Can anyone tell me about Dutch culture?

Holland Festival From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Holland Festival is The Netherland's largest performing arts festival and takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theater, music, opera and modern dance. The Festival was founded in 1947 and features some of the world's top artists and performers, as well as performers who haven't yet been discovered by a wide audience. Each edition is loosely themed, and the program features both contemporary work and classical pieces presented with a modern edge. Holland Festival's current Artistic Director is Pierre Audi. Amsterdam Literary Festival From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Amsterdam Literary Festival (ALF) is an annual event, held each May, which aims to put the charming Dutch capital on the world literary map – especially in the lead-up to 2008 when Amsterdam is UNESCO World Book Capital. Not only do authors and speakers from outside the Netherlands attend this festival but, equally importantly, its aim is to showcase the work of diverse writers and poets from its thriving international writers' scene. The festival is already renowned for its out-of-the-box, unstuffy attitude and the quirky events it organises for readers. But there is always plenty to engage the writers: a panel on how to get published or workshops on subjects such as poetry, screenwriting and how to write a novel. Past guests at ALF have included the BBC's Kate Adie OBE, award-winning novelist Sarah Waters and one of the UK's most exciting writers, David Mitchell. Its third edition in 2007 promises to be the best yet. I The idea for the Amsterdam Literary Festival (ALF) was conceived over high tea at Amsterdam's Bakkerswinkel at the end of 2004 by Festival Director Pip Farquharson and partner-in-crime Jennifer Dempsey, both published authors, who were working as arts journalists in the city (in between stuffing their faces with scones and cream and drinking champagne). Earlier that year, they had started organising talks with (mostly) British authors – under the moniker BritLit – as they felt there was a lack of such events in the Dutch capital. Their first Britlit event was held in April 2004 with the BBC's Kate Adie OBE.[edit] ALF 2005 The first edition of the international Amsterdam Literary Festival (ALF) was a small yet defining affair, held in the heart of the historic centre over the weekend of 18-21 May 2005. Guests included Independent on Sunday columnist Rohan Candappa, author of The Curious Incident of the WMD in Iraq; BBC Radio 4 presenter and columnist for[[The Times]], Libby Purves; prolific Hodder & Stoughton author Sarah Harrison; and a new talent in fiction from London, Valerie Mason-John, who gave a marvellous introduction to her acclaimed debut novel, "Borrowed Body". Visitors to the festival not only enjoyed a range of author talks and book-signings but also workshops on subjects ranging from slam poetry and journalistic reporting to plot development and how to write a blockbuster. There were also a number of fun events such as a high-tea salon, literary walking tour-c0m-workshop and the infamous Books, Boats & Booze Cruise... The 2005 (and 2006) edition were organised with invaluable input from Megan Garr of wordsinhere, an international collective of local writers in Amsterdam who are also the folks behind international literary magazine Versal.[edit] ALF 2006 The 2006 edition, held from 19-21 May 2006, drew high-profile guests including award-winning novelist Sarah Waters and returning speakers: David Mitchell and Kate Adie. Sebastian Peake, the son of Mervyn Peake, gave a riveting, illustrated talk on the work of his late father, author of the Gormenghast trilogy and illustrator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Like the 2005 edition, local authors – many of them known around the world – were very much in focus. They included events with Rodney Bolt (History Play: The Lives and After-life of Christopher Marlowe, Lorenzo da Ponte: The Adventures of Mozart's Librettist in the Old and New Worlds), Ken Wilkie (The Van Gogh File, Rambling with Rembrandt), Carol Ann Lee (Anne Frank's Story, The Hidden Life of Otto Frank, Begraven als een koning), Judith Weingarten (The Chronicle of Zenobia – The Rebel Queen) and Niala Maharaj (Like Heaven).[edit] ALF 2007 For the 2007 edition of ALF, the existing festival organisers – Pip Farquharson, Helen Mason and Kate Burwell – joined forces with members of LPA (Literaire Podia Amsterdam), a network of diverse literary organisations in the city. The decision to merge was made not only create to a larger, more diverse festival for the public but also to strengthen relations between English-speakers, the Dutch and other nationalities – as well as booksellers and publishers – in the city. This collaboration has resulted in a strong, core team of organisers who share both a passion for literature and creating engaging and innovative public events. ALF 2007 will be held from Tuesday 15 May to Sunday 20 May. Guests confirmed so far are Sandi Toksvig, Elif Shafak, Stella Duffy, Kate Mosse, Monica Ali, Kader Abdolah, John Hegley, Pete Jordan aka Dishwasher Pete, Julie Phillips, Bart Plantenga, Lynn Kaplanian-Buller, Saskia de Coster, Bart Koubaa, Tom Lanoye, Yves Petry, David van Reybrouck, Arjen Fortuin, Kristien Hemmerechts, Tom Naegels, Peter Terrin and Annelies Verbeke. ALF's partners in 2007 are: Amsterdam Writing Workshops, Borderline Books, Castrum Peregrini, Crime Jazz, De Kan, EasyLaughs, Fonds voor de Letteren, Goethe-Institut, Lucebertfestival, Maison Descartes, OBA, Perdu, Rijksmuseum, Rozentheater, School der Poëzie, SLAA, Stichting Schrijven, Van Gogh Museum, Woof!, wordsinher Anne Frank House From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Anne Frank House Established 1635 (house) 1960 (museum) Location Prinsengracht 265–267 Amsterdam, Netherlands Visitor figures 982,000 (2006)[1] Website www.annefrank.org The Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is a museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank, who hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the building. As well as the preservation of the hiding place — known as the Achterhuis — and an exhibition on the life and times of Anne Frank, the museum acts as an exhibition space to highlight all forms of persecution and discrimination. It opened on May 3, 1960 with the aid of public subscription, three years after a foundation was established to protect the property from developers who wanted to demolish the block. Contents [hide] * 1 History of the house * 2 Museum * 3 See also * 4 References * 5 External link[edit] History of the house The canal-side façade of the former Opekta building on the Prinsengracht canal in 2002. The hiding place (the Achterhuis) was at the rear. The canal-side façade of the former Opekta building on the Prinsengracht canal in 2002. The hiding place (the Achterhuis) was at the rear. The house — and the one next door at number 265, which was later purchased by the museum — were built by Dirk van Delft in 1635. The canal-side facade dates from a renovation of 1739 when the rear annex was demolished and the taller one which now stands built in its place. It was originally a private residence, then a warehouse, and in the nineteenth century, the front warehouse with its wide stable-like doors was used to house horses. At the start of the 20th century a manufacturer of household appliances occupied the building, succeeded in 1930 by a producer of piano rolls, who vacated the property by 1939. On December 1, 1940 Anne's father Otto Frank moved the offices of the spice and gelling companies he worked for, Opekta and Pectacon, from an address on the Singel canal to Prinsengracht 263. The ground floor consisted of three sections; the front was the goods and despatch entrance, behind it in the middle section were the spice mills, and at the rear, which was the ground floor of the annexe, was the warehouse where the goods were packed for distribution. On the first floor above were the offices of Frank's employees; Miep Gies, Bep Voskuijl and Johannes Kleiman in the front office; Victor Kugler in the middle; with Otto Frank in the rear office above the warehouse and below the floors which would later hide him and his family for two years until their betrayal to the Nazi authorities. The Achterhuis (Dutch for "back house") or Secret Annex — as it was called in The Diary of a Young Girl, an English translation of the diary — is the rear extension of the building. It was concealed from view by houses on all four sides of a quadrangle. Its secluded position made it an ideal hiding place for Otto Frank, his wife Edith, two daughters (of whom Anne was the youngest), and four other Jewish people seeking refuge from Nazi persecution. Though the total amount of floor space in the habitated rooms came to only about 500 square feet, Anne Frank wrote in her diary that it was relatively luxurious compared to other hiding places they had heard about. They remained hidden here for two years and one month until they were anonymously betrayed to the Nazi authorities, arrested, and deported to their deaths in concentration camps. Of the hidden group, only Otto Frank survived the war. After those in hiding were arrested the hiding place was cleared by order of the arresting officers and all the remaining contents (clothes, furniture, and personal belongings) of the Frank family and thei