Benny Lindelauf

‘The Nutcrackergirl’ is back! The story of the Nutcracker with a twist is this time performed in a new direction and adaptation by the Flanders Symphony Orchestra. With the fantastic Kiki van Aubel in the role of actress who had hoped to be allowed to dance in the famous ballet. But that turns out a little differently. The audience helps to bring this story to a good end.

A funny, exciting performance and you get a whole orchestra for free with the great music of Tchaikovsky.

Performed in January 2025 in Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and Heist op den Berg.

For more information and performance dates see: www.symfonieorkest.be

Two years ago, my father-in-law passed away after a year of illness. He made a great impression on me with his resigned attitude. He simply continued living: a drink every now and then, looking at his garden, a piece of cheese, until that life was over. He died peacefully in his sleep. At his farewell, I read a story that became the original version of the book that has now been published.

‘The woman and his head’ is a picture book for adults. It is about dealing with loss, with illness, but also about resilience and hope. When I had written the story, I knew immediately that there was only one illustrator I wanted to ask to provide the story with images: the Flemish Ingrid Godon, who makes beautiful and very different work, but whom I specifically asked for her phenomenal portraits. Ingrid read the story and immediately responded: ‘Yes, I would love to.’ We went to publisher Querido together and they loved it too. And now it is here.

Last spring and summer, the Flemish theatre groups Laika and Froefroe performed two plays based on my books ‘How Tortot lost his fish-heart’ and ‘Wholesome stories for half a soldier.Laika produced the anti-war fairy tale ‘Tortot’ and Froefroe made ‘Prins Arthur’, a gothic thriller about a puppeteer who will stop at nothing to maintain his success. Puppets played the leading role in those performances. I have come to love puppeteers very much. It is so incredibly clever to see how they manage to breathe life into a puppet. It is also moving when you see how precisely puppeteers work together to operate one puppet and make themselves invisible.

I am really looking forward to a revival of both plays. When the time comes, I will announce it on my website. In any case, I will be in the audience. Breathless.

Marieke Nelissen, illustrator of ‘They had counted their sheep’ was awarded last month by the Griffel and Penselen jury.

Rightly so. For the book she made truly eye-catching images that not only tell the story, but complement and enrich it.

This autumn it will be announced which of the Silver Brush winners can take home the Golden brush.

Anyway, she already has my vote.

When I was a kid, I read a lot. The rest of the time I played outside. TV for children was, at least in my memory, only on Wednesday afternoons. Belgian TV broadcasted ‘The World of Disney’. There could be cartoons or a nature documentary, you never knew what was coming, but I loved to watch. Sometimes there was only a promising test image with ‘Please wait’. And now, at this very moment, half a century later and after a trajectory of seven years, ‘Fly the coop’ is being shot. A movie for which I wrote the screenplay. For the Disney+ streaming service, directed by Tim Oliehoek in co production with Elbe Stevens Film. To be seen only on Disney +. So “Please wait’.