Rebekka and Jonathan at a previous Encounter
University of Nottingham
Department of German Studies
Rebekka de Wit and Jonathan Reeder
Encounters: Writers and Translators in Conversation
This event brings together Dutch writer and theatre maker, Rebekka de Wit and literary translator and performing musician, Jonathan Reeder.
Rebekka de Wit is a Dutch writer and theatre maker. Her 2011 graduation performance from the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, Hoe dit het verhaal werd (How this became the story), was a prize-winning piece at the Theater Aan Zee festival in Ostend. She was also awarded the SABAM Schrijfprijs for the theatre production Stel je voor, ik zoek een staat (Searching for a state) in 2011. In 2012 The Flemish-Dutch house deBuren commissioned de Wit for their citybook project resultingin the texts As Venice is Now, the Venice-monologue Ik weet er te weinig van (I know too little about it) and, in 2015, a citybook about Antwerp, ‘Tot het verschil over sterrenstelsels gaat’ (Until the difference is between galaxies). De Wit’s 2015 debut novel We komen nog één wonder tekort (Short of just one Miracle) is a coming-of-age story that combines, like de Wit’s theatre work, wit and sadness with vulnerable tenderness and razor-sharp observations.
Watch this video of Rebekka and Jonathan working with students of Dutch from the universities of Nottingham and Sheffield as part of a collaborative translation project lead by Dr Henriette Louwerse in spring 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSbynRFP3_Q&feature=youtu.be
Jonathan Reeder, a native of New York and longtime resident of Amsterdam, is a literary translator and performing musician. Alongside his work as a professional bassoonist he translates opera libretti and essays on classical music, as well as contemporary Dutch fiction by authors including Conny Braam, Peter Buwalda, Bram Dehouck, Adri van der Heijden and Hanna Bervoets. He has translated and transcribed for Christine Otten’s literary biopic De laatste dichters (2011) / The last Poets (2016) that engages with music, poetry and the history of the Civil Rights Movement in America. After his visit to Nottingham for the ‘Encounter’ with Rebekka de Wit, Reeder will be in London for an event with Christine Otten and the founders of the African-American music group ‘The Last Poets’, Umar Bin Hassan, Abiodun Oyewole and Baba Donn Babatunde.
All welcome!
This event is sponsored by Centre for Dutch and Flemish Studies at The University of Sheffield and the Nederlandse Taalunie.