Agora with Mohammed Benzakour

• Date: 09 June
• label.tijd 14:30 - 16:00
• Location: Centrale Bibliotheek | Podium B (5e verdieping)

On Sunday, June 9, journalist and writer Mohamed Benzakour will be a guest on the Agora interview program. Hizir Cengiz will then talk to Mohammed, about his new book “The Giant from the Rif.” In it, Mohammed describes in small stories the grand life of his father, a first-generation “guest worker” from Morocco. This afternoon will also feature a special musical performance by Amel Sdiri and Hannibal Saad.

Besides being a journalist and writer, Mohammed Benzakour is also a columnist, fisherman, chess player, beekeeper and amateur astronomer. His works include the award-winning novel Yemma (2013), which can be seen as a theater adaptation starting September 30. He also wrote the award-winning novel The King is Coming (2015), the Berber proverbial 10 on a Donkey (2018), and The Eyes of Fadil (2020) a collection of fabulous short stories, among others. Mohammed is an essayist for the Museum of Literature and has a regular column in NRC Handelsblad on fishing. As an opinion writer, he regularly raises issues at the fault line of culture, religion and climate. Afterwards there will be room to buy books and have them signed.

Live music performance

Amel Sdiri is a versatile professional singer from Brussels, specializing in lyrical singing, with a degree in Music and Musicology from the Higher Institute of Music in Tunis. She is currently studying at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Free University of Brussels.

Hannibal Saad, a jazz guitarist from The Hague, has founded many bands and worked with crossover projects worldwide since 1987. He organized two major international music festivals in Syria and now leads projects such as the Global Week for Syria and Syrian Music Lives. Especially for this edition of Agora, Amel and Hannibal will put together music and give a live performance.

Hizir Cengiz is a master of law, moderator and award-winning journalist. He writes columns and essays mainly on poverty, class migration and domestic violence, for De Correspondent and the Canticle, among others. For his essay in De Groene Amsterdammer, on growing up in the Schilderswijk district of The Hague, he won the Jan Paul Bresser Prize 2017.

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