CROSSING BORDER CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL ANTWERP FESTIVAL ANTWERP CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL 8 NOVEMBER 2026 SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2026
16:00 – 00:00 ARENBERG ANTWERP
8 NOVEMBER 2026
BIOGRAPHY
OF X Clyde Hill, a pseudonym’s pseudonym, was credited as the debut author, and the alias deepened the mystery surrounding the book, a novel that emulsified fact and fiction so completely it was often misfiled under biography. Catherine Lacey — Biography of X
REJECTION Tony Tulathimutte — Rejection
© DANIEL N. JOHNSON
One day she sees a video of a talking raven on her feed and thinks, how cool. She didn’t know they could actually talk. She likes that they can hold grudges. It’s exactly the kind of thing her ideal self would do, casually own a raven; its illegality only makes it more interesting.
I KNOW THAT I DON’T KNOW No one No one really knows No one really knows what they’re doing The joke of us The joke of us jiving from the author’s pen The sweat of ink If anybody tells you they know It means they don’t aja monet — I know that I don’t know
IS THIS FOR REAL?
Adania Shibli / Hendrik Lasure / R.F. Kuang aja monet / Tony Tulathimutte / Catherine Lacey JMHB Psychotraumatisch Boekenbal 30+ artists LITERATURE & MUSIC
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LITERATURE & MUSIC
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CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL Crossing Border 2026
16:00 – 00:00 ARENBERG ANTWERP
An overview of this year's artists:
Crossing Border is the Netherlands’ leading international literature and music festival.
new literary voices and showcases, alternative music acts in intimate live settings.
The 5th Antwerp edition takes place on 8 November 2026 at Arenberg.
This year’s programme features almost 50 writers and artists with many exclusive events and special projects created uniquely for Crossing Border.
The festival’s mission is to connect and inspire through imaginative storytelling and artistic expression. It brings together acclaimed international authors for exclusive appearances, introduces exciting
SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2026
FESTIVAL LOCATION Arenberg Arenbergstraat 28 Antwerp
Het Grote JMHB Psychotraumatisch Boekenbal, aja monet, Adania Shibli, Hendrik Lasure, R.F. Kuang Barbi Marković, Abdelrahman ElGendy, Catherine Lacey, Tony Tulathimutte, Astrid Haerens, Oscar van den Boogaard, Dominique De Groen, Dan English, Ghayath Almadhoun, Flora Hibberd, Filip Grujić, Caragh Maxwell, Isa Davids, Ibe Rossel, Clyo Mendoza, Lena van Tijen, Gwyn Bouwman, Eva Leek, Mikayla Vieira Ribeiro, Christine Koopman, MONOMONO, Anke Verschueren, Shy Dog, Maria De Cort, Jonas Meersmans, Flor Declercq, Flemish Review de la Poëzie, Ruben Mardulier, Tülin Erkan, Rudy Trouvé, N.E.L. & J.P., Veelvraat, Morgen De Knoop, Tom Lanoye and Circus Bulderdrang
SPECIAL * 4 NOVEMBER * SPECIAL * 4 NOVEMBER
Rebecca F. Kuang Other World Bookshop Pop up:
Rebecca F. Kuang will come to Crossing Border for an interview about her new book Taipei Story. It has recently been published in Dutch as Mijn zomer in Taipei, translated by Hien Montijn.
The Other World Bookshop is located in the foyer of Arenberg. Books by all featured authors will be available for purchase, and authors will sign books after their appearances.
SCAN THIS QR CODE FOR OUR COMPLETE PROGRAMME
© JOHN PACKMAN
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS? Please contact us at info@crossingborder.nl
Rebecca F. Kuang is the award-winning author of the international bestsellers Babel, Katabasis, and Yellowface. She studied Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge and Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford. She is currently pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Following her successful novels in fantasy and satire, Kuang demonstrates her versatility once again with Taipei Story, mastering a new
style: the coming-of-age novel. College freshman Lily Chen is off to spend the summer in Taipei at an intensive language program like so many Chinese American students before her, hoping to connect with the culture she inherited but never fully understood. But a promising start quickly unravels. Her classes are grueling, her roommate is driving her insane, and a reckless trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon has her classmates viciously gossiping. She feels adrift, a foreigner in a country she thought would feel like home. Then shocking news arrives: Lily's grandfather has passed away. The loss forces her to grapple with now-unanswerable questions about her family history. As Lily grieves, she's drawn into a journey of selfdiscovery, piecing together
memories, stories, and silences over a series of hilarious and devastating attempts at connection. Taipei Story asks: What if the diaspora fantasy of homecoming never comes true? What if learning a language can't bring you any closer to the people you're trying to reach? What if you search for your family's history, but your family doesn't want to share? What if you wait too long to ask the right questions? As Lily struggles for answers, her summer becomes a poignant search for understanding of herself, her family, and the meaning of home.
4 November > 19:30 Toneelhuis, Komedieplaats 18
TIMETABLE SUNDAY 8 NOV. 2026 16:00
16:30
ZAAL 1 BARLOKAL
17:00
17:30
18:00
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VONK & ZONEN AND ROTKAT PRESENT
TONY TULATHIMUTTE IN CONVERSATION
ABDELRAHMAN ELGENDY IN CONVERSATION
DIRK LEYMAN
HELEEN DEBRUYNE
ABBIE BOUTKABOUT
WITH
BARBI MARKOVIĆ IN CONVERSATION WITH
MELISSA GIARDINA
ASTRID HAERENS
ZAAL 3 DE GROTE
20:00
WITH
21:00
21:30
GHAYATH ALMADHOUN IN CONVERSATION
DAN ENGLISH
WITH
LAYLA EL-DEKMAK
22:30
23:00
00:00
FILIP GRUJIĆ, CARAGH MAXWELL, ISA DAVIDS, IBE ROSSEL, CLYO MENDOZA, LENA VAN TIJEN, GWYN BOUWMAN, EVA LEEK, MIKAYLA VIEIRA RIBEIRO & CHRISTINE KOOPMAN
WITH
HET GROTE J. M. H. BERCKMANS PSYCHOTRAUMATISCH BOEKENBAL
aja monet
WITH
USCHI COP
BARMONT ROTONDE
BOOKSHOP & BISTRO CAFÉ
BARMONT SALON
LITERAIRE ONTMOETINGEN KOFFIEDIK LEZEN MET TÜLIN ERKAN - LITERAIRE (ON)WAARZEGGERIJ / FLEMISH REVIEW DE LA POËZIE
BARMONT BAR
SIGNEERSESSIES / MEET AND GREET
BARMONT RONDO
23:30
THE CHRONICLES
CHARLOTTE VAN DEN BROECK
CATHERINE LACEY IN CONVERSATION
22:00
FLORA HIBBERD
ANKE VERSCHUEREN & MONOMONO
ADANIA SHIBLI IN CONVERSATION
HENDRIK LASURE
20:30
VONK & ZONEN AND ROTKAT PRESENT
MARIA DE CORT & SHY DOG
OSCAR VAN DEN BOOGAARD IN CONVERSATION WITH
19:30
VONK & ZONEN AND ROTKAT PRESENT
FLOR DECLERCQ & JONAS MEERSMANS
ZAAL 2 BLACKBOX
19:00
DOMINIQUE DE GROEN
15:30
RUBEN MARDULIER 15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
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19:00
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22:00
22:30
23:00
23:30
00:00
DOORS OPEN: 16:00 / THIS TIMETABLE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
WWW.CROSSINGBORDER.BE
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LITERATURE & MUSIC
CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL
SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2026
16:00 – 00:00 ARENBERG ANTWERP
Barbi Marković Catherine Lacey If you’re in a football
and a mythical Yugoslavia that – despite the impending catastrophe – still believes football can make a difference. The protagonist, Barbi, grows up in the late 1980s in what was then Yugoslavia. Her father regularly takes her to the football stadium, a world where competition prevails over solidarity and the young football talent Piksi is worshipped like a saint. Her father, once a football legend himself, hopes his daughter will follow in his footsteps, but Barbi is more interested in writing. When Yugoslavia loses to Argentina on penalties during the 1990 World Cup, on the eve of the Yugoslav Wars, the entire country falls into deep mourning: even their last shared passion seems to have been lost.
the shouting getting louder and louder, listen carefully to what is being shouted.
Make sure you’re the first to reach the exit. First out of the stadium, then out of the country – before the rush begins. The world cannot be saved. Barbi Marković (1980) was born
Barbi Marković Het laatste elftal
in Serbia. She studied German literature in Belgrade and Vienna, where she still lives. Since her debut Ausgehen in 2009, she has received numerous literary awards, including the Leipzig Book Fair Prize for her novel Minihorror, which was published in 2025. Her latest book The Last Team (Het laatste elftal, translated into Dutch by Lotte Lentes) is a witty football novel, set against the backdrop of the war in Yugoslavia. It won the award for Best Football Book of the Year in Germany, making Marković the first female author to receive the prize. In The Last Team, Barbi Marković weaves together, in a virtuoso play with the language of sports commentators, memories of football, her absent father,
Barbi Marković
Het laatste elftal Roman | Koppernik
Vertaald door Lotte Lentes
© ANNA HUIX
stadium and you notice
Hendrik Abdelrahman Lasure ElGendy
Hendrik Lasure first made his
name as a jazz pianist before finding a new, singular voice in Dutch-language songwriting with his debut album Het Wiel. What began as a bold step outside his musical comfort zone has grown into a deeply felt artistic conviction. In his idiosyncratic musical world, Lasure explores
the boundaries of the alternative levenslied, favouring an unpolished vocal delivery and the cadence of everyday speech. Drawn to the mysterious, he continues to push at the edges of the conventional musical spectrum on a new album November 2026 (Unday Records).
Abdelrahman ElGendy studied Nonfiction Writing at the University of Pittsburgh and won the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and Guernica. At Crossing Border, he will present his gripping memoir Huna: Cairo, 2013. Two years after the revolution, hope for a free Egypt has faded. Following a military coup that resulted in unprecedented numbers of protester deaths, seventeenyear-old student Abdelrahman ElGendy doesn’t hesitate – he joins the demonstrations. His father, fearing for his son’s safety, accompanies him to a large protest. Within minutes, before they even step out of their car, they are overwhelmed by the police. Their lives will never be the same again. In his cell, ElGendy hears the Arabic protest song “Sawfa Nabqa Huna”, “We will remain here”, for the first time. But what, he wonders, do his fellow prisoners mean by “here”? Surely no one wants to remain imprisoned. Over the next six years, as a political prisoner, he searches for the meaning of this “here,” this “Huna,” while he and his father are moved from
Catherine Lacey (US), one of America’s most daring and original writers, will be interviewed about her latest book Biography of X. Lacey’s work has received numerous awards. She has published in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and The Atlantic. She lives in Mexico City.
of the woman she idolized, yet barely knew. But X, renowned for assuming countless identities, turns out to be even more elusive than she had imagined. Against the backdrop of an alternative history of the US, Lucca delves into her wife’s past, and fact and fiction begin to blur.
When X, a groundbreaking artist, drops dead in her office, her widow C.M. Lucca throws herself into writing a biography
The book has been translated into Dutch by Lydia Meeder, Gerda Baardman and Gretske de Haan: Biografie van X.
cell to cell, until he ends up in Scorpion, Egypt’s most notorious prison. His body nearly gives out, his situation seems hopeless, but by writing down his testimony, he finds a way to endure. In this powerful debut, ElGendy offers not hope, but provocation. With Huna, he shows what it takes to persist when you are being erased, and what remains when all hope is gone. The Dutch version of Huna, translated by Hester Tollenaar, will be published during the festival.
NEWS, PROGRAMME & TICKETS: CROSSINGBORDER.BE
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CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL
SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2026
16:00 – 00:00 ARENBERG ANTWERP
Fancy a fresh batch of brand-new stories?
Meet this year’s participants of THE CHRONICLES The Chronicles is our residency programme for young Dutch and international writers and translators.
ideas, while at the same time the many languages themselves become a subject of discussion.
Luckily for us, this residency involves a lot of work: during the project, the authors will write several stories in their mother tongue, including Dutch, English, Spanish and Serbian this year. Next, the translators will take over and will translate the texts into Dutch, English and German, resulting in a total of fifty stories. Multilingual at its core, the project ensures that a closeknit group is formed in which the artists can exchange
During the festival, we’re letting this whole bunch of writers and translators roam freely, processing their experiences in the group and at the festival in their stories, write and think about new musical and literary discoveries and about their collaborations. Crossing Border thus becomes a playground for experimentation: what kind of texts emerge when their creators find themselves in a creative pressure cooker?
What does it mean to share this experience and exhaustion with a whole group? Will writing about their double role as artist and audience bridge a gap between people joining the festivals as guests and people performing at the festival? On the last evening, there will be a joint reading with all participants of The Chronicles. Make sure to check our website to read their stories, especially written and translated for the occasion!
Ibe Rossel
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Filip Grujić
Lena van Tijen
Clyo Mendoza
Isa Davids
Christine Koopmann
Caragh Maxwell
Eva Leek
Ibe Rossel & Mikayla Vieira Ribeiro Ibe Rossel (1999) is a Flemish writer who studied English Literature in Amsterdam. She made her debut in 2021 with the collection of essays Shakespeare kent me beter dan mijn lief. In it, she explores the timeless lessons that literary classics offer the contemporary reader. In her second book, Bloedspiegel (2026), she examines male violence through iconic conflicts between iconic brothers. She’s a regular panel member on the literary talk show Uitgelezen. During the festival, Ibe’s stories will be translated into Dutch by Mikayla Vieira Ribeiro. Mikayla Vieira Ribeiro is a writer, researcher and translator born and
raised in Curaçao. Working across Papiamentu, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish into English, she primarily translates the Caribbean. She is currently a PhD researcher at the University of Amsterdam focused on archipelagic listening in the (Dutch) Caribbean. Her recent projects include creating the Awa Archives (ABCSSS water poetics) with Simia Literario, and translating Ini Statia's poetry collection Na rant di mi isla / At the Edge of My Island. Her work has been supported by Wintertuin’s Future Language Innovation program, Read My World, and Expertisecentrum Literaire Vertalen (ELV), and her writing appears in Archipelagos, Islands in Between, De Revisor, and PREE. During the festival, she will translate Ibe’s stories into English.
Filip Grujić & Lena van Tijen Filip Grujić is a writer, playwright and film director from Belgrade, where he teaches at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. His third novel And Then, All Over Again (2023) has been translated into Dutch by Lena van Tijen as En dan opnieuw, vanaf het begin. His plays have earned him the Mihiz Award and two Sterija Awards and have been translated, performed and studied internationally. Following its world premiere at Copenhagen's CPH:DOX, his feature documentary Yugo Goes to America won the Audience Award for Best European Documentary at Belgrade's Beldocs festival and is currently traveling around the world. During Crossing Border, Filip’s stories will be translated into Dutch by Lena van Tijen.
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THE FIVE COLLABORATIONS
Lena van Tijen (Amsterdam, 1993) is a writer, literary translator
(Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian–Dutch), and events coordinator at Donner Bookshop in Rotterdam. Her work has appeared in De Gids, Metropolis M, Mister Motley and De Groene Amsterdammer. As a translator, she has translated work by, among others, Radmila Petrović, Slavenka Drakulić, and Filip Grujić into Dutch. She is also an editor of Terras, a journal of international literature. She is currently working on her debut novel. During the festival, she will translate Filip’s stories into Dutch.
Clyo Mendoza & Gwyn Bouwman Clyo Mendoza (Oaxaca, 1993) is a writer. She is the author of the poetry
collections Anamnesis (2016) and Silencio (2018), which received the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz International Poetry Prize in 2017; and of the novel Furia (2021), winner of the 2022 Amazon First Novel Award. She has received fellowships from Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA) in both Poetry and Novel, and was a resident fellow at the Antonio Gala Foundation in Córdoba, Spain. During the festival, Clyo’s stories will be translated into Dutch by Gwyn Bouwman.
Gwyn Bouwman is a literary translator from Spanish into Dutch and
a poet/writer. She is Dutch and has also been a Brussels resident for many years. During her student years, she spent time in Argentina and Chile, where her love of Latin American literature began. She trained in literary translation and creative writing and has published her work in literary magazines and online. She is fascinated by other cities, languages and cultures, and by the different ways in which emotions and political realities are experienced within them. She is particularly drawn to contemporary work that is anecdotal, quirky, contemplative or absurdist.
Isa Davids & Christine Koopmann Isa Davids (1994) studied History and International Relations. She
interned as a political editor in New York City. Currently she is a freelance journalist and writes for the book department of the Dutch newspaper NRC. Her other publications have appeared in de Volkskrant,
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Gwyn Bouwman
Trouw and Vrij Nederland. She lives in Amsterdam. Her debut short story collection is titled Yenta. This work comprises nine stories that tell the history of a Jewish American family. These stories alternate with the memoirs of a journalist who tries to save his marriage by accepting a foreign correspondent position in Jerusalem. During the festival, Isa’s Chronicles stories will be translated into German by Christine Koopmann. Christine Koopmann (1995) studied Interdisciplinary Dutch Studies,
focusing on Literary Translation and Cultural Transfer, at the University of Münster. Since 2021, she has been translating from Dutch into German, while also working for a literary agency in Amsterdam where she primarily promotes German literature in the Netherlands and Flanders. This dual role gives her a firm grasp of the book markets in both language areas, allowing her to navigate and connect both literary landscapes. During the festival, she will translate Isa’s stories into German.
Caragh Maxwell & Eva Leek Caragh Maxwell is a writer living in Sligo, Ireland. Her writing focuses
on otherness, womanhood, intergenerational trauma, and place. Sugartown, her debut novel, was published by Oneworld in 2025. The Dutch translation by Lisette van Eijk was published in 2026. Sugartown was shortlisted for Newcomer of The Year at the 2025 An Post Irish Book Awards. It has also been shortlisted for the 2026 New Adult Book Prize. During the festival, Caragh’s stories will be translated into Dutch by Eva Leek.
Eva Leek discovered her passion for translation while studying English
Language and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. During the MA Literary Translation at the University of Utrecht that followed, she started her job as translation coordinator for the Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival. Since then, she has also worked for Read My World and het Grote Gebeuren. Last summer she was selected to take part in the 'professionalization course' hosted by the ELV. She has since acquired a taste for Irish literature and can't wait to translate her first novel. During the festival, she will translate Caragh’s stories into Dutch.
LITERATURE & MUSIC
CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL
aja monet She follows in the long legacy and tradition of poets organizing in social movements for change.
Her debut poetry album, when the poems do what they do, was nominated for a Grammy Best Spoken Word Poetry Album in 2024. The album explores themes of resistance, love, and the inexhaustible quest for joy. aja’s first full collection of poems, my mother was a freedom fighter (2017), is a powerful tribute to women who embody freedom. Her most recent book of poems, inspired by several years living and organizing in South Florida, is called florida water (2025). During the festival, she will perform her new album the color of rain.
that his feminism isn’t getting him laid and a young woman’s unrequited crush spirals into borderline obsession. As these characters pop up in each other’s dating apps and social media feeds, or meet in dimly lit bars and bedrooms, they reveal the ways that our delusions can warp our desire for connection.
in conversation about his latest novel Rejection. Written with the accomplished authority of a modern classic and the manic intensity of a loser's manifesto, Rejection radically redefines what it means to be rejected by lovers, friends, society and oneself. Translated into Dutch by Thijs and Arjaan van Nimwegen. We see a tryhard male feminist's passionate allyship turn to furious nihilism as he realises
Adrift, Helle retreats to a German Wadden island, where the silence and rawness of the landscape allow her to slowly peel back the layers of grief and care.
and works in Brussels. She is the author of the novel Stadspanters and the poetry collection Oerhert, which won the Poëziedebuutprijs in 2023. She toured with the poetry album Anger’s Family Tree, a collaboration with Maris and Lootens. Her latest novel, Erosie, explores the complex bond between two women. Erosie is a novel about a friendship falling apart, an exhausted female body, beachcombing, stones, an
Adania Shibli Adania Shibli (1974) was
born in Palestine. She holds a PhD from the University of East London and is the author of three novels originally published in Arabic. She lives and works between Berlin and Jerusalem. Her new book Misleiding will be published in the festival week.
© TCHANE ÇAĞAN
© CLAYTON CUBITT
Tony Tulathimutte (US) will be
island, eros(ion). Helle, an internationally acclaimed artist, suddenly loses her lifelong friend Alma. Their contact comes to an abrupt end, leaving behind a gaping void: an all-consuming grief over a friendship for which there seem to be no words.
Astrid Haerens (1989) lives
Tony Flora Hibberd Tulathimutte Tony Tulathimutte is the author of the novel Private Citizens (“One of the most phenomenal novels I’ve read in the past decade.” – Jonathan Franzen). His work appears in The Paris Review, n+1, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.
Astrid Haerens
Like a textile artist, Flora Hibberd weaves layers of meaning into their music. The London-born, Paris-based musician’s debut album, Swirl, garnered critical attention. As likely to veer into guitar or synth-driven pop as to take up a 17th century traditional, Hibberd’s music presents a tapestry of everyday life shot through with cosmic signs. It is a walk in a strangely familiar neighbourhood, revealing the mystic undertones of everyday life. Hot on the heels of Swirl comes Mammoth, which gets weirder. Produced by Ben Lanz (Beirut, The National) between a Basque mountain and the Paris suburbs, the album is populated with ghosts of history and prehistory that roam the present, to stare into the future with a clear and unblinking eye. Echoes of Lanz’s trombone and longtime collaborator Victor Claass’ feverish guitar, and whispers of familiar voices drift down from the hill, the swirling mists of an album that is at once more energetically pop, and more odd and disquieting than what came before.
NEWS, PROGRAMME & TICKETS: CROSSINGBORDER.BE
After decades of colonisation, military occupation and the failed peace initiatives of the 1990s, a young woman and a young man are violently pushed further and further to the margins of society. No names, places or dates are given; only the changing seasons bear witness to lives being shattered and torn apart, and to dreams slowly slipping away. In her razor-sharp, minimalist prose, Adania Shibli explores in Misleiding the constant threat of subjugation, arrest and dispossession, as well as the Israeli authorities’ relentless efforts to make Palestinians strangers in their own land. The book has been translated into Dutch by Nijhofflaureate Djûke Poppinga. © HARTWIG KLAPPERT
© DANIEL N. JOHNSON
Blues Poet in the business of goosebumps and heart-guttelling truths. Her poems are harmolodic, vulnerable, and insurgent. As the youngest recipient of the Nuyorican Grand Slam Poetry title, she first cut her teeth in New York City’s Lower East Side poetry clubs and bars, honing her voice and craft on the storied stages of a burgeoning grassroots poetry movement.
16:00 – 00:00 ARENBERG ANTWERP
© BRAM VAN BEEK
aja monet is a Surrealist
SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2026
5
CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL
Dominique De Groen
Dan English Born in a quiet town in Iowa, Dan English grew up chasing invisible things: codes in books, echoes in movies, half-sentences in songs. English found himself glued to the radio from an early age and, after picking up guitar at 10, language and sound conspired. Following a move to New York City, Dan released his first album Fruit Boy in 2018 followed by 2020’s In Grace EP. His newest offering, Sky Record (June 2025), is his second full-length album and continues to expand upon and probe the depths explored in his previous work.
SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2026
16:00 – 00:00 ARENBERG ANTWERP
Ghayath Almadhoun
trade places. Emotions arrive in disguises: tenderness (smoke), grief (rhythm), silence (a cathedral on the verge of collapse).
The music is part confession, part séance, lush spells where the sacred and the stained
© SASKIA VANDERSTICHELE
Dominique De Groen (1991) is
a Belgian poet, writer, and visual artist. In her work, she engages with themes like ecology, (anti-) capitalism, and internet and pop culture. She has written four poetry collections, including her debut Shop Girl (2017). Her first novel, Corpus Britney, came out in March 2026: Blla Goth, a B-movie horror actress who looks exactly like Britney Spears, vanishes into thin air after a day’s filming. Paranormal detective Malayney
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Melkzuur follows her trail across continents and through the centuries: a hallucinatory quest through pop culture, cyberspace horror and digital ruins, tracing the intertwined histories of capitalism right up to its algorithmically driven present. Corpus Britney is a genre-bending novel full of doppelgängers, ghosts, visions, digressions and stories-within-stories – wildly associative and peppered with dark humour.
Oscar van den Boogaard is a Dutch writer whose work has been widely translated and shortlisted for major literary prizes. De Heerlijkheid van Julia, Liefdesdood, Meer dan een minnaar and Kindsoldaat were all bestsellers. De Standaard and Vrij Nederland have both named him the defining voice of his generation. Now, his new book De Zes has been published: the only book about the Antwerp Six, written with the Six.
On the first floor of the 1986 British Designer Show in London, tucked away among the bridalwear, six unknown Belgian designers from Antwerp were discovered almost by accident. Because their names were unpronounceable to international visitors, someone is said to have called out: “Come up and see the Six from Antwerp!” The echo of those words never left the designers. Quite the opposite: over the years, it grew louder, and the Six acquired an almost mythical status. With their international success, Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Van Saene and Marina Yee put Belgian fashion firmly on the global map.
© MARTE VISSER
Oscar van den Boogaard You say that I survived the war. No, my dear, nobody survives wars. It’s only that I didn’t die. I just stayed alive. From I Have Brought You a Severed Hand Ghayath Almadhoun (1979) was
born in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus to a Palestinian father and a Syrian mother. He moved to Sweden in 2008 and currently lives between Berlin and Stockholm. He writes poetry in Arabic, and his work has been translated into nearly
thirty languages. His works previously published in Dutch translation by Djûke Poppinga include Weg van Damascus, ik hier jij daar (co-authored with Anne Vegter) and Ik heb een afgehakte hand voor je meegenomen. His poetry has been incorporated into the work of numerous artists. American artist Jenny Holzer has projected his poems in major public art projects, including venues in the US, the UK, Denmark and Italy. The musician and artist Blixa Bargeld has also performed readings of Almadhoun’s poetry in Norway and Greece.
LITERATURE & MUSIC
CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL
SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2026
16:00 – 00:00 ARENBERG ANTWERP
Rotkat and VONK & Zonen present … For Crossing Border 2026, Arenberg has
unique performances: MONOMONO and Anke
poetry, theatre and minimalist electronic dark
invited Rotkat and VONK & Zonen to curate a
Verschueren bring words into dialogue with
pop. Jonas Meersmans and Flor Declercq blend
special programme at Bar Lokal. Three poets
MONOMONO’s immersive, dark soundscapes. Shy
poetry with the cinematic, psychedelic sounds of
and three musicians come together for three
Dog and Maria De Cort explore the space between
acoustic guitar.
MONOMONO / llIOIIOllIOIIO Shy Dog & Maria De Cort & Anke Verschueren MONOMONO / llIOIIOllIOIIO
Anke Verschueren takes her
between electronic composition, multimedia installation and commissions for film, theatre and video games. They have been artists in residence at TRIX (Antwerp), Gold Records Studio (Copenhagen) and Tiyatro İkincikat (Istanbul). Recent performances include a set at techno club Hall during Tallinn Music Week and an appearance at Playtime Festival at Bruges’ Koninklijke Stadsschouwburg.
great love, language, with her wherever she goes – from page to stage to podcast. Having grown up among the cornfields of the Kempen, she now tries to hear the sound of the sea in the roar of traffic on Antwerp’s ring road every day. She holds Master’s degrees in Dutch and in Media, Writing and Performance Art, attended a summer writing camp with Das Mag, travelled to Paris
with deBuren, and has taken part in writing residencies in Rotterdam and Leeuwarden. Anke is almost always talking, writing, singing, listening, reading, presenting, editing or making theatre and thoroughly enjoys every bit of it. Her first solo performance, the poetic DJ performance I’M NOT GONNA WRITE YOU A LOVE SONG, premiered in June 2022.
© FEMKE APPELTANS
creates immersive sonic worlds where electro-acoustic textures, classical influences and techno converge. The duo – violinist and sound designer Hester-1 and musician, composer and visual artist Anne van de Star – blends raw and synthetic sounds with hypnotic rhythms, poetic fragments and dark, pulsating walls of sound. Their work moves freely
Shy Dog is the solo project
arranging and production firmly in his own hands. Since his first releases, he has developed a characteristic style built around warm melodies, concise song structures and finely layered arrangements.
Maria De Cort is a theatre-
collective de Letteristen and has a passion for electronic music, feminist literature and unreliable narrators.
© MONDAY JR.
© MARLA MORELLA
of Belgian musician Noah Melis, who is also a member of Borokov Borokov and Frankie Traandruppel, and formerly of Bed Rugs and the American folk duo Olden Yolk. With Shy Dog, Melis puts songwriting,
Antwerp-based guitarist and composer Jonas Meersmans has developed a distinctive musical language on acoustic guitar, blending cinematic textures with psychedelic fingerpicking. His album Glassman (2024) was presented at Gent Jazz and at De Roma. His fourth album, due for release on Rotkat Records in April 2027,
takes a different approach: where Glassman centred on the interplay with strings, the new record builds a richer, layered band sound with drums, wind instruments and electric guitars. Alongside his own work, Jonas is a guitarist with Stef Kamil Carlens & The Swoon, the Nicolas Mortelmans Quartet and Ellen Schoenaerts.
© ANNA VAN DURME
© MARLA MORELLA
© FRANÇOIS DE HEEL
Jonas Meersmans & Flor Declercq
Brussels-based poet Flor Declercq has published his work in literary magazines including Het Liegend Konijn, De Revisor and De Gids. He has been selected for the poetry tour Vers van het Mes and the European project Poetry Unbound. He also writes for the stage, with his theatre texts performed by artists
and companies including Jos Verbist, baroque ensemble Il Fondamento, Wim De Wulf, Antigone and Walpurgis. His debut collection will be published by Poëziecentrum in 2027.
FOR NEWS, PROGRAMME & TICKETS: WWW.CROSSINGBORDER.BE
maker, writer and actress. In 2023, she completed a Master’s degree in Drama at KASK. She is a founding member of the feminist Magdalena Collectief and writes poetry as part of the music project Moenen & Mariken, a collaboration with Robbe Embrechts that combines techno and spoken word. She is also a member of the writers’
In 2025, she took part in deBuren’s writing residency. She is currently working on a new performance about Joan Didion and Eve Babitz with Magdalena Collectief, as well as on her debut novel.
7
CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL
SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2026
16:00 – 00:00 ARENBERG ANTWERP
Hoera, het volledige oeuvre van cultschrijver J. M. H. Berckmans (1953-2008) is eindelijk gebundeld in Barakstad, een kluif van meer dan anderhalve kilo! Crossing Border Antwerpen sluit af met een spetterende show van anderhalf uur in de grote geest van J. M. H. Berckmans. Een spervuur van auteurs en muzikanten eren 'Pafke, het meest concrete mafke’. Tom Lanoye, bijgestaan door de ritmesectie van Teun Verbruggen en Nicolas Rombouts bijt de spits af om te bewijzen dat literatuur en rock & roll nog steeds één en dezelfde kunnen zijn. Vitalski blaast Circus Bulderdrang nieuw vuil leven in, het absurdistische gezelschap waarvan Berckmans deel uitmaakte en dat in de jaren 90 onze podia onveilig maakte met een anarchistische mix van muziek, performance en bovenal literatuur!
Jean-Marie Berckmans was een groot muziekliefhebber en -kenner en dat kon je merken aan zijn boeken. Diezelfde boeken blijven hedendaagse muzikanten inspireren.
Soms is het ook ronduit kwetsend, en op of over de rand van het larmoyante. Maar het is altijd eigenzinnig en herkenbaar. Helemaal Jean-Marie, radicaal en maniakaal: een man van taal.'
Op Crossing Border gaan een hele rits muzikanten aan de slag met het werk van Berckmans zoals Rudy Trouvé, Veelvraat (Gert Vanlerberghe, Tom Tiest en Domxh), Morgen De Knoop (Alex Deforce en Jan Tromp) en N.E.L & J.P.
Vitalski (Circus Bulderdrang): 'Ik en Jean-Marie rookten in de jaren
Tom Lanoye: 'Sinds de dag dat ik Berckmans en zijn werk leerde
kennen, ontwikkelde ook ik een zwak voor hem. Behalve met de radicaliteit en unieke toon van zijn teksten had dat te maken met hem als persoon en als performer. Dat oeuvre van hem is vaak weerbarstig, soms keihard en geregeld wrang komisch.
FOR NEWS, PROGRAMME & TICKETS: WWW.CROSSINGBORDER.BE
negentig samen schizofrenogene joints tot in de onmogelijkste uren van de dag en braken overal het kot af. Vandaag zie ik gewoon in alle rust dat hij de meest virtuoze Vlaamse auteur is van de tweede helft van de twintigste eeuw.'
Gert Vanlerberghe (Veelvraat): 'Berckmans breekt de Nederlandse
taal helemaal open, spuugt en schijt er middenin en doet er vervolgens zijn eigen ding mee. En dat is een revelatie van formaat.'
LITERATURE & MUSIC
Copy editor: Anna Eble / Graphic design: Robert Muda van Hamel / Production: Nautilus Leiden
© KRIS J.Y. VERDONCK
Het Grote JMHB Psychotraumatisch Boekenbal