Thursday 19 March 2026 8:30 – 19:30
“Song of a Blackbird 🐦⬛ : A Literary Architecture and Arts Tour”
Special Guest: Author Maria van Lieshout
Registration Details
- Inclusions: Expert-led tours, museum entries, morning coffee/tea, and the concluding borrel.
- What to Bring: Comfortable walking shoes, rain gear, water bottle, and your ebook copy of Song of a Blackbird.
- Note: Lunch at De Plantage is at the participant’s own expense.
Join us as we step off the page and onto the pavement. Tracing the maps and historic sites immortalized in Maria van Lieshout’s award-winning graphic novel, Song of a Blackbird, we will explore Amsterdam’s center of commerce, the Jewish Cultural Quarter, and the Plantage district.
This journey brings to life the novel’s central theme—“Fight hate. Make art.”—as we transition from the visceral history of the Dutch resistance and the Shoah to the vibrant, creative voices of the present day.
📖 Note: Each pre-conference participant has received access to an ebook copy of Song of a Blackbird 🐦⬛ via ISA Libraries’ Sora Digital Library to read before, during, and after the pre-conference activities. Access began on 23 February and will last through 23 March.
Morning: The Paper Trails of Resistance
08:30 – 09:30 | Coffee & Origins at the Oude Turfmarkt Our day begins at Oude Turfmarkt 127, the former headquarters of De Nederlandsche Bank (Central Bank of the Netherlands). Now home to the Allard Pierson Museum, this site is an important location in the novel. Over coffee at the museum’s cafe, author Maria van Lieshout will share how the bank’s history and its role in the Dutch resistance shaped the world of Blackbird.
09:30 – 10:15 | Inside the “Kantoor”: Herengracht 475 Next we walk to Herengracht 475, the office building featured in the “Kantoor” print. In a rare “step into the novel” moment, we have special permission to go inside to view the ornate painted ceiling and see the door to the original safe used in hiding young Soli in Blackbird.
“I’ve combined a photo of the ceiling of my grandfather’s office on the Herengracht with illustrations. My grandfather worked under this ceiling for 25 years. It’s a ceiling painting inspired by Virgil’s Aeneid. My mother played under it as a little girl, and during the war years, the office served as a meeting place for the resistance, and under this painting, plans were made to sabotage the Nazis. Under the painting, my grandfather said goodbye to his great friend and colleague Frits Nieuwenhuijsen, who was arrested shortly afterward by the Sicherheitsdienst and executed (shot dead) by them” (Illustration Embassy).
Mid-Day: The Weight of Memory
10:15 – 11:00 | Nationaal Holocaust Namenmonument We proceed to the National Holocaust Names Memorial. Here, we spend time among the names and paths that commemorate the 102,000 Jewish victims and 220 Roma and Sinti victims arrested during the German occupation. It is a moment for silent reflection on the scale of loss and the importance of naming the forgotten.
11:00 – 12:00 | Hollandsche Schouwburg A short walk brings us to the Hollandsche Schouwburg. Once a theater, it became a site of deportation and is now a somber memorial. We will visit the site to understand its dual identity as a place of former culture and profound tragedy.
Here is a view of the resistance print of the Hollandsche Schouwburg in Blackbird: 
12:00 – 13:15 | Reflection & Lunch at Café-Restaurant de Plantage We pause for lunch and coffee at the elegant Café-Restaurant de Plantage (at participant’s expense). Located in the heart of the Jewish Cultural Quarter, this is a moment to process the morning’s experiences before we shift our focus to the stories of those who fought back.
Afternoon: Defiance and Creative Response
13:45 – 16:00 | The Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) To allow for an intimate experience, our group will rotate through three curated perspectives of defiance, with echoes of Van Lieshout’s character Emma responding to the Nazi presence at the Hollandsche Schouwburg in 1943:
Resistance Neighborhood Tour: A walking tour exploring the local streets where the resistance lived and worked. “There are many places, buildings and monuments in the vicinity of the museum that remind us of the Second World War: Artis, the former population registry, the Hollandsche Schouwburg, the monument to the artists’ resistance movement, the Auschwitz monument. The museum educators walk with visitors along these places and tell the participants about them.”
Verzetsmuseum Junior: A uniquely guided immersive tour.
“The Resistance Museum Junior centres on the stories of four eyewitnesses: Eva, Henk, Jan and Nelly. They were between 9 and 14 years old during the war, the same age group as the target audience of the children’s museum. The four children are the storytellers in the four main themes: persecution, resistance, collaboration and everyday life/adjustments. What was life like for these children during the occupation? What happened to them? What were the choices, problems and dilemmas they faced due to a lack of freedom, persecution and shortages?”
The Netherlands in WWII: An independent exploration of the main exhibit.
“Discover the Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) in the heart of Amsterdam and step back in time to the era of war, dictatorship, persecution and resistance. Here you will uncover the impressive history behind the difficult choices that the Dutch had to make during the dark days of the German occupation in the Second World War.
The museum also sheds light on the significant changes brought about by World War II in the former Dutch colonies of Indonesia, Suriname, and the Dutch Caribbean islands, as well as the aftermath of the war, with stories about decolonization and the lasting impact of the colonial past up to the present day.
More than 130 powerful, personal stories challenge you to reflect on what you would do in these extreme and challenging circumstances. They provide insights into the value of tolerance, freedom, self-determination and democracy.”
Resistance Museum Tour rotations
13:45 – 14:45 – Group 1 Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) Junior guided tour / Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) The Netherlands in World War II independent exhibit exploration / Group 2 Dutch resistance neighborhood tour
14:45 – 15:00 – Break
15:00 – 16:00 – Group 2 Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) Junior tour / Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) The Netherlands in World War II independent exhibit exploration / Group 1 Dutch resistance neighborhood tour.
16:00 – 17:30 | The Creative Pivot: STRAAT Museum & The IJ We take the metro to Amsterdam Centraal and then go on a scenic ferry crossing over the IJ waterfront, our perspective shifting from the historical to the contemporary. We arrive at the STRAAT Museum, the world’s largest space for street art. Here, we explore how modern creators transform urban canvases into voices of resistance and beauty—the ultimate “Make Art” response.
16:45 – Welcome reception at STRAAT Museum with bubbles and an amuse-bouche
17:00 – 17:45 – STRAAT Museum guided tour
17:45 – 19:30 | The Borrel We conclude our journey at the STRAAT, relaxing with international school librarian colleagues over a traditional Dutch borrel, a drinks and snacks reception in the STRAAT Museum Cafe overlooking the STRAAT graffiti and street art collection. It is the perfect ending to a day of immersive discovery and shared stories before the conference officially begins.
Never forgetting is the foundation; art is the bridge to the future.
– ISLE Committee
With thanks to our Gold sponsors:
