Astrid Haerens is a writer of prose and poetry from Brussels. She made her prose debut in September 2017 with the novel 

, and her poetry debut in the spring of 2022 with 

, Hearens explores the effect of oppressive systems and transgressive behaviour on a woman’s body. 

 won the Flemish Debut Prize for Poetry in 2023 and was nominated for both the Herman de Coninck Prize and the C. Buddingh Prize. Astrid regularly performs on stage with other artists, such as sound artist Mariske Broeckmeyer (also known as MARIS). Together with MARIS and cellist Jasmijn Lootens, she made the LP 

, which will be released in January 2024. In spring of that year, they will present the record on a tour hosted by Jazzlab. From 2022 until 2024, Astrid is 

(‘compositor’) of Kortrijk, which is an alternative take on a poetry residency. In this capacity, she leads a collective of writers and is the curator of the Memento Word Arts Festival for two years.

Astrid Haerens

Astrid Haerens is a writer of prose and poetry from Brussels. She made her prose debut in September 2017 with the novel Stadspanters (City Panthers), and her poetry debut in the spring of 2022 with Oerhert (Ancient Deer). In Oerhert, Hearens explores the effect of oppressive systems and transgressive behaviour on a woman’s body. Oerhert won the Flemish Debut Prize for Poetry in 2023 and was nominated for both the Herman de Coninck Prize and the C. Buddingh Prize

De Studio - Grote Zaal

Deception Island

Chilean novelist Paulina Flores came to international attention with her 2015 collection of short stories,

, which won praise for its dry humour and sharp observations, combined with a deep empathy for her characters.

, which was published in Chile in 2021 and is now coming out in various translations. In it, we meet Marcela, a heartbroken woman approaching her 30s who leaves Santiago and travels to the remote Punta Arenas in Chile’s southernmost Patagonia region to visit her father.

When she arrives, she discovers her father is hiding a fugitive: a young South Korean man who jumped ship from a Chinese fishing trawler. Together the three characters struggle to unravel each other’s mysteries and confront the truth of who they are and what they are running away from.

Flores drew on South Korean cinema for inspiration, creating a unique and brooding novel with an atmosphere that pulls the reader into both the hearts of its characters, and into the broader social, political, and environmental context of their lives.

Paulina Flores

Chilean novelist Paulina Flores came to international attention with her 2015 collection of short stories, Humiliation, which won praise for its dry humour and sharp observations, combined with a deep empathy for her characters.

This was followed by her first novel, Deception Island, which was published in Chile in 2021 and is now coming out in various translations. In it, we meet Marcela, a heartbroken woman approaching her 30s who leaves Santiago and travels to the remote Punta Arenas in Chile’s southernmost Patagonia region to visit her father.

Tijd van Zonde

Indian-born, Portugal-based novelist Deepti Kapoor stunned audiences with her debut novel 

 in 2015, and returns this year with another critical hit, 

 bestseller, the novel unfolds as a mystery, with a speeding Mercedes running down and killing five people in New Delhi. Behind the wheel is the shell-shocked servant of the car’s owner, who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime.


Soon we are plunged into the corrupt but immensely wealthy world of the Wadia family, and the lives of three people whose fates are interlinked amid the backdrop of lavish estates, extravagant parties, predatory business deals, and calculated political influence,


Equal parts crime thriller and family saga, transporting readers from the dusty villages of Uttar Pradesh to the urban energy of New Delhi, 

 is an intoxicating novel of gangsters and lovers, false friendships, forbidden romance, and the consequences of corruption.

Deepti Kapoor

Indian-born, Portugal-based novelist Deepti Kapoor stunned audiences with her debut novel A Bad Character in 2015, and returns this year with another critical hit, Age of Vice.

A New York Times bestseller, the novel unfolds as a mystery, with a speeding Mercedes running down and killing five people in New Delhi. Behind the wheel is the shell-shocked servant of the car’s owner, who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime.

De Studio - Salon

Melissa Giardina

Use Knife - Ptolemaic

Use Knife - Coupe d'état (Boem Ratata version)

Use Knife - To Feed The Gentry (feat. Radwan Ghazi Moumneh)

 is a new musical trio fusing the electro background of Belgian duo Stef Heeren and Kwinten Mordijck with the traditional Arabic sounds of Belgian-Iraqi musician Saif Al-Qaissy. Pairing electronic rhythms, sequenced melodies, samples, and vibrant Arabic drum rhythms, 

 creates a genuine melting pot of unique musical cultures.

deploys this fusion to explore and express hallucinatory freethinking visions to contemporary global living.


 collaborated with Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in my Heart, Hotel2Tango) to produce their debut album, 

Use Knife

Use Knife is a new musical trio fusing the electro background of Belgian duo Stef Heeren and Kwinten Mordijck with the traditional Arabic sounds of Belgian-Iraqi musician Saif Al-Qaissy. Pairing electronic rhythms, sequenced melodies, samples, and vibrant Arabic drum rhythms, Use Knife creates a genuine melting pot of unique musical cultures.

Dj Shoplifter travels the world of UK electronic music. She brings an eclectic mix of UK bass, UK garage and jungle.

 DJ Shoplifter

De Studio - Rotonde

Voornamelijk vrouwen

Prominent Dutch essayist and novelist Connie Palmen has long been mesmerised by female artistry, and in her latest book 

, she examines the influence of women such as Marilyn Monroe, Marguerite Duras, Patricia Highsmith, and Jane Bowles, each of whom transcended the boundaries of prevailing morality and their gender.

What can we learn about our own lives and the role of women in society today from trailblazers like Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, and Olivia Laing? And how did they form Palmen’s own sense of self and influence her career as a writer?

Palmen is the author of essays, stories, a novella, and six major novels including 

, winner of the Libris Literature Award. 

 is her brilliant literary paean to female creative power and autonomy.

Connie Palmen

Prominent Dutch essayist and novelist Connie Palmen has long been mesmerised by female artistry, and in her latest book Voornamelijk vrouwen (Mainly Women), she examines the influence of women such as Marilyn Monroe, Marguerite Duras, Patricia Highsmith, and Jane Bowles, each of whom transcended the boundaries of prevailing morality and their gender.

Jelle van Riet

De slapende kinderen

Winner of the prestigious French first novel prize Le Prix Premiere Plume in 2022, 

 is the gripping story of a family in the French countryside in the early 1980s who are brutally confronted with the arrival of AIDS.


Mixing sociological investigation and personal history, Passeron explores the experiences of his uncle Désiré, who left the family home to study and travel, but fell prey to heroin addiction and contracted AIDS.


The book juxtaposes the fear, confusion, and loneliness of his family as they struggle to understand this new disease, and the work of French virologists racing against time to battle the epidemic. The virologists’ research formed the basis for the development of HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy, they were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine.


Passeron is based in France, where he teaches French literature and Humanities in a secondary school. He is working on his second novel.

Anthony Passeron

Winner of the prestigious French first novel prize Le Prix Premiere Plume in 2022, Les Enfants Endormis (Sleeping Children) is the gripping story of a family in the French countryside in the early 1980s who are brutally confronted with the arrival of AIDS.

Dirk Leyman

Femke van Grootel is a poet from Antwerp who deals with the most difficult audience known to man on a daily basis: a bunch of teenagers in a classroom. As a poet, she would like to be coached by Joke Helsen and Wim van Leeuwen. "Or wait, no; it's the other way around."

Femke van Grootel

Femke van Grootel is a poet from Antwerp who deals with the most difficult audience known to man on a daily basis: a bunch of teenagers in a classroom. As a poet, she would like to be coached by Joke Helsen and Wim van Leeuwen. "Or wait, no; it's the other way around."

De afgronden

Hailed as one of the most promising authors in Latin America after the publication of her debut novel in 2003, Colombian-born Pilar Quintana has continued to surprise and impress with novels that explore the human condition through powerful, confronting prose.


Her international breakthrough came after the publication of her 2017 novel 

, which was a finalist for the National Book Award 2020 and won the PEN Translates award in 2021. Now she returns with 

, the story of family dysfunction told through the eyes of eight-year-old Claudia. Set in Cali, Quintana’s own hometown, Claudia’s already strained relations with her parents are further tested with the appearance of an interloper.


Exploring the inner life of a child as she struggles to comprehend the depth of tragedy that can haunt a family, 

 has been praised for its clarity of vision and masterful exploration of family dynamics and the inheritance of pain.

Pilar Quintana

Hailed as one of the most promising authors in Latin America after the publication of her debut novel in 2003, Colombian-born Pilar Quintana has continued to surprise and impress with novels that explore the human condition through powerful, confronting prose.

Her international breakthrough came after the publication of her 2017 novel The Bitch, which was a finalist for the National Book Award 2020 and won the PEN Translates award in 2021. Now she returns with Abyss, the story of family dysfunction told through the eyes of eight-year-old Claudia. Set in Cali, Quintana’s own hometown, Claudia’s already strained relations with her parents are further tested with the appearance of an interloper.

Listen

Dutch-born, UK-based Michel Faber is an award-winning author of seven novels, three short-story collections, and a poetry book, and turns to his passion for music in his first non-fiction book, 

Music is Faber’s oldest love, and when he needs inspiration, he turns to the thousands of CDs, vinyl, cassettes, and a computer crammed with mp3s. Seven years ago, he developed tinnitus, and his remedy was listening to more music.

, Faber explores two big questions: how we listen to music and why we listen to music. To answer these he considers biology, age, illness, commerce, and the dichotomy between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste. Through extensive interviews with musicians, he unlocks some surprising answers and delves into what is going on inside us when we listen.

This curious and celebratory book reflects Faber’s lifelong obsession with music of all kinds, and proves a successful first venture into non-fiction for the renowned author of the Whitbread-shortlisted 

Michel Faber

Dutch-born, UK-based Michel Faber is an award-winning author of seven novels, three short-story collections, and a poetry book, and turns to his passion for music in his first non-fiction book, Listen.

Dj End plays experimental techno sets. Expect raw, emotional music and 'sorry tracks'.


DJ End

Dj End plays experimental techno sets. Expect raw, emotional music and 'sorry tracks'.

Een klein detail

Palestinian author Adania Shibli has published three novels, with her latest book 

 longlisted for the International Booker in 2021. The novel explores the rape of a young Palestinian woman by Israeli soldiers soon after the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land in 1948.


A haunting meditation on war, violence and memory, 

 cuts to the heart of the Palestinian experience of dispossession, life under occupation, and the persistent difficulty of piecing together a narrative in the face of ongoing erasure and disempowerment.


Shibli, who splits her time between Berlin and Jerusalem, also writes plays, short stories, and narrative essays, and has twice been awarded the Young Writer’s Award by the A. M. Qattan Foundation. Her other novels are 

 (translated into English as Touch) and 

Kulluna Ba’id bethat al Miqdar aan el-Hub

Adania Shibli

Palestinian author Adania Shibli has published three novels, with her latest book Minor Detail longlisted for the International Booker in 2021. The novel explores the rape of a young Palestinian woman by Israeli soldiers soon after the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land in 1948.

Virginie Platteau

Trilling

The Nigerian-American author Teju Cole established himself as one of the most extraordinary and inventive writers of his generationwith 

, which have won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Internationaler Literaturpreis, among others.

Now he returns with his highly anticipated new novel, 

, a powerful, intimate novel that explores what constitutes a meaningful life in a violent world.

Cole weaves a mosaic of literature, music, race, and history to tell the story of Tunde, a West African photographer and lecturer at a university in Massachusetts. One day he goes to an antique shop and finds an African figurine that the shopkeeper calls "authentic". The shop is in a historic house, with a plaque explaining its bloody colonial history.

The incident sparks reflection, as Tunde ponders the Western concept of authenticity, the passage of time, and how atrocities in history relate to the present. Through the eyes of Tunde, and other voices, a surprising and essential story about human survival and the possibility of joy comes to life.

Teju Cole

The Nigerian-American author Teju Cole established himself as one of the most extraordinary and inventive writers of his generationwith Every Day Is for the Thief and Open City, which have won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Internationaler Literaturpreis, among others.

Now he returns with his highly anticipated new novel, Tremor, a powerful, intimate novel that explores what constitutes a meaningful life in a violent world.

Omar Ba

ZERO YEARS KID

Zero Years Kid is the alter ego of Joachim Badenhorst, one of the most fascinating and adventurous Belgian jazz musicians working today. While his background is in jazz and classical music, Badenhorst decided it was time to give his imagination free rein. The result is Zero Years Kid, which started as a solo project but has since grown into a live band.


Together with Jan de Vroede, Lennart Heyndels, and Erik Heestermans, Badenhorst supplements his clarinet and saxophone with samples and electronics and blends hip-hop, pop, dance, R&B, and jazz with playful, poetic lyrics.


 was released in 2019 and now the successor Geen 

 – an ode to breaking through boundaries, daring to colour outside the lines, and not being tied to expectations – is due to be released in November on the Klein label.


Zero Years Kid

Zero Years Kid is the alter ego of Joachim Badenhorst, one of the most fascinating and adventurous Belgian jazz musicians working today. While his background is in jazz and classical music, Badenhorst decided it was time to give his imagination free rein. The result is Zero Years Kid, which started as a solo project but has since grown into a live band.

  is the foremost poet from the Uyghur people, whose memoir 

 recounts the harrowing tale of his family’s escape from genocide.

, who translated Izgil's memoir into English, will be the interpreter during the event.

Wachten op mijn arrestatie in de nacht

Tahir Hamut Izgil is a poet from the Uyghur ethnic minority, a group facing widespread persecution in China today. He grew up in Xinjiang, attended college in Beijing, and worked as a film director in the Uyghur region, before fleeing to the United States in 2017.

In 2018, Izgil was elected president of the World Uyghur Writers Union, the premier literary organization for Uyghur writers in exile, and his work has appeared in 

t will be published, a poignant testimony about the Chinese genocide of the Uyghur people. It is the story of the political, social, and cultural destruction of Izgil’s homeland, and a call for the world to awaken to the unfolding catastrophe.