Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts tagged “SLAA

Bart Moeyaert is a Dreamer

Posted on December 14, 2011

One of the people I admire immensely is Belgian author and poet Bart Moeyaert, so when my teacher, prize-winning author Benny Lindelauf, read a chapter from Moeyaert’s much-praised book Brothers (Broere), last Saturday, I sat back and let his beautiful prose seep into my inner world. In Brothers Moeyaert gives the reader a touching peek into his childhood as the youngest of seven brothers. Good things never come in ones, is my experience. And indeed this one didn’t either, for Bart Moeyaert turned out to be scheduled for a talk, an interview and a debate in Amsterdam. Needless to say that I rushed over to the Balie right away. I have to thank my dear friend Daphne de Heer of the SLAA — the association that…

The End of the World or Cows?

Posted on May 20, 2011

It’s nearing, they say, the end of the world. I have no idea who ‘they’ are, but they’re quite convinced that it/us will end tomorrow, May 21. I beg to differ. I think we have a future ahead of us and even a bright one, we just have to look for it and make it work. Last Wednesday Lydia Davis was in Amsterdam. Wim Brands interviewed her and had her tell us where to look. It’s right there, she said. And she told us about the observations she makes at home or traveling; observations that form the source of her ultra short stories. When she looks out of the window and across the street from her home she sees green hilly pastures, a red barn…