Orlando Lassus - Lagrime di San Pietro

Tom Lanoye is one of the most widely read and performed authors of the Low Countries: novelist, poet, playwright and performer, known for work such as Kartonnen dozen, Sprakeloos and the celebrated theatre marathon Ten oorlog. His writing moves effortlessly between tenderness and fury, between the intimate and the political, carried by a language that demands to be spoken aloud. Few writers read their own work the way Lanoye does: his lectures are performances in their own right.

For this festival edition he turns to Barakstad: for the first time, the complete published works of J.M.H. Berckmans (1953–2008) collected in one volume. Berckmans chronicled the underside of Antwerp in a prose that is raw, rhythmic and merciless, earning him the name of the Flemish Charles Bukowski. One of the most idiosyncratic voices in Flemish literature, he remained a cult figure during his lifetime; this edition finally gives his oeuvre the place it deserves. Lanoye reads, tells and celebrates him in the garden of Hotel La Pace.