Leiden has meant a lot to Japan
Leiden University turns 450 on February 8. I am preparing a city walk for the occasion and came across a Leiden student who is depicted on a Japanese postage stamp. That really is something very special. Would...
Literature
Which women are we proud of?
Of course, I am proud of my wife, my two daughters, and three granddaughters. But which women would deserve to be depicted on a stamp? I leafed through the stamp catalog and came across quite a few. But...
In brief…(296} Stamp Year 2024: Universal Postal Union, NATO and Olympic Games
Every year, the German biweekly stamp magazine presents an overview of (as far as known) the stamp programs that can be expected in the first issue of the new year. To start with, Posteurop (theme 2024 Underwater World) and SEPAC (theme...
A beautiful holiday spot, but three times a different country
My wife and I have been to the same holiday destination several times, but three times the name of the country was different. In 1979 it was called Yugoslavia; in 1991 it became Macedonia, and since 2019 the country has been called North Macedonia. Which is the same...
ILFU 2023: What’s the story?
The International Literature Festival Utrecht (ILFU) will be held from 23 September to 7 October 2023 in Utrecht, under the motto 'What's the story?'. The theme refers to the multitude of stories that can be told about any subject. During the...
Book Week March 11 – 19, 2023: I am everything
Lize Spit is writing the 2023 Book Week gift and Raoul de Jong the 2023 Book Week essay, it was announced by the Foundation for Collective Promotion of the Dutch Book (CPNB). The 88th Book Week, the traditional celebration of readers in bookstores and libraries, takes place from...
One drop of ink….
….can make millions think. It is a famous quote by George Gordon Byron (better known as Lord Byron), (1788-1824). He was an English Romantic writer and poet. His masterpiece was Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a narrative poem in which he...
T.S. Eliot and Rainer Maria Rilke masterpieces are being commemorated again after 100 years.
T.S. Eliot was an American-British playwright, poet, philosopher, and literary critic. Eliot was an important figure in modernist literature, best known for his poem 'The Waste Land' (1922). Rainer Maria Rilke was one of the most important lyric poets in the...
Ulysses (1922 – 2022) by James Joyce is being commemorated again after 100 years.
Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce published in 1922. Generally, Ulysses, along with the poem The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, also published in 1922, is regarded as the most important exponent of modernist literature. James Joyce...
October is Jan Wolkers month
Jan Wolkers was born in October 1925 and died in October 2007. This year marks 15 years since the death of the most famous writer of Oegstgeest and the Netherlands. Every year this month, Dorpsmarketing Oegstgeest organizes the Jan Wolkers...
Red Planet Day on November 28, 2021
Every year, November 28 is 'Red Planet Day'. The day commemorates the launch of Mariner 4 on November 28, 1964. Mariner 4 was an American unmanned space mission to Mars in the 1960s. This flight...
Tales from Macau
Macau is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. It is located 70 kilometers southwest of Hong Kong and 145 kilometers from Guangzhou. Macau lives off tourism and the many casinos located there. It is...
700 years of Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321)
On September 14, 2021, it will be 700 years since Dante Alighieri died in Ravenna. Throughout 2021, Dante is being commemorated on a grand scale, not only in Italy but also in the Netherlands. From September 10 to 18, 2021, 'Dante Nederland' is organizing...
A letter with a secret from 1858
From stamp enthusiast Hans van der Lelie from Germany, I received a complete folded letter from 1858. It just so happened to state therein that, pursuant to Article 8 of the Act, the contents of this letter were subject to confidentiality. But that applied only to...
