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Since it was established in 1971, ‘De Engelbewaarder’ has been known as the first literary café in the Netherlands. Not only John Irving once drank a beer there.
Belgium was one of Europe’s founders and main supporters, but in recent times the consensus for the European project has been somewhat worn down.
In his call to remain alert to a new anti-Semitism, Dutch writer Arnon Grunberg referred to the Holocaust during National Remembrance Day. According to Hind Fraihi, he shouldn't have done that.
Kunstmuseum in The Hague presents a fascinating exhibition about the friendship and rivalry between two important Dutch painters: Isaac Israëls and George Breitner.
Do you have a minute? We’re looking for enthusiastic readers who would like to fill out our survey.
The tiny, hyper-expressive Dutch musician is rewriting the rules of the classical music concert-world and is stringing genres together to make them sound as if they have always been closely connected.
Seventy-five years after the declaration of Indonesian independence, it is high time for apologies to be made at the level of government, and for a national memory that is more inclusive.
‘Augustus’ by Irma Maria Achten is a sensual debut novel about improbable love, in which passion, a longing for death and family secrets play an important role.
Twenty-four Flemish writers and poets wrote each other letters during the first weeks of the coronavirus lockdown. This is the correspondence between Jeroen Olyslaegers and Siel Verhanneman.
Editor-in-chief Luc Devoldere reread Natalia Ginzburg’s classic ‘The Little Virtues’ and muses on the life lessons that the Italian writer taught us.
Seventy-five years on from the end of World War II, the differences between Belgium and the Netherlands from an economic perspective are significant and growing.
A selection of recent university press publications about the Low Countries in English.
Most people assume the sensible Dutch have always cycled. But the story is more complicated.
The main purpose of the investigation was to identify the main cause of deterioration of the cadmium yellow paint in The Scream by Edvard Munch.
In her documentary My Rembrandt, Oeke Hoogendijk portrays the owners of a painting by the Dutch Old Master. She orchestrates their story into a thrilling detective about the hunt for an unknown Rembrandt.
Often, when discussing Flanders versus the Netherlands, we tend to fall back on the cliché about being ‘Catholic’ versus being ‘Protestant’. The truth, however, is far more complex.
The importance of the resistance during World War II doesn’t form part of the Belgian collective memory. That’s remarkable, as the resistance represents an impressive achievement.
Regardless of how long NATO remains standing, strengthening military cooperation between European countries is essential.
The restored portico and garden pavilion won in the most sought-after category.
Hind Fraihi argues that the Decolonise Movement should face its own excesses and focus on real problems, like institutional racism.
The Amsterdam house where Jewish writer Etty Hillesum wrote her famous diary during WWII is in danger of being demolished. Philippe Noble, who translated her work into French, tells us why the writings she left behind are still as powerful today as they ever were.
The painting style of this young Dutch artist is as dynamic as her images are still.
Remembrance has replaced history as the dominant way of working through our feelings about the Second World War.
While cycling and snarling, linguist Fieke van der Gucht might spur a change in language.
The work of the Flemish priest and poet Guido Gezelle has repeatedly been linked with both British and American literature and culture. And not without reason.
“I should like to make of all my writings, even my failures, of which I'm ashamed, a paper monument, which can, somewhere, still be visited in a landscape where it is forever autumn and everything is draped in cobwebs, long after I am dead and buried. It must be possible to say of that monument: this is the life of Jeroen Brouwers. People will comment that it was full of crinkles and tears when it was put up, but that sentence about that compote and the flies and the rotting fruit isn't bad at all.” Here is a real writer. (With an extract from the novel Dateless Days).
