In 1985, Frans Lopulalan’s debut novel Under the Snow, an Indies Grave was published by Uitgeverij In de Knipscheer. It was the first novel to describe the experiences of Moluccan Dutch people: from life in the barracks of Woerden to the move to a Moluccan neighborhood in Leerdam.

The novel was widely praised in the press. Leidsch Dagblad named it the best literary debut of the year, and de Volkskrant also described it as an excellent book. After that, things were quiet around Lopulan for a while, until he published his second—and final—book in 1994. He passed away in 2020.

Gerlov van Engelenhoven, Dje-Rimo Holle, and Zippora Elders will engage in a conversation about the legacy of Lopulan’s first novel. Van Engelenhoven is an assistant professor at Leiden University and specializes in silences in (postcolonial) texts. Holle is a spoken word artist who debuted in 2024 with the collection Firefly. Elders is the director of the Photography Museum in Rotterdam.