Read My World Kick-Off 2026

Aca Siwabessy Stoffels is a celebrated author and speaker. Her debut, Padede (2024), was a great success and gave a powerful voice to Moluccan stories. With performances on various stages, an inspiring trip to the Moluccas, and a second book in progress, she continues to build bridges between cultures.

Jessica Manuputty grew up in Lunteren, far from the Moluccan islands that her grandparents were once forced to leave behind. But they carried the music of Maluku with them: traditional folk songs with rhythms like the swell of the waves and melodies like a warm sea breeze over the beach. As long as Jessica can remember, these songs have filled her family’s living room. From a young age, she learned to sing these Lagu Lagu in three-part harmony together with her mother and sister.

Her love and talent for music eventually brought her to the Utrecht Conservatory, where she graduated cum laude. After that, Jessica made a name for herself as a singer in the Dutch jazz, soul, and pop scene. She performed with national and international acts such as Jett Rebel, the Metropole Orkest, and Jacob Collier, playing sold-out venues like Paradiso and appearing at festivals such as Pinkpop, Lowlands, North Sea Jazz, and Sziget.

But the rhythm of the waves and the warm sea breeze had settled deep into her DNA, along with the homesickness her grandparents always carried for their island in the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago. These deeply rooted emotions found expression in Jessica’s solo albums TOMA! and Toma Terus, live-recorded albums featuring the Lagu Lagu of her childhood. With these, she toured across the Netherlands and the Moluccas with her band. Jessica is currently working on a new album.

Gloria Lappya is a writer and poet. In 2023, she self-published her first poetry collection, Mesra. Last year, in 2025, Gloria won the Midden-Drenthe Cultural Talent Award. Through her writing, she aims to pave the way for the generations that follow her. Gloria is currently focusing on writing fiction. Her goal is to ensure that Moluccan literature is included on school reading lists.

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(1960, former transit camp Westerbork, which was later renamed ‘Schattenberg residential area’).

Rinsampessy is a versatile Dutch poet, writer, spoken word artist, social worker, and cultural organiser from Assen, with a Moluccan–Timorese background that has had a major influence on his work and identity. He works as a cultural coach and combines art, culture, and social work. Rinsampessy has been active as a poet and performer since the 1980s. He frequently performs with musicians and fellow poets, seeking connections between poetry and music.

Rinsampessy has several publications to his name. Well-known works include the poetry collections Begitu Sadja / Zomaar (1996), Zonder Spelregels (2005/2014), and Elke dag Holland, Manis é (2020). His work is characterised by themes such as identity, Moluccan history, and everyday life, often bilingual in Dutch and Malay.

His poetry is strongly connected to Roots Poetry, a form in which he explores his ethnic and cultural roots while expressing the self-awareness gained through them in language and oral performance. Rinsampessy is inspired by one of his favourite poets, the Indonesian poet Rendra. He had the opportunity to meet Rendra twice: in 1998 at his home in Bogor (Central Java), thanks to the then Dutch ambassador Brouwer, and in 1999 in Leiden, before Rendra gave a lecture at Leiden University.

In 2023, Rinsampessy won the DHV Prize 2022 as co-author of the book Van Top tot Teen Molukker, vijf generaties in Assen, receiving both the jury prize and the audience prize.

Since 2024, Rinsampessy has been giving workshops on “writing, singing, and performing pantuns” to groups and in schools, with the aim of preserving this poetic form. Pantun is a verse form that was especially used and sung by the first generation of Moluccans, often rooted in improvisation. His poetry projects—sometimes in collaboration with others—are also featured in publications such as Portretten ontmoeten de Poëzie, Molukse ouderen in woord en beeld (2003) and the school youth project In de Ban van de taal (2006).

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