Agenda
Café Literario: “From ‘La Calderona’ to Pilar Miró. Actresses and other women in Madrid’s history”
Harry Rijnen interviews the author Maribel Orgaz
Date: Friday July 17, 2026
Time: 19.00 hours
Location: Navalafuente Library, calle Iglesia 13, 28729-Navalafuente, Madrid, Spain
Dramatized talk “Breda surrenders – La Rendición de Breda, 1625”. Historical context and propagandistic use of a military victory.
Three events in The Netherlands, September-October 2026.
BREDA – September 25, 2026 – 20:00 h.
EINDHOVEN – September 30, 2026 – 20:00 h.
‘S HERTOGENBOSCH (BOLDUQUE) – October 9, 2026 – 20:00 h.
Café Literario: “Lope de Vega in the Age of Chatbots. The Relevance of Classical Theatre in the 21st Century”
Date: Friday May 15, 2026
Time: 19.00 hours
Location: Navalafuente Library, calle Iglesia 13, 28729-Navalafuente, Madrid, Spain
Dramatized talk “Moby Dick”
Date: Wednesday May 6, 2026
Time: 20.00 hours
Location: Instituto de Educación Secundaria “Antonio Machado”, Salón Rojo, calle Aduana Vieja 12, 42002 Soria
Dramatized talk “Moby Dick”
The novel ‘Moby Dick’ is an almost infinite source of inspiration for study and debate. In his masterpiece from 1851, Herman Melville not only describes the bloody and dangerous reality of sperm whale hunting, he also broaches many other passionate subjects that are still hotly debated today: the mechanisms of social and political control used by dictators; the origins and characteristics of madness; the relationship between the white western world and other civilizations; the place of religion and organized churches in personal and social life.
Harry Rijnen and Elena Troyano lead their public through the major themes of the book and the personality of its author, giving life to various characters, starting with Herman Melville himself.
Location: Biblioteca pública ‘Ramón Fenàndez Jurado’, sala ‘Margarida Xirgu’, Castelldefels (Barcelona), calle Bisbe Urquinaona 19-21 (Plaça de la Cultura), 08860-Castelldefels.
Date: Monday April 27, 2026
Time: 18.00 hours
Organizer: Ayuntamiento de Castelldefels.
Entry: free
Language: Spanish.
Café Literario: “Hans Fallada (1893-1947): Fail with grandeur. The tragic life of a German author in a country caught up in a permanent crisis.”
As a child, only just survive a horse-kick. As a youngster, kill a friend in a suicide attempt. As a young adult, get trapped in drug addiction: morphine, alcohol, tabaco. Move continuously through health resorts, mental health institutions and prisons. Distance yourself from your parents. Have impossible love-affairs and make yourself impossible in love-affairs. Become the best-selling author in Germany with ‘Little man, what now’, just before the Nazi’s come to power in 1933. Stay in Germany during the whole Nazi-period. In 1946, write a devastating, 700-pages anti-Nazi novel, ‘Alone in Berlin’, in just 10 weeks. Die two months later. This, in short, is the life of Hans Fallada.
Language: Spanish.
Location: Navalafuente Library, calle Iglesia 13, 28729-Navalafuente, Madrid, Spain
Date: Friday March 13, 2026
Time: 19.00 hours
Organizer: Harry Rijnen, in cooperation with the municipality of Navalafuente.
Entry: free
Dramatized talk “Moby Dick”
Language: Spanish.
Location: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, Madrid. For the exact building and room, contact Harry Rijnen
Date: Thursday March 12, 2026
Time: 12.00 hours
Organizer: AEPUMA (Asociación Estudiantes Programa Universitario Mayores) of the UAM.
Entry: free
The novel ‘Moby Dick’ is an almost infinite source of inspiration for study and debate. In his masterpiece from 1851, Herman Melville not only describes the bloody and dangerous reality of sperm whale hunting, he also broaches many other passionate subjects that are still hotly debated today: the mechanisms of social and political control used by dictators; the origins and characteristics of madness; the relationship between the white western world and other civilizations; the place of religion and organized churches in personal and social life.
Harry Rijnen leads his public through the major themes of the book and the personality of its author, giving life to various characters, starting with Herman Melville himself.
Dramatized talk “The 400th anniversary of Breda’s surrender.” Historical context and propagandistic use of a military feat.
Location: ‘Art Singel 100’. Singel 100, 1015 AD Amsterdam, Países Bajos
Date: Sunday March 22, 2026
Time: 15.00 hours
Organizer: Ateneo Cultural Hispánico de Amsterdam.
Language: Spanish
Entry fee: 7 euros.
Four centuries ago, in 1624 and 1625, all of Europe followed the siege of the city of Breda with utmost interest. In June 1625, after ten months of strangling encirclement, the Italian general Spinola and his tens of thousands of troops, fighting for the king of Spain, forced the surrender of the city.
In his talk, dramatized in a surprising and humoristic fashion, Harry – born and raised in Breda – talks about the historical context of the siege, its propagandistic use in later years and, more in general, about the image of the Spanish in the Low Countries, the lands now occupied by The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg.
Dramatized talk “The 400th anniversary of Breda’s surrender.” Historical context and propagandistic use of a military feat.
Location: Salón de Actos de Navalafuente. Camino Real de Bustarviejo 2 , Navalafuente (Madrid)
Date: Friday January 23, 2026
Time: 19.00 hours
Organizer: Ayuntamiento de Navalafuente.
Language: Spanish
Entry free.
Dramatized talk “The 400th anniversary of Breda’s surrender”
Historical context and propagandistic use of military feat.
Location: Koningkerk. Bruijnings Ingenhoeslaan 4, 2273 KR Voorburg, Países Bajos
Date: January 15, 2026
Time: 20.00 hours
Organizer: Asociación Hispánica de La Haya, www.asoha.nl .
Language: Spanish
Entry fee for non-members of the ‘Asociación’: 5 euros.
Café Literario La Nava: “Historical Memory Beyond Spain”
New session of Café Literario La Nava.
On Monday, December 1st, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., we will be at the Municipal Library of Navalafuente (c/ Iglesia 13 – Navalafuente, Madrid) with a new session titled “Historical Memory Beyond Spain. Collective Traumas in Europe, Latin America and Palestine.”
Presentation by Harry Rijnen, followed by a debate.
On this occasion, we will discuss how different societies have dealt with their collective wounds, how narratives about the past are constructed, and how these traumas influence present-day identity and coexistence.
We hope you find this topic as engaging as we did while preparing it, and that you will join us for this new afternoon of conversation and reflection.
We’ll be delighted to see you there again.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Conference in The Hague, The Netherlands “Fifty years of the Spanish Transition. Lessons learned from the Modernisation and Europeanisation of Spain”
Conference in The Hague, The Netherlands “Fifty years of the Spanish Transition. Lessons learned from the Modernisation and Europeanisation of Spain”.
English language conference.
November 10th, 2025, from 13.15 to 17.30 hours.
Location: ‘Clingendael’ Institute
Address: Clingendaal 7, Wassenaar, The Netherlands.
At 14.30 hours, Harry will moderate a panel with Enrique Barón (former president of the European Parliament), Manuela Carmena (former mayor of Madrid) and Zoé de Kerangat, PhD researcher ‘Historic Memory’.
More information: