37. Writer. Traveller. Witness. (Ft. Bob Van Laerhoven)

NOTICE: I've been trying out some new audio things which has improved the quality of Bob's audio but mine seems to have been somewhat sub-par this episode. This shouldn't be too much of an issue however as this episode is mostly led by Bob. Thanks for listening!

In the latest episode of Blood on the Rocks, I'm joined by special guest Bob Van Laerhoven and we talk about his experiences of the Bosnian War including atrocities he witnessed or received personal accounts of, as well as his book 'Return to Hiroshima', and his current life running a reserve for horses with his wife Carolyn who is an equitherapist.

 About Bob Van LaerhovenBob van Laerhoven was born on August 8th 1953 in the sandy soil of Antwerp’s Kempen, a region in Flanders (Belgium),bordering to The Netherlands, where according to the cliché ‘pig-headed clodhoppers’ live. This perhaps explains why he started to write stories at a particularly young age.

DEBUT

Van Laerhoven made his debut as a novelist in 1985 with ” Night Game.” He quickly became known for his ‘un-Flemish’ style: he writes colorful, kaleidoscopic novels in which the fate of the individual is closely related to broad social transformations. His style slowly evolved in his later novels to embrace more personal themes while continuing to branch out into the world at large. International flair has become his trademark.

AVID TRAVELLER

Bob Van Laerhoven became a full-time author in 1990. The context of his stories isn’t invented behind his desk; rather it is rooted in personal experience. As a freelance travel writer, for example, he explored conflicts and trouble-spots across the globe from 1990 to 2004. Echoes of his experiences on the road also trickle through in his novels. Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Gaza, Iran, Mozambique, Burundi, Lebanon, Iraq, Myanmar… to name but a few.

MASS MURDERS

During the Bosnian war, Van Laerhoven spent part of 1992 in the besieged city of Sarajevo. Three years later he was working for MSF—Doctors without frontiers—in the Bosnian city of Tuzla during the NATO bombings. At that moment the refugees arrived from the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica. Van Laerhoven was the first writer from the Low Countries to be given the chance to speak to the refugees. His conversations resulted in a travel book: “ Srebrenica. Testimony to a Mass Murder.” The book denounces the rape and torture of the Muslim population of this Bosnian-Serbian enclave and is based on first-hand testimonies. He also concludes that mass murders took place, an idea that was questioned at the time but later proven accurate.

Check out Bob’s Website at http://www.bobvanlaerhoven.be/en.

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Intro/Outro music by Akshay Tailor

Intermission Music by Nox Arcana (noxarcana.com)

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