About this event
The third edition of Beira Network takes place on 30 October 2026 at Casa Gerrit Komrij in Vila Pouca da Beira. This time we're joining forces with the Fundação Gerrit Komrij to give the evening a strong cultural dimension. Alongside the networking, the gardens of the house will host an exhibition of artworks, with live music, poetry readings and performances throughout the evening. Jos van den Hoogen, Daniel Rocha and Arie Pos present the recent bilingual (Dutch and Portuguese) edition of their translation of the collection Apocrief/Apócrifo (Apocrypha) by Lucebert, one of Holland's foremost and most innovative 20th century poets. We will also present a real estate project that Beira Network has helped bring about — an example of the connections the network makes possible. Doors open at 18:00. This edition is by invitation only. Places are limited, but you can register your interest.
Program
-
18:00
Doors open and garden exhibition.
Welcome drink and a free visit to the artworks, with background music.
-
18:45
Welcome by Beira Network and the Fundação Gerrit Komrij.
-
19:00
Live poetry.
Readings including work by Gerrit Komrij.
-
19:20
Networking and snacks.
-
20:00
Live performance.
-
20:45
Open networking.
-
21:45
Closing music set.
-
22:15
Close.
Performing artists
-
Hagar Peeters
Hagar Peeters (1972) is one of the best-known poets in the Netherlands. She broke through at the Double Talk festival in 1997 and made her debut in 1999 with the collection "Genoeg gedicht over de liefde vandaag". Her second collection, "Koffers zeelucht" (2003), won the J.C. Bloem Prize and the Jo Peters Poetry Prize. In 2015 she published her acclaimed debut novel "Malva", about the forgotten daughter of Pablo Neruda.
-
Simon Mulder
Simon Mulder (1986) is a poet, essayist and performance artist with a love of fixed-form poetry. He studied linguistics in Leiden and philosophy and classics in Amsterdam, and taught Greek and Latin for twelve years before devoting himself fully to literature. As artistic director of the literary collective Feest der Poëzie he brings both his own work and the classics of literary history to life on stage, and he has performed in Belgium, England, France, Portugal, Russia and Japan. His translations of Paul Verlaine, "Volmaakt moment" (2022), earned him the Thérèse Cornips grant. He has recited Gerrit Komrij's work here in Vila Pouca da Beira before, at the 2022 commemoration of the poet.
-
Chris Kokkeel
Chris Kokkeel (Breda, 2000) is a dancer, choreographer and director. He trained at the Fontys Dance Academy, the Dutch National Ballet Academy and the Lucia Marthas Institute for Performing Arts, and was on stage in the Stage Entertainment production "Droomvlucht" at just eleven. His energetic style combines classical training with free dance, singing and performance, and music is the foundation of everything he makes; Michael Jackson and Ryuichi Sakamoto are among his great inspirations. He works across theatre, film, poetry and dance. In 2022 he performed in Vila Pouca da Beira at the commemoration of Gerrit Komrij, with a piece inspired by Komrij's poem "Waar ik van houd".
-
Rui Monteiro Trio
Rui Monteiro is a multidisciplinary Portuguese artist who began his musical career in the 1990s, playing in projects ranging from rock, pop and folk to world music. In the early 2000s he turned to experimental electronic music, founding his own orchestra, the Sound Video Artes Ensemble, which blends image and sound into a single performance. In 2005 he started his solo project Diat0m, at the crossroads of art, science and technology, and in 2010 he took his first steps into jazz. In 2025 he launched the trio under his own name, together with Elias Alves and Afonso Cruz.
-
Daniel Neto Rocha
Daniel Neto Rocha (1982) is an actor, playwright and writer. Born in Guarda and raised in Famalicão da Serra, he studied Modern Languages and Literature (Portuguese Studies) at the University of Coimbra and holds a Master's in Theatre from the University of Évora, with a dissertation on the dramaturgy of silence in Beckett's "Krapp". He is co-founder of the theatre company Sou Só, which creates "stories that reach where words alone cannot". Alongside his work for the stage he writes poetry.
-
Jos van den Hoogen
Jos van den Hoogen (Waalwijk, 1949) is a Dutch painter and literary translator who has lived in Portugal since 2012, in the Serra da Estrela region. He studied language and literature at Radboud University Nijmegen and taught in higher education for many years, while training himself in art history and painting under his mentor and friend Pieter Sonnemans. His paintings often weave in text and deal with the human condition. His series include "Sonho Lusitano", about the landscapes and people around the Serra da Estrela, "Something in our mind", "Portraits", "Sketches" and "Todesfuge", after Paul Celan's poem. As a translator he works between Dutch and Portuguese language and culture.