredenburg.

The handing over of the Belle van Zuylenring
During the live broadcast, Margaret Atwood will also receive the Belle van Zuylenring 2020. The ring is an honorary prize established by ILFU in collaboration with Gemeente Utrecht. Margaret Atwood received this ring because in her work she “has explored in an impressive way and in countless different ways the tension between art and reality, nature and culture, men and women and the inner and outer world.” The ring is presented to writers who have reflect work in an emphatic and relevant manner on contemporary society. Last year, the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was awarded the Belle van Zuylenring. The Belle van Zuylenring was designed by local goldsmith Karin Wichers on behalf of Gemeente Utrecht.

About the Belle van Zuylen Lecture
The Belle van Zuylen Lecture has been given in Utrecht since 2005 and is named after one of Utrecht’s most internationally renowned writers. By connecting the lecture to this author, ILFU aims to keep the ideas of Belle van Zuylen (1740-1805) about equality and emancipation alive. Writers who read the earlier gifts include Paul Auster, Jeanette Winterson and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Ticket sales live streams and tickets
For the live stream you can buy your tickets via the link of GUTS through a pay as you like system (3, – 17.50). The procedure is simple: you sign up with your mobile number, buy a ticket and then receive confirmation for the live stream. On the day of the event, log in using your phone number and the SMS code you will receive and select the Margaret Atwood live stream by clicking on it. This way you can watch the program at home on your mobile or laptop or even cast it to your TV. If you choose the €17.50 fee, you will receive a limited edition booklet with Margaret Atwood’s lecture for free (Holland and Belgium only, limited edition). You can also order the ILFU festival bundle “Buiten is niet bij te houden” in combination with your digital ticket.

If you want to follow the program from the venue, you can buy tickets at TivoliVredenburg. The ticket fee includes a free drink and Margaret Atwood’s lecture in a limited edition booklet. Here too you can order the festival bundle “Buiten is niet bij te houden”.