Claire-Louise Bennett: Big Kiss, Bye-Bye

Writer Claire-Louise Bennett, winner of the European Literature Prize 2023, returns to De Balie for a conversation about her new novel Big Kiss, Bye-Bye. Bennett’s work moves between fiction and essay, her distinctive narrative style both unmatched and widely acclaimed. This evening we’ll delve into the essence of intimacy, staying in touch and letting go, and writing about these experiences.
Big Kiss, Bye-Bye
In the new novel Big Kiss, Bye-Bye, Bennett follows a woman uprooted by circumstance from the city to the deep countryside, caught between memories of past loves and the traces they’ve left behind. Each has been both a match and a mismatch, a liberation and a threat to her very sense of self. The most insistent are those of Xavier, who has always been certain he knows her better than anyone—better, even, than she knows herself.

About the speakers
Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in Wiltshire and currently lives in Ireland. In 2013 she was awarded the inaugural White Review Short Story Prize, and her debut book, Pond, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2016. Her second novel, Checkout 19, was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize in 2021 and was included in The New York Times “10 Best Books of 2022” selection. Bennett’s fiction and essays have appeared in a number of publications, including The White Review, Stinging Fly, frieze, Harper’s Magazine, and The New Yorker. Big Kiss, Bye-Bye is her third work of fiction.

Nadia de Vries (Heemskerk, 1991) is a writer, poet, and cultural scholar. Her debut novel De bakvis (2022) was longlisted for both the Libris Literature Prize and the Boekenbon Literature Prize. Earlier, she published the autobiographical Kleinzeer (2019) as well as English-language poetry collections. In 2020, the Dutch newspaper NRC named her one of that year’s literary talents. In the same year, she obtained her PhD in cultural studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her novel Overgave op commando was recently published.