Literaire Studentenvereniging Flanor

One thing Flanor is known for, is the organisation of monthly lectures where authors and people who have something to do with literature or word art of any kind come and talk about their work. For a new member, these lectures can sound quite intimidating! When I (Kato) joined Flanor about three and a half years ago, I did not know anyone yet, I definitely did not know about, or like anything related to, Dutch literature being the Fantasy buff that I am, and I did not really have time to read any of the books written by the authors that were giving a lecture or interview. Needless to say, I never went…

I definitely regret that now! Since becoming a board member, it is my responsibility to attend every lecture and I have discovered that they are actually really interesting and a lot of fun! Now I even go willingly ;) It does not matter that you have not read any of the author's works or that you have no knowledge of the topic at all. You are not expected to ask any questions (but you can of course!), so if you prefer to sit back and listen, like I do, you are definitely very welcome to come. I have learned a lot of interesting things from each lecturer, and sometimes they gave different ways to look at something that I hadn’t thought of before. Often, the lecturers made me very excited to try reading some of their works, which is special in itself as I normally shun Dutch literature of any kind… A problem I know I should work on ;) It is a good thing then that you can buy the lecturer’s books after every offline lecture and often have them personally signed as well! I am definitely building a nice collection of signed books this way :)

Another aspect of the lectures that really intimidated me were the lecturers themselves. Most often, they are authors, which in my view are these godlike creatures who can create stuff out of nothing; something I greatly admire and respect. In reality, they are just people of course. They are not scary, or intimidating, they are usually a lot of fun to talk with or listen to and they often have great book recommendations!

As you may have noticed, I am very much a fan of the Flanor lectures now that I have actually experienced them. If you are hesitant to attend, like I used to be, I can definitely recommend giving it a go! It will be worth it, trust me ;)