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ILFU TV Online Book Talks i.a. Jonathan Franzen, Thomas Piketty, Marianne Faithfull
ILFU TV is the online book programme by the ILFU. Each day, ILFU TV will post an online Book Talk with a wide range of authors about their latest work, recorded in the ILFU studio. A new episode will be posted every day at 19:00, and you can watch it anytime on demand. The online Book Talks are free for ILFU members via Mijn ILFU. All online Book Talks are in English.
Online
19:00 daily + on demand (for 2 weeks after release date)
5 euros tickets for Book Talks / Free for ILFU members via ilfu.com
24 September
Jeanette Winterson
25 September
Thomas Piketty
The French economist, professor and writer Thomas Piketty received international acclaim for his book Capital in the 21st Century. It was a bestseller, which is unusual for a book on economics, and it made Piketty a symbol of the struggle against economic inequality. His book Capital and Ideology appeared in 2019 (the Dutch translation will be published in October). It guides the reader through income inequality in different societies throughout history. Piketty is currently one of the five board members for The World Wealth and Income Database, the largest database with information about the distribution of incomes and wealth among countries. He will be interviewed by Maaike Schoon (journalist, presenter Buitenhof) .
26 September
Mariana Enríquez
The Argentinian journalist and novelist Mariana Enríquez is considered to be one of the most original and important writers of her generation. She has published two novels and two collections of short stories, and her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Granta and McSweeney’s. Nuestra parte de noche was crowned with the Premio Herralde de Novela, the Premio Kelvin 505 and the prestigious Premio de la Crítica. The Dutch translation will be published by De Bezige Bij in September 2021. The story plays out against the background of the military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s, its Dirty War and the people ‘disappeared’ by the regime. It is a captivating novel about fathers and sons, class differences and conflict, and the weight of a horrific legacy.
27 September
Maxim Osipov
The Russian writer and cardiologist Maxim Osipov has won many literary awards in his home country. He has written several anthologies of stories that have earned considerable acclaim at home and abroad. De Volkskrant called him ‘a master in black humour and cruel irony’, and gave his collection De wereld is niet stuk te krijgen five stars. The stories deal with Russian life from perspectives that are as diverse as the people living in that vast country. The Russian-Dutch filmmaker Aliona van der Horst will interview Osipov.
28 September
Laila Lalami
The Moroccan-American Pulitzer Prize nominee Laila Lalami is a lecturer at the University of Southern California, novelist and essayist. She is a finalist of both the Booker and Pulitzer prizes, which led to her international breakthrough. The Other Americans was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize and the Aspen Literary Award. The Moor’s Account is a fictionalised travelogue by the first Black explorer of America; an enslaved Moroccan whose testimony was never included in the official histories. The Other Americans is a timely, provocative and gripping novel about immigration. A family saga, whodunnit and love story all rolled up in one, that subtly exposes the problems in Western society.
29 September
Bryan Washington
The young American writer Bryan Washington is one of the National Book Award’s ‘5 under 35’ and winner of the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize and Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. His collection of short stories Lot has been nominated for even more awards. He writes for periodicals such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review and Buzzfeed. His debut novel Memorial is a raw, tender and humorous story about the value of food, family and the variability of love. He will talk about the novel with writer Roos van Rijswijk.
Elizabeth Strout
The American writer Elizabeth Strout is the author of works such as Amy and Isabelle, Abide with Me, Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton. Olive Kitteridge was honoured with the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. The HBO adaptation starring Frances McDormand won six Emmy Awards in 2015, including the award for Best Miniseries. My Name is Lucy Barton climbed all the way to the number-1 spot in the New York Times Bestseller List, and was included in the long list for the Man Booker Prize. In 2019, she published Olive, Again. Her latest novel, Oh, William! will be released in October 2021. The story is narrated by the iconic protagonist Lucy Barton, who offers deep, timeless commentary on the mysteries of marriage and the nature of existence. Strout will be interviewed by Liddie Austin.
1 October
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull is the famous singer of pop hits like As Tears Go by (written by Mick Jagger) and The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, but she is also an enthusiastic lover of poetry. She regularly recites poems during her concert performances, and her latest album co-written and recorded with Nick Cave in 2018 was titled ‘Negative Capability’, a reference to the poet John Keats. Last year, she recorded her dream album: a collection of spoken-word poems by her favourite 19th-century poets, to the accompaniment of a soundscape by Bad Seeds composer and violinist Warren Ellis. On She Walks in Beauty, Faithfull recited poems by Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth and Byron with an intensity and drive that reveals a lifetime spent in the peaks and valleys of an artist’s life in every word. From her home in London, Faithfull will speak with ILFU about She Walks in Beauty and her love of poetry.
2 October
Jonathan Franzen
The American writer Jonathan Franzen will be interviewed by journalist Hans Bouwman immediately after the release of his latest book, Crossroads, on 1 October. Jonathan Franzen broke through internationally in 2001 with his masterpiece The Corrections, which won the National Book Award. In 2010, he published Freedom, which is already considered to be one of the best novels of this century. His latest novel Crossroads tells the story of a midwestern American family at the crossroads of a moral crisis. As in all his novels, with Crossroads Franzen once again manages to meld a small, private family life into the larger social narrative.