Xaviera's Newsletter February 2026

Poetry, Passion and a funny love song

Eddie Woods – The Gangster Poet

The story of Eddie Woods' film and our conversation in front of café Co Meijer in Amsterdam’s Goudsbloemdwarsstraat. He opened the café with a long cheerful poem and a warm welcome to new visitors. It quickly became a lively place where poets and musicians could perform — and enjoy a few good drinks.

Eccentric Eddie Woods was a great American friend of mine for many years. A true artistic poet and storyteller who lived in many exotic countries, yet ultimately felt most at home in Amsterdam. Together with his American friend, writer and poet Bill Levy, he often visited my house, entertaining bright artists late into the night. In Germany he became grandfather to Hannah.

When Hannah turned 17, she left Germany and stayed at my villa in Amsterdam, where she met her Scottish love Kester. They spent much time visiting grandpa Eddie.

Eddie lived the rest of his life in Amsterdam with his dear English partner Jane and passed away peacefully in his sleep. Hannah and Jane arranged his funeral on January 3, 2026. Photo by Peter Edel.

Back to the Poet’s Café

I became a regular visitor. I will never forget that first day I walked in, searching for a chair, when a young lesbian poet named Dia Huizinga offered me hers before reciting her own poems that evening.

Something electric happened the moment I sat down. A spark, a quiet kind of magic. Now, in 2026, we are still the loving couple we became that very day. Dia is now a respected swimming coach within Amsterdam’s gay community — and still writes poetry.

Erotic Journeys with the Happy Hooker

Xaviera is finalizing a book she originally wrote in the late seventies and early eighties — a manuscript that waited decades to reappear. We expect the book to be published end of August. 

Videos

‘Dans & Dwaal’ – Liesbeth List and Micheline Van Hautem

The special bond between Liesbeth List and Xaviera Hollander is rooted in a shared, early-marked past in the Dutch East Indies. As a child, Liesbeth survived the Japanese internment camps, where she lost her mother; Xaviera too grew up in the shadow of war and displacement in the same region. That sense of loss, longing, and never fully belonging would later resonate throughout Liesbeth’s repertoire.

The unique song ‘Dans & Dwaal’ by Liesbeth List and Micheline Van Hautem now finds its way to streaming platforms twenty years after its original recording. The duet was created for the 2005 film Off Screen, starring Jan Decleir and Jeroen Krabbé. The beautiful photo below was taken during the studio recording.

In the film duet Dans & Dwaal, Liesbeth and Micheline perform a song that captures both fragility and resilience with striking intimacy. Two decades later, this remarkable recording is finally available on Spotify and other streaming platforms.

Listen to the single here and let yourself be carried by two voices meeting in vulnerability and strength.

Class Mates

The Funniest Love Song Ever

Try to keep your composure as George Younce sings Side By Side — a tender, lightly humorous love song about an elderly couple on their honeymoon. Romance ages far better than cartilage.