No fewer than eight of the eleven Fixdit authors read from their contributions to their joint manifesto: Sanneke van Hassel, Rachida Lamrabet, Jannah Loontjens, Christine Otten, Shantie Singh, Fleur Speet, Manon Uphoff and Annelies Verbeke. Furious, combative, and above all: optimistic. In the eleven pieces of this manifesto, they explore the problem in depth. From alliance, they fight for change, in the literary world and in the canon. Is that a bad thing? Yes, because it reflects and shapes relations in society.Įleven female writers are outraged by the unequal position of women in the arts, and united in the collective Fixdit. Women win fewer literary prizes than men. Reading lists in schools are dominated by books by (white straight) men. Many people openly admit to barely reading books by women. In this Writers Series programme, writers' collective Fixdit, in collaboration with Writers Unlimited, celebrated the publication of the Fixdit manifesto Optimistische woede: fix het seksisme in de literatuur ( Optimistic Rage: fix sexism in literature), a publication of De Geus, at Theater aan het Spui in The Hague. With: Annelies Verbeke, Christine Otten, Jannah Loontjens, Manon Uphoff, Rachida Lamrabet, Sanneke van Hassel, Shantie Singh Verbeke is a member of the writers' collective Fixdit, which aims to raise awareness of gender inequality in literature and expand the literary canon with work by important female authors. As a great lover of short stories, she compiled the international anthology Naar de Stad ( To the City) together with Dutch author Sanneke van Hassel. She has also written several plays and film scenarios, and worked with various theatre companies, especially the Rotterdam-based Wunderbaum. Biesheuvel Prize, and the NRC Handelsblad Readers Prize. Bordewijk Prize, the Opzij Literature Prize, the J.M.A. Her work has been translated into 24 languages and won various prizes, such as the F. Later she wrote another three novels, four collections of short stories, a collection of journalistic stories (including Awake, together with photographer Charlie De Keersmaecker), and the graphic novella Tirol Inferno, written in iambic pentameter and rhyme and co-created with illustrator Klaas Verplancke. Her debut novel Slaap! ( Sleep!) was published in 2003.

(Belgium, 1976) writes novels, film scripts and plays.

Slaap! by Annelies Verbeke