12 vragen aan... Lola Lafon, schrijver van Als je naar dit lied luistert. Een nacht in het Achterhuis

N.B. Lees ook een fragment uit Als je naar dit lied luistert en Renée van Heerwaardens aanbeveling van Quand tu écouteras cette chanson.

When do you read?

I read in the morning when I wake up before I go writing, early in the morning, around 7. For me reading works to get in the right mood for writing fiction. I read a lot of different stuff. I read a lot in the train also, on my way. Some writers find it distracting to read other writers when they are in the process of writing themselves. But not for me. I don't get distracted from that at all.

What book comforts you?

I don't think a book should comfort you. It may be a disturbance, might change you, I'm not looking for comfort in books. Dogs comfort you.

What book do you force upon your friends?

I have plenty, Marlene Haushofer, The Invisible Wall, published in the sixties. And a French book, Chantal Thomas, Comment supporter sa liberté. And, of course, any book from Georges Pérec… Im really happy to discuss them afterwards with friends. If I read a book I like I photograph a page and send it to them, I love to talk about books.

What book changed your life?

SO many, hard to chose just one. A book from John Irving changed my life, Hotel New Hampshire. I read it after I was date raped. Before Metoo nothing was said about these subjects. We were so lonely… In this novel the character writes love letters to her rapist, she’s in denial. That really connected with me because I had a similar experience this novel was such a huge help…

What book changed your mind?

A lot of them made me reconsider my views. Or made me doubt. I love it when readers tell me after reading La petite communiste qui ne souriait jamais, my novel about Nadia Comanedi (translated in Dutch too), they saw former eastern countries differently.

What book do you reread at least once a year?

Sometimes I have books I read for their music, their rhythm. Flaubert is one of them, you always pick up something new. Laura Kasischke, I love the way she writes female characters, they look very ordinary but are in totally crazy. And Georges Pérec, anything from Pérec. Because he’s a master in using simple words to make great literature…

What book turned you into a reader?

Simone de Beauvoir’s memories. I was 15 and amazed to ‘meet’ a woman I could connect to, it was as if time had no meaning at all, or the notion of ‘different generations’.

What was the first book you ever read?

Alice in Wonderland I think.

What book would you like to have written yourself?

Blonde from Joyce Carol Oates, a masterpiece that combines all sorts of styles, it has a wonderful rhythm and powerful images…

Someone lends you a time machine. Which writer do you visit?

Virginia Woolf, to spend some time with her would be interesting, and we could talk together about how hard it is to write, how hard it is not to write!

Lees op onze site recensies en fragmenten over haar oeuvre via onze bespreking van Orlando.

Who is your favourite Dutch author?

Lize Spit, Flemish but close, I loved it.

Lees op onze site alles over Lize Spit.

What is your favourite spot in Amsterdam?

EYE Film Museum, take the boat there, the lovely view on the city.

Could you pinpoint the moment you decided to start writing this book?

I was asked by a French publisher if I wanted to write for the Une nuit dans la musée series. Next thing, during the night, I woke up with a startle and her name came to me: Anne Frank. I immediately knew I wanted to go to Anne Frank House.

Who is your favourite character in the book?

Maybe my grandmother, Ida Goldman, who was a wonderful intellectual woman, even though she couldn’t read: she started working in the ghetto, in Poland, when she was 8, and couldn’t go to school. Then she flew Poland and came to France and had to hide during the war. But nonetheless, for her, books were everything: she listened to every radio show about books. You can be a literature lover even though you can't read.