From North to South: Friesland seen through the eyes of Flemish authors
How large is the divide between North and South? Can the Frisian landscape be captured in Flemish song? The Vlaamse Verkenners (Flemish Scouts) will be investigating. Explore the North and Vlaams-Nederlands Cultuurhuis deBuren invited authors Astrid Haerens and Anke Verschueren to take up residence in Leeuwarden in the week prior to the Explore the North festival.
They will be putting the 2021 Explore the North theme into practice: they will be approaching Friesland with an artist's open mind, prepared to embrace the unknown. During their stay in Friesland, they will be heading out with a Frisian guide, seeking out new stories about cities and rural areas, prehistoric times and young sea clay, and ultimately about themselves. They will be writing new work and presenting parts of this on stage during the festival. Their work will also be published, including by deBuren.
The results of this residency will be published later this year on our website and social media channels.
About the residents
Astrid Haerens (b. 1989) grew up in Zwevegem and lives in Brussels now. She studied word art at the Antwerp Conservatory and writes both prose and poetry. She made her debut in 2017 with the novel Stadspanters (Polis). Her poetry debut Oerhert will be published at Atlas Contact in early 2022. Her other work has appeared in De Gids, Revisor, Het Liegend Konijn, Poëziekrant and DW B. She also works as a writing teacher in Brussels.
Anke Verschueren (b. 1994) from Pasen, takes her great love for language everywhere. From paper to stage to podcast. She comes from Morkhoven, a Kempen hamlet without a supermarket but only maize fields. Anke writes, creates, plays, reads, presents, edits, moderates, teaches and sings. And she enjoys it immensely.