City Talks Amsterdam: Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future
As the year comes to a close, this edition of CityTalks invites us to reflect on how the past, present, and future shape our lives and communities. We explore the connections between generations, nature, the stories and values we pass on, and the cycles we try to break. How can what we inherit from the past guide us forward with compassion and hope?
Inspired by ITA Ensemble, Hotel Modern & Guy Cassiers’ Oer en Andere Tijden, this edition celebrates cycles of life, the power of storytelling, and the bonds that keep us rooted and connected. After CityTalks, you can visit the play, or tie your skates on to take some laps at the festive ice rink on Leidseplein, right outside our door - a perfect way to start the holiday season!
Location The Bookshop
Duration 60 minutes
Genre Perspective
Language English
We recommend you to buy your ticket beforehand. An entry ticket also includes one free consumption.
Brand Manager & founder Heal Magazine
Selma Lemsaadi
Many of us move through life exhausted, carrying cultural and generational weight, and feeling unseen in mainstream conversations about mental health. Selma Lemsaadi is the founder of Heal Magazine, a platform dedicated to collective healing and culturally rooted storytelling. With a background in marketing and a deep curiosity for people’s inner lives, she created Heal as a response to the individualism of mainstream wellness culture, and the ways it often fails to reflect the lived experiences of marginalised communities. Through her work, Selma creates spaces and stories that invite people to slow down, feel genuinely recognised, and gently begin to move out of survival mode.
Photo: © Shannon Kanhai
chef & founder of NESSIE’S
Vanessa Wattimena
For c, cooking is a way of carrying history forward. Raised in the Molukse community of Vaassen and taught by her grandparents, she learned early on that food can nourish far beyond the plate. What began as small takeaway meals grew into NESSIE’S: a culinary endeavour that preserves Moluccan and Indonesian flavours while bringing people together. As head chef and ambassador for the Stoelenproject, Vanessa also shows how food can build bridges — creating dignity, connection, and warmth where it’s most needed.
