Past Events

Ever since 1987, we have welcomed an amazing range of top talent to Amsterdam. Some arrive at the height of their fame. Others go on to win Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. All of them offere their personal insights in an intimate setting.

Our evenings combine a lecture or reading by the invited guest and a discussion on stage with our specially selected moderator. Add in questions from the audience and we can promise a fascinating and lively discussion!

To watch our past events on VIDEO click HERE. With special thanks to VPRO weblogs. All rights reserved to the authors.

2012 Leo Blokhuis Chad Harbach

2011 Robert Kaplan Split: A Divided America Nicholas Carr Stephanie Houtzeel Everybody Works! Francis Fukuyama Lawrence Hill Paul Theroux Joshua Foer Marvin Hamlisch Isabel Wilkerson Charles C. Mann James Gleick Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith Jeffrey Eugenides

2010 Jonathan Safran Foer James Ellroy Rev. Jesse Jackson Hyphen-Nation Conference Ron Rash John Irving E. Benjamin Skinner Jon Krakauer Kathryn Stockett David Remnick Bret Easton Ellis Richard Russo Jonathan Franzen Michael Cunningham Lang Lang Lionel Shriver Spike Lee

2009 Malcolm Gladwell Stewart O'Nan Michael Pollan Joseph O'Neill Henry Hudson Sets Sail Toni Morrison Amy Chua David Leavitt NY400 David Simon Saïd Sayrafiezadeh Christopher Caldwell Marvin Hamlisch Jane Alison

2008 Robert B Reich Steve Earle Christopher Hitchens Madeleine Albright Amy Bloom Steve Coll International Literature Festival Ben Katchor Michael Oreskes Paul Auster Lisa Jardine Martin Amis David Sedaris Shelby Steele Dexter Filkins Chip Taylor

2007 Michael Ruse Daniel Mason Daniel Mendelsohn Ariel Levy Antoine van Agtmael Michelle Goldberg Niall Ferguson Nathan Englander Miranda July John Adams & Peter Sellars William Easterly Stedman Graham Dana Thomas Nigella Lawson

2006 Jay McInerney Charles C. Mann James Salter Marc Chavannes Irene Dische A.M. Homes Mark Kurlansky Madeleine Albright John Irving Jonathan Franzen Philip Glass Al Gore Marisha Pessl Tony Judt Harold McGee

2005 Barbara Ehrenreich Writers on the Edge Pauline Maier Martha Nussbaum An American Evening Edward P. Jones R. B. Bernstein Tom Regan Jonathan S. Foer John Adams in Amsterdam Lisa See Jeremy Rifkin Michael Cunningham Eric Schlosser Tom Wolfe China: The New Superpower? Jane Fonda Mark Z. Danielewski Brian Greene Karin Slaughter Eduard van de Bilt Lewis H. Lapham Amitai Etzioni

2004 Aimee Nezhukumatathil Deirdre Bair Ivo Daalder Dutch-American Friendship Day Adrian Nicole LeBlanc Siri Hustvedt Paul Auster Andrew Sean Greer Walter Russell Mead Supreme Court Justice A. Scalia David McCullough Arthur Phillips Louis de Bernières Russell Shorto

2003 Robert Jan van Pelt Neal Pollack Gary Shteyngart Fay Weldon Robert Kagan Paul Krugman Candace Bushnell Michael Connelly Madeleine Albright Philip Kotler Jhumpa Lahiri Michael Ignatieff James Frey

In the past Peter Gay Jeffrey Eugenides Atul Gawande Wayne Johnston Arthur C. Danto Mark Hertsgaard George Plimpton Barbara Kingsolver Naomi Wolf John Irving Chang-rae Lee Jonathan Franzen Deborah Tannen Oliver Sacks Larry Siedentop Edmund White Michael Chabon L. Paul Bremer III Julia Alvarez Robert D. Kaplan Bill Schneider Denise Chong Ryszard Kapuscinski John Gray Jared Diamond Wally Lamb Jane Urquhart David Grossman Paul Theroux Rick Moody Scott Turow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Mordecai Richler Peter Sellars Kristien Hemmerechts Siri Hustvedt Stephen Greenblatt Jonathan Safran Foer John Adams Year 2005