TheBookClubXL
Black Joy as Radical Practice
Joy is often imagined as a reward that comes after struggle. But what if joy can be part of the struggle itself, as a strategy for survival and a refusal of a flattened militancy?
The Book Club XL returns to De Nieuwe Liefde to explore what futures become possible when we embrace a full emotional spectrum in social justice activism. We ask: how do we protect our joy, and make sure the next generation grows up knowing it’s theirs too?
Thinking with Black artists and organisers, we treat joy as serious political work. Through books, film and lived experience, we’ll explore how pleasure, play, storytelling, and community-making become tools of resistance in times of crisis.
The following books will lead us through these conversations. As always with the Book Club, you don’t have to read them:
- Black Joy by Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts
- Manorism by Yomi Sode
- White Innocence by Gloria Wekker
- Joyful Militancy by Carla bergman and Nick Montgomery
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Participants
Yomi Ṣode
Yomi Ṣode is an award-winning Nigerian-British writer and poet, recipient of the 2019 Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship and shortlisted for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize (2021), Arts Foundation Awards (2024), and Malorie Blackman Impact Award (2025). Founder of BoxedIn and 12 in 12, his poetry collection Manorism was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, and the Rathbone Folio Prize. His debut novel, The Interpreter will be published by Viking.
Rafik Opti
Rafik Opti is an Amsterdam-based multidisciplinary filmmaker and archivist. Their practice operates at the intersection of image-making and solidarity. Opti uses film as a site of healing and political expression, drawing on the visual language of protest to confront power and imagine liberation. Their documentary Black Joy (Blaka Koloku) received the People’s Choice Award at the Black Trans Short Film Festival.
Randy Da-Costa
Randy Da-Costa is one of the founders of Ye Bo Game. Ye Bo Game is a gaming platform that revolves around games, music and networking. We create moments where people come together around dance, games and positive vibes – always with a strong focus on connection.
Diana Dzhabbar
Diana Dzhabbar is an Afro-Ukrainian multi-instrumentalist based in Amsterdam. Known for her immersive soundscapes, Dzhabbar transforms her instruments into sonic chameleons. She will be joining us with her saxophone, blessing us with a rich blend of expressive horn lines and an array of effects that span from ambient textures to gritty, electronic-infused sounds.
Kriticos
Kriticos is Creator and main host of the Book Club; Kriticos is of Zambian and Tanzanian descent and has been based in Belgium most of his life. He loves discussions about love, spirituality and especially loves questioning the status quo and the systems put in place in today’s society.