What is "zembla"

Zembla is a Dutch television documentary programme by VARA and NPS. The documentaries are based on in-depth research. The program often deals with controversial topics.

A documentary in 2001 about fraud in the Dutch construction sector led to parliamentary inquiries.

In May 2006 the programme exposed the fact that politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali had lied in her claim for asylum, which led to her resignation from parliament.

Zembla is a French comic book character created by Augusto Pedrazza and Franco Oneta for French publisher Editions Lug in 1963.

Zembla was a literary and arts magazine published in London for eight issues between 2003 and 2005. The editor was Dan Crowe, publisher Simon Finch and the designer was Vince Frost. The magazine's title came from Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pale Fire, in which the narrator Charles Kinbote styles himself the last king of Zembla, a fictional northern country.

One of the notable features was The Dead Interview, in which a modern writer offered an imaginary conversation with a deceased cultural figure. Subjects included Marcel Duchamp ('interviewed' by Michel Faber), Jimi Hendrix ( Rick Moody), Harry Houdini ( Mark Leyner), Henry James ( Cynthia Ozick), Samuel Johnson ( David Mitchell), Friedrich Nietzsche ( Geoff Dyer) and Robert Louis Stevenson ( Louise Welsh). Several of these were compiled into a book, published by Granta in 2013.

Several of the contributors were associated with the New Puritans movement, including Nicholas Blincoe, Daren King, Toby Litt, Scarlett Thomas and Matt Thorne.

Other contributors included Jake Arnott, Paul Auster, David Baddiel, Manolo Blahnik, John Byrne, Brian Eno, Helen Fielding, Tibor Fischer, Jonathan Safran Foer, Tim Footman, Russell Hoban, Barry Humphries, Siri Hustvedt, AL Kennedy, Matthew Kneale, Hari Kunzru, Hanif Kureishi, JT Leroy, Robert Macfarlane, Stephen Merchant, ZZ Packer, Harold Pinter, Nicholas Royle, James Scudamore, Will Self, Tilda Swinton, Rachel Weisz and Dr Mortimer.

The magazine closed in October 2005.

Zembla may refer to:

• Zembla (comics), a French comics character created in 1963
• Zembla (magazine), a British literary magazine published from 2003 to 2005
• Zembla (TV series), a Dutch documentary television series
• Novaya Zemlya, or Nova Zembla, an island in Russia
• Zembla, a fictional kingdom appearing in Vladimir Nabokov's 1962 novel Pale Fire