Antwerp British and International Women

About The Antwerp British & International Women

The ABIW is a friendly group of English-speaking women of various nationalities. We try to help expatriates who have recently arrived to find their feet and to learn something about life Antwerp and Belgium.

Many of our members are here permanently, either because they decided to make their lives here or they are married to Belgian men. This means that the friends you make will not all be disappearing after a year or so!

See our membership page for more information.

Upcoming Activities

Non-members are welcome to many of our events.

You do not need to be an expatriate to join us. Just speak English!

There is a 5 euro fee for first-time and "out-of-town" guests at our General Meeting and some other activities.
The fee is reimbursed if you join. The fee for other guests is 10 euros.

Use our Contact Form to let us know if you would like to come.

For non-ABIW activities, see our What's On page.

January

January 19^th - Culture Club - Walter Van Beirendonk

The Culture Club visit in January will be to the Mode Museum (MoMu), to see a collection of the fashion ideas of Walter van Beirendonck,  one of fashion’s true mavericks. Graduating from Belgium’s Royal Arts Academy in 1980, he was one of the illustrious Antwerp Six, alongside Dries van Noten, Dirk Bikkenbergs, Ann Demeulenmeester, Marina Yee and Dirk van Saene (his partner of 30 years), who together disseminated a radical view and placed Antwerp firmly on the fashion map.

Now the Antwerp Fashion Museum is celebrating the 54-year-old designer’s three decades at the cutting edge, with the first ever large-scale retrospective of his work, entitled Dream the World Awake.

The MoMu exhibition looks back at some of his notable triumphs, including his spectacular shows in Paris in the 1990s.

Meet: at the entrance to the MoMu, Nationalestraat 28, Antwerp.

Time: 10.45 for an 11 am start.

Cost: €8 entrance to the Museum, plus €7 for the guide.

To register: Contact us.

Tuesday 31^st January - Coffee Morning

Venue: Venue: Trianon, Jezusstraat 19, Antwerp.

Meet: outside at 11 a.m. No need to register—just turn up. Everyone welcome.

Twice monthly - Friday mornings - Dutch Conversation Group

Our little group meets twice a month in a member’s home where we converse in Dutch for two hours with varying degrees of proficiency. There is a tea/coffee break. A pleasant morning is spent chatting in congenial company.

For more information contact us.

February

February 7^th - General Meeting - Genius has no Sex

In April 1815, Mme De Staël wrote the legendary words, "Genius has no Sex" in a letter to Benjamin Constant. Later Heinrich Heine commented upon them as being “a bad joke”. In the 21^st century, we can come to the conclusion that Germaine de Staël was right: a beautiful mind can be born into a male or female body and talent is equally divided between the two sexes.

This also applies to the world of literature. In her lecture “How Female Writers Conquered the World” (in April of this year), Mary Watson-Kullmann showed us how, in the 19th century, women took their first steps on this unknown and tricky path called “the novel” and … not without success! It led them to Nobel prizes and fame on the cinema screen.

However, there are other female writers, whose lives were interesting and who have enchanted many readers, and not necessarily only adults! “Genius has no Sex” takes off where the previous talk left us. The lecture is again divided into 3 parts: women who wrote children’s literature, women who wrote in exile, and female writers of today.

Mary Watson has written book critiques for the Davidfonds and teaches literature at the Open Leercentrum of the Sint-Michielscollege in Schoten.

Place: Theater Hotel, Arenbergstraat, Antwerp.
Time: 10:00 for coffee; meeting starts at 10:30.

Twice monthly - Friday mornings - Dutch Conversation Group

Our little group meets twice a month in a member’s home where we converse in Dutch for two hours with varying degrees of proficiency. There is a tea/coffee break. A pleasant morning is spent chatting in congenial company.

For more information contact us.

Disclaimer

Antwerp British and International Women, its officers and its members cannot be held responsible for the correctness of information given on this web site. Neither does it specifically endorse any of the services, organisations or companies mentioned. The contents of the web site do not necessarily reflect the view of ABIW members.