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As a playwright I started writing long shows for theater. And I still do as I’m currently working on a story about two sisters. But for the past three years I have written some scripts for educational shows for schools in the Dutch language region. These are some examples.

The young Hungarian Jew Klayn was deported to Auschwitz in August 1944. The 15-year-old had a knack for languages, which helped him escape the gas chamber. He translated documents and served as an interpreter for the nazi-administration.

As the city bus passes, he steps off the curb and crosses just behind the huge vehicle. The bridge ahead glistens faintly under the streetlights, a thin mist rising from the canal below. Across the street, he turns left, and quickly paces into the city’s still sleeping heart.

What makes someone Dutch? Can you be Dutch if you weren’t born in the Netherlands? If not, what are you then, if your country of birth no longer exists? Free in Amsterdam Ksenia was born in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Her father is Russian, from St.

The German city of Nuremberg played a central role in the history of the Nazis. Before World War II, the NSDAP used the city to hold massive propaganda rallies (the Reich Party Rallies). After the war, Nuremberg became the very place where the Allies put a number of Nazi leaders on trial.

In “Theater het Kruispunt” in Barendrecht I experienced a fantastic tribute to Radiohead by Chicago-based formation Android Paranoid. The group of five played two intense and packed sets of each apx 75 minutes.

“There are too many signals that this is what I want, so I’m just going to do it.” That’s what you wrote when you announced going solo on May 9th 2024. In the pre-olympic year you chose to follow your heart and go your own way.

It’s the early 1990s when I meet Joey at a birthday party. He has a flashy job title and works at a large corporation. I, by contrast, am just starting out as a solo-entrepreneur. I’m young, inexperienced, but full of energy. I see endless of opportunities but also face many challenges.

There are countless unicycle competitions worldwide every year, both regional and national, even intercontinental. Every two years there is a world championship. In 2026, it will be held in Austria, and the organizers expect between 2,500 and 3,500 participants. These are fanatical multicultural events.

The day everything changed is a graphic novel-style anthology that tells 10 personal histories of October 7 2023. The stories focus on hope and resilience, it’s not about despair or hate. It’s about finding light in the darkest of times. The book truly illustrates the power of an optimistic spirit.

A novel by Edward Burns about Irish Catholic migrants. The first of a trilogy.

It’s the titel of a play by Ksenia Marasanova, directed by Paul Dekker. In Dutch: “Zij zagen Oorlog“. I produce the show and helped with some texts. War Up Close shows war from all angles, through the eyes of people that are about to make a choice and have to live with the consequences.

Short story Early on a September morning, Lior cuts through Volkspark Friedrichshain on his way to Ding Dong Ping Pong. The air carries the scent of rain on stone, and faintly, children’s laughter drifts between the trees. Sunlight brushes lightly over leaves and flowers, promising another warm day.

Great travel book by Wilfred Thesiger covering desert-cultures and the Bedu way of life. It’s about friendship, history and how global developments destroyed a centuries old culture.

For over an hour Benjamin Herman and the Robin Nolan Trio played their hearts out at the Jazz Festival. Afterwards, they presented their new album. You could have a chat with them. And take your picture with them, if you wanted.

From the department of classic jokes The Soviet nation decides to get rid of him once and for all, and wants to bury him as far away as possible. They set up a special commission tasked with finding a suitable location.

An introduction to Taoism by Benjamin Hoff.

I don’t have that much experience with sports-photography, as theater and festivals are the arenas I’m used to. Through the years I made a lot of photos of my daughter Sofia and her unicycle of course, but never covered a whole event a lot of athletes, all with different techniques and timing.

The fairytale forest villages usually have no more than a few hundred permanent residents. Some even less than hundred. In the summer, that number grows by several thousand. Between May and November the city-dwellers escape the hustle and bustle and seek out their picturesque country homes.

Yes, that actually is one of my book drawers. I have a few of them. And stacks with books. And chests with books. And a lot of e-books and audio books. I read a lot, on average some two books a week. I will keep a list with books that touched me.

“Uzbekistan? But that’s not very close, is it?” I hear myself asking the question, while I try to pinpoint the country on the world map that I envision in my head. So there is Armenia, then we have the Caspian Sea followed by Kazakhstan with a bunch of countries to the south and east.

Yes, but differently. In one way or the other, I ran an active blog between 1994 and 2018-ish. It was a mix of articles (in Dutch and English) on things that triggered me: equality, history, philosophy, plays, books, politics, some hardware, education, jokes and activities around my companies. That blog is still there, but private.