When Sholeh Rezazadeh chose Dutch as her artistic language at 26, from that beginning came novels that won national and international recognition. Her first novel The Sky Is Always Purple won the Dutch and Flemish debut prize; I Know a Mountain Waiting for Me received the EU Prize for Literature Special Mention. She wrote the Dutch poem of the year in 2025, and her work now travels in more than ten languages including Arabic.
During this lecture she will speak about listening to the multiple currents within us: the different languages, perspectives, and cultural flows that move through an artist. Through her second novel I Know a Mountain Waiting for Me, now translated into Arabic and beyond, and her other work, she will share with us what happens when a writer stops choosing one voice and lets them all speak. When the rivers in us have their own voices.
Sholeh Rezazadeh (1989) is a writer and poet. Her debut novel, De hemel is altijd paars (The Sky Is Always Purple), has sold more than 60,000 copies in the Netherlands. The novel won the Bronze Owl Readers’ Choice Award and the Debut Prize of the Society of Dutch Literature, and was longlisted for the Libris Literature Prize. For her second novel, Ik ken een berg die op me wacht (I Know a Mountain Is Waiting for Me), she received a Special Mention from the European Union Prize for Literature. Her poetry collection, Neem ruim zei de zee (Take Plenty, Said the Sea), has been reprinted numerous times, and in 2025 Rezazadeh wrote the official Dutch Book Week Poem. Her work is also translated internationally.
This lecture will also be livestreamed on zoom.
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The lecture starts at 6 pm. We work on a first-come, first-served basis as the number of seats is limited. We open our doors at 5:30 and close them at 6:15 or earlier when the lecture room reaches its full capacity.
The lecture starts at 6 pm. We work on a first-come, first-served basis as the number of seats is limited. We open our doors at 5:30 and close them at 6:15 or earlier when the lecture room reaches its full capacity.
