Mensen Mogen Ook Niks Meer Zeggen

People Say Things presents: People Are Also Not Allowed to Say Anything More

It is sometimes said of banks that they are too big to fail, but what about people? What happens when a pop star is so big that she can influence the US presidential election? Is it fair that we expect that if someone has this power, she will use it? And what is our own responsibility when we make someone great? And what about Taylor Swift specifically, undeniably the biggest star of the moment?

The first prize Taylor Swift ever won was for the poem The Monster In My Closet. What are the monsters in Taylor's closet? Private plane pollution? White feminism? When does she speak out and when not? To what extent does she dare to allow herself to be 'cancelled' and where does it end? We have questions!

The Taylor Swift idolization and veneration may not have reached a peak yet, but her persona has now reached prophetic proportions. With poets, writers and spoken word artists, swifties and non-swifties, Mensen Zeggen Dingen looks at Taylor Swift this festival season. From positions of power to god complexes and from vulnerability to parasocial relationships: a Love Story? Or will there be Karma and Bad Blood?

Director: Nilay Ceber
Programming: Nilay Ceber, Hendrik de Pecker, Teddy Tops
Presentation: Teddy Tops
Artists: Dean Bowen, Yentl van Stokkum, Sophia Blyden, Asmae Ammadou, Teddy Tops and Martin Rombouts

Dean Bowen

Dean Bowen (1984) is a poet, performer and program maker. He is concerned with the dynamics of composite identity and how it relates to political and social positioning. His debut collection Bokman (2018) is lyrical, passionate and furious; a personal quest that reveals universal patterns and allows many voices to speak. In 2020, the chapbook I found no ghosts in Achtmaal was published. This publication was produced in collaboration with the Tilt literary festival and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds – North Brabant.

Sophia Blyden

Sophia Blyden is a writer, poet, host and studied Modern Dutch Literature in Leiden. In her texts she explores themes such as loneliness, power relations and the boundary between fact and fiction. She likes to look for words that reflect the hopeless status of our world without eschewing hope, humor and self-mockery. She likes to use the symbolism of fairy tales and animals. She is part of the editorial staff of the literary magazine Tirade, sits on the Advisory Board for the Dutch Foundation for Literature and programs for Mensen Zeggen Dingen. She is also writing her debut novel at Uitgeverij Querido.

Yentl van Stokkum

Yentl van Stokkum is a poet, playwright, performer and swiftie. After her Writing for Performance training, she was selected for various talent development programs, including the Slow Writing Lab and Winter Garden. She wrote for HNTJong and Silke van Kamp, among others, with whom she was nominated for the BNG Bank Theater Prize for the performance 'Chimo Said Lila'. Yentl is part of the editorial staff of literary magazine De Revisor and, together with Joost Oomen and Stefanie Liebreks, curates the popular Instagram account poeticisendaad. The anthology they compiled, For All Days, was published by Uitgeverij Podium in June 2023.

Asmae Ammadou

Asmae Amaddaou is a writer and studies at the University of the Arts in Utrecht. She participated in a project between the HKU and the Stut Theater, where she was inspired by the Utrecht Overvecht district and the people who walk around there. This resulted in the collection of poems The world is ours. The World is Ours is an ode to the bottom of society; for the people in the neighborhoods we have forgotten.

Teddy Tonks

Writer of journalistic articles and prose. Likes to turn big things in life into small common threads and likes to pull the little things way out of proportion. Has the writing style of a detective and the name of a superheroine. Hosts and programs People Say Things monthly in EKKO in Utrecht and quarterly in Paradiso, Amsterdam. Writes, programs and hosts for, among others, the Dakhaas, Theaterfestival Boulevard, RAUM, We Are Public, De Persgroep, etc.

Martin Rombouts

Martin Rombouts is a writer, theater maker and performer. His work is an investigation into the present, into the stories and forces that shape our lives. He has a special interest in economics, love, power, grief, the military and AI. Since graduating, Rombouts has worked at the intersection of literature, theater and new media. In 2023, Martin won The Smartest Person.