A Good Crisis (and how not to waste it): Sunil Amrith and Geert Buelens
Sunil Amrith is a historian at Yale University. He has written four books and received numerous prizes and awards, including a MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’. The New Yorker called his latest book, The Burning Earth, in which he brings together the histories of climate and imperialism, ‘an essential read’. He will talk about it in Brussels with Geert Buelens, who received the Boon Literature Prize for Fiction and Non-Fiction for his book Wat we toen al wisten (“What We Already Knew Back Then”). Tine Hens will be the interviewer.
A co-production of Passa Porta and Flagey
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crisis
‘Never waste a good crisis.’ These words are attributed to Winston Churchill, who is said to have uttered them at the founding of the United Nations. The word ‘crisis’ stems from the Greek ‘krinein’, which means ‘to decide’. If it is true that we make the best decisions in dire situations, then we are living in fruitful times.
With the new interview series A Good Crisis (and How Not To Waste It), we will bring together, in collaboration with Flagey, writers and thinkers from home and abroad to assess how bad things really are and explore where the opportunities lie – if there are any, that is.
genocide and ecocide
For the first edition of A Good Crisis, we welcome Sunil Amrith, a historian at Yale University and the author of The Burning Earth, in which he combines the histories of climate and imperialism, genocide and ecocide, human freedom and the price the Earth has paid for it.
‘A tour de force that leaves the reader stunned.’
‘An indispensable contribution to both environmental and global history.’
forgotten green history
He will be joined by Geert Buelens, writer and professor at Utrecht University, who revisited a piece of forgotten green history in his book Wat we toen al wisten (“What we already knew back then”), thus demonstrating that the environmental crisis is not a recent phenomenon. The climate crisis is also a theme that is very much present in his most recent poetry collection.
‘An in-depth, unconventional, very well-written, relevant non-fiction book.’
Historian, journalist and author Tine Hens will lead the discussion and, as an expert on the climate and biodiversity crisis herself, will undoubtedly add extra insights to what promises to be a very enriching conversation.
about the authors
Sunil Amrith is a historian who teaches at the School of Environment at Yale University. He has published four books. In 2022 he was awarded the A.H. Heineken Prize for History for his research into the historical causes of major inequalities between population groups and the link with climate change.
Geert Buelens (1971) is a Flemish poet, essayist, columnist, professor of Modern Dutch Literature at Utrecht University, and visiting professor of Dutch Literature at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). In his award-winning and widely translated work, he focuses on various global issues and addresses themes such as the First World War and the Flemish Movement, the climate crisis and the fight against racism.
Tine Hens (1974) is historian, journalist and author of Het klein verzet (2015), an acount of a trip through Europe in search of alternatives, Het is allemaal de schuld van de Chinezen! (2021) about typical excuses in conversations about the climate, and De wereld die we delen (2024), the story of humankind as a part of all life on our planet. In October of 2025 she launches a book, exposition and soundscape about the grief caused by the silent disappearance of snow, plants and animals.
A co-production of Passa Porta and Flagey
Pictures: Sunil Amrith © Mara Lavitt, Geert Buelens © Bob Bronshoff, Tine Hens © Brecht Goris
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