Hester Knibbe wins the 2015 VSB Poetry Prize

January 27, 2015 The VSB Prize jury praised Knibbe's firm, sonorous and highly contemporary use of form and language, with which she is able to ask all the ‘great’ questions – why are we on earth, how can we live together alongside the many ‘wounds of the world’, how can we commemorate our dead – without these questions becoming too top-heavy or collapsing under their own weight. In her mature collection, Knibbe returns to the ‘will to knowledge’ of the very first people and their consequent expulsion from paradise. But answers are not to be found in these poems; the gods have no home here. Nonetheless mythic connections seem more real than ever, particularly in Knibbe's melodic and sonorous language. The jury was especially impressed by the strong coherence and compelling drive found in this important collection. (Read more about the collection and several of its poems in English translation here.)

Knibbe, a Rotterdam local, was just appointed the Rotterdam City Poet Laureate on the previous day. Her collection Hungerpots will be published in English by Eyewear Publishing this fall, translated by American poet Jacquelyn Pope.

The Prize jury, which included Vandermeersch, Yra van Dijk, Ruth Joos, Peter Theunynch and last year's Prize winner antoine de kom, selected a shortlist of five collections in November, from 107 submissions published between 1 September 2013 – 31 August 2014. From these submissions, jury chairman Vandermeersch also has selected his 100 favorite poems, which are now available in bookstores via Arbeiderspers as De 100 beste gedichten (The 100 Best Poems).

During Poetry Week (29 January – 4 February 2015), the poem ‘Laten we de oude . . .’ (Let us burn . . .) from Knibbe's winning collection will be available as a poster. To request one, contact info@poetry.nl.