Uit vrouwen geboren

In 1976, Adrienne Rich published the visionary and groundbreaking book Of Woman Born, a history and in-depth analysis of motherhood. A new Dutch-language edition will be published by Nijgh & Van Ditmar in 2025. Historian Lotte Houwink ten Cate explains why Rich's work is still relevant and talks to fellow authors Lize Spit and Daan Borrel.

Adrienne Rich

Since its publication in 1976, Of Woman Born has inspired and challenged generations of women to rethink their thinking about motherhood, freedom and identity. Combining anthropology, feminist theory, literature and psychology with relentless self-examination, Adrienne Rich shows how motherhood affects us all - even those who are not mothers.

How To Be Many Mothers

Under the title ‘How To Be Many Mothers’, Kaaitheater is organising performances and encounters this spring that challenge existing ideas, ideals and stereotypes about motherhood. Also in literature, novels have appeared both internationally (Rachel Cusk, Leslie Jamieson, Miranda July, Ariana Harwicz) and in our language area (Caro Van Thuyne, Niña Weijers, Saskia De Coster, Bregje Hofstede, Anneleen Van Offel) that explicitly claim motherhood as a theme. At the Passa Porta Festival, we therefore join forces and bring together three inspiring writers. 

Lotte, Lize and Daan

Lotte Houwink ten Cate is working on a portrait of the second feminist wave and knows Adrienne Rich's work inside out. She will give a short introduction to Of Woman Born. She will then enter into conversation with Lize Spit and Daan Borrel. In her latest book Autobiografie van mijn lichaam, Spit wrote very openly about her mother and the difficult relationship to her own body. In her novel De dragers Daan Borrel portrays three generations of mothers and themes of pregnancy, giving birth and motherhood are also very present in her non-fiction work.

About the authors

 • Lotte Houwink ten Cate (1990) is a historian and researcher at the University of London. She received her PhD from Columbia University in New York. Essays and opinion pieces by her have appeared in NRC, de Volkskrant and De Groene Amsterdammer. She lives with her son in Amsterdam. In 2024, publisher Pluim published De mythe van het gezin.

 • Lize Spit (born 1988) has lived in Brussels since 2005. In 2016, she published her debut novel Het smelt, which sold more than 250,000 copies, was translated in 16 countries and filmed by Veerle Baetens. In 2020, her second novel Ik ben er niet, was published and last year she had the honour of writing the Book Week gift with De eerlijke vinder. She is a guest lecturer in creative writing at the RITCS and a columnist for De Morgen. In 2024, publisher Das Mag published Autobiografie van mijn lichaam.

 • Daan Borrel (1990) writes essays, prose and theatre. In 2018, she published Soms is liefde dit, her narrative and personal essay on desire and sexuality. Together with Milou Deelen, she wrote the book Krabben- van vrouw tot vrouw (2020). The same year also saw the publication of her book Jaar van het nieuwe verhaal, in which Borrel lets the menstrual cycle guide a new meaning of time, intimacy and love. 2024 saw the publication of her debut novel De dragers, as well as the book Baren outside the box by Bahareh Goodarzi, for which Borrel did the interviews.