Constance Debré and Saskia de Coster, on families you’re given and families you choose, and the limits on freedom within family structures

To a certain extent, that is what Constance Debré had to do when she came out of the closet as a lesbian in her mid-40s. She left her husband, who started a legal struggle over the custody of their son, as he claimed that Debré would not be a suitable mother in her new life as a lesbian. Debré’s second novel, Love Me Tender, sketches the events that followed: she was not allowed to see her child for a long time, and her ex-husband seemed to be sowing conflict between them. The legal case was based on the assumption that a queer parent cannot be a good parent. Debré will talk with Flemish author Saskia de Coster, known in part for her semi-autobiographical novel Nachtouders. While travelling through Canada, she questions (monogamous) love, her role as a non-biological queer parent, and the insecurity that it calls up in her. Debré and De Coster will discuss these questions and issues, which will inevitably raise the question: how much freedom does literature give these writers (and others) to shape their own lives?

Moderator: Eke Krijnen.

English spoken