Cor Swanenberg (81) from Berlicum has never earned a dime from the Brabants Boekske. And then the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund also rejected a subsidy application because it was submitted a week too late. “I thought it would cease to exist, but we are now almost sold out,” says the dialect fanatic.
The curtain almost fell on the bundle of dialect stories, much to the chagrin of quite a few language fanatics. But this year’s edition turned out to be a great success. Out of 396 books there are seven left.
“There have never been so many printed”, says Jan Luysterburg (78) beaming. The former Dutch teacher was given the dialect of Hoogerheide as his mother tongue. He has been fond of dialect ever since. “Because you can express your feelings and thoughts so beautifully with it.”
Jan joined Cor Swanenberg a few years ago, who was at the cradle of the Brabants Boekske. With a small club of passionate admirers of regional language, they make it every year on a voluntary basis book. “After 17 years you can speak of a tradition”, Luysterburg responds proudly. “But it’s also been loss-making for 17 years.”
“We saw it very gloomy.”
That will no longer be possible in 2023. Paper is too expensive, printing is unaffordable and enthusiasm is low. If, to make matters worse, the club is also a week late in submitting an important subsidy application, the curtain seems to be closed. book to fall.
“We were very gloomy,” says Cor Swanenberg. For him, this would really be the last edition anyway. He thinks it was nice. After a few months on the drip, Jan Luysterburg wakes it up book back to life in February. He arranges a lender to pay the publisher. “By now we had gotten quite a bit of publicity with it,” he says.
The passion and perseverance of the club attract attention and admiration. Jan joins talk show KRAAK and gets his story in the newspaper. And meanwhile the requests for it are pouring in book inside.
“My goal was that
Luysterburg: “We were able to repay the lender and already have a small fund for next year. I am of course very happy. My goal was that the book could continue to exist.” The edition of 2024 will in any case almost certainly come.