VONK & Zonen is a literary production house. We make connections between creator and audience, between society and literature. We do this by organising festivals, presentation evenings, residencies, talent development projects and on-demand projects.
We work together with libraries, theatres, social services, schools, civil society organisations, care homes, governments and cultural centres.
The core assignment of VONK & Zonen as a unique literary production house is to put literary creators in motion so that together we can connect Dutch poetry and literature with the community in Flanders and Brussels. We pay extra attention to new voices, stories, presentation forms and links with other disciplines. VONK & Zonen connects with literary makers by supporting them artistically, productionally and in business terms.
VONK & Zonen was founded in 2011 by Andy Fierens, Maarten Inghels, Dave Van Gestel and Michaël Vandebril. In the following years they initiated and supported many projects, from Fatena’s Poetry salon, Nuff Said, IJZER 2018 to De Nacht van VONK and De Eenzame Uitvaart.
The aim was always to promote literature outside of the book. In the pioneering years of VONK & Zonen there were also collaborations with Poëziecentrum and La Maison de la Poésie, around the project Dichter des Vaderlands. There were multidisciplinary nights organized in De Studio and formats were developed like Poëziebordeel.
VONK & Zonen stands out for its social commitment, but also for its swagger and fun, and this thanks to fresh formats with innovative crossovers between disciplines and the unexpected audiences they reach with them. VONK & Zonen sought and found new ways to present literature ‘outside the book’.
In recent years, VONK & Zonen has been focusing on its role as an incubator of literary initiatives. Important in this is the launch of the Watlab, a residency place for literary makers. The decision to put makers at the helm, to create an incubator for enterprising literary makers, prompted VONK & Sons to look for a workplace with room for literature in all its forms. She found it in the Blikfabriek in Hoboken, a haven for creativity, a place for enterprising people and new initiatives, with a mix of cultural and social actors in an open and accessible structure.
Pim Cornelussen artistic & business coordination
pim.cornelussen@vonkenzonen.be
Lora De Baeremaeker production & communication
lora.debaeremaeker@vonkenzonen.be
Anke Tilley production & communications assistant