Gerda Blees: We Are Light

Time and date

Wednesday 12 July 2023

10:00 am

Share :
Join us for a Coffee and Chat with Dutch novelist Gerda Blees. Gerda's novel We Are Light was translated into English by Michele Hutchison and is published this year. It is a highly original novel about manipulation, vulnerability, and what leads people to reject science as they try to be better.

Gerda will be in conversation with Martin Colthorpe, co-ordinator of the New Dutch Writing campaign

Admission: €12

In the middle of a summer night, Elisabeth, the oldest resident of the Sound & Love Commune, dies. Her sister Melodie and their two other housemates are arrested: the group’s attempts to stop eating and start living on light and love alone appears to have been fatal to Elisabeth. From unworldly idealists on the fringes of society, the three suddenly become suspects in a criminal case. Through the eyes of the night, the neighbours, doubt, the scent of an orange, and many other characters and entities, we see how each of those involved gives a different answer to the question of how Elisabeth came to die. Who is to blame? And does the commune still have a future? We Are Light is a highly original novel about manipulation, vulnerability, and what leads people to reject science as they try to be better. It is based on true story of a Commune in Utrecht (Netherlands) whose members decided to stop eating and live on light and love alone.

Supported by the Nederlands Letterenfonds / Dutch Foundation for Literature as part of their New Dutch Writing programme

 

    

Writers

Gerda Blees

Gerda Blees is a Dutch author and poet. She taught at various universities for several years while doing linguistic research on Dutch-German lingua receptiva—conversations in which each person speaks their...

Read More

Martin Colthorpe

Martin Colthorpe is the Director of Modern Culture, an agency specializing in international literary event and festival programming. He worked at Southbank Centre for 10 years, where, as Senior Literature...

Read More
Arts Council - funding traditional arts
Cork County Council
Pure Cork