Radio Kakkerlak

Inge Wannet and Anne Lichthart received a grant for the development of literary audio works. Radio Kakkerlak is a project that makes literature audible in the form in which it wants to be heard. A "kakkerlakje" is a small, illustrated booklet published by Uitgeverij Loopvis that can be sent by post like a card. Drawing on these literary mini booklets, which address themes ranging from comfort to activism and from birth to death, the makers do not create straightforward readings, but new, independent audio works in which sound, rhythm and space function as an additional narrative voice. Each 10 to 15-minute episode stands as a literary work in its own right, with its form tailored to the character of the selected booklet: from radio play to interview or montage. The result is an accessible and surprising listening experience that invites renewed engagement with literature, and with reading itself. In total, 20 diverse "kakkerlakjes" will be translated into unique audio stories in which text, image and sound come together.

Inge is an audio maker, theatre maker and writer. Her works include De Manuscriptendief with Hanna Bervoets, De luistertocht door het Pauperparadijs with Suzanna Jansen, and de audio work Het Nijmegen van Thomas Verbogt. She also created the kakkerlakje Hier kan alles nog gebeuren. Her style is poetic, layered and sensory.

Anne is a writer, librettist and audio maker. Together with illustrator Cynthia Borst, she created the books Zeeboerin and the kakkerlakje Voor zoet en zuur. She wrote the libretto for Bruid te koop! for the Dutch National Touring Opera, adapted several novels into radio plays, and developed, wrote and directed multiple audio dramas. Anne writes in primary colours with distilled language with a friction that crackles between the lines.