Faculty Club: One Book One Campus (in Dutch)

Tuesday 21 October 2025 from 17:45 to 19:30

On Tuesday 21 October, you are welcome to join us at the Faculty Club for a special One Book One Campus lecture. In a world where power and inequality are becoming increasingly visible, Birnam Wood – the book chosen for One Book One Campus 2025 – shows how young activists and a wealthy tech billionaire clash in their ideals and interests. The story provides a poignant picture of the tensions between idealism, power and destructive influences.

Guests include Agnes Andeweg (associate professor of Literary Studies, ľ�ϸ��Ӱ�� College Utrecht) and Geert Buelens (professor of Modern Dutch Literature, Utrecht ľ�ϸ��Ӱ��). They will discuss the themes from Birnam Wood, based on Buelens' own book Wat we toen al wisten (What we already knew then, 2022). In this book, Buelens delves into history: 50 years after the Club of Rome sounded the alarm (‘Limits to Growth’), he shows that the environmental crisis is much older than we think and that the scientific and political struggle over it is not new either.

*The evening is free of charge and open to everyone – whether or not you have read the book.

Programme:

5:45 p.m. – Reception with welcome drink (Kanunnikenzaal)
6:00 p.m. – Lecture ‘Birnam Wood’ – what makes this book so special, what can we learn from it? (Kanunnikenzaal)
7:15 p.m. – Reflection and Q&A (with drinks and snacks) (Kanunnikenzaal)
7:30 p.m. – Closing (Kanunnikenzaal)

About Geert Buelens' book

Wat we toen al wisten (What we already knew back then, 2022) describes the environmental year 1972: from the Club of Rome's report Limits to Growth to the first UN environmental conference, and the cultural and political reactions to it. The book was longlisted for the Jan Wolkers Prize and won the De Boon Prize for best fiction or non-fiction.

About One Book One Campus

This year, the ľ�ϸ��Ӱ�� Library is organising the sixth edition of this special reading event for students, staff and alumni of Utrecht ľ�ϸ��Ӱ��. One book connects us all: readers meet each other, exchange experiences and discover new perspectives.