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New profiles, poems and audio/video from this year’s nominees

VSB Poetry Prize 2016

November 10, 2015
The 2016 shortlist for the VSB Poetry Prize, for the best Dutch-language collection of the previous year, includes two Belgian poets and three from The Netherlands. Out of 114 submitted collections, the most recent work by Pieter Boskma, Geert van Istendael, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Toon Tellegen and Maud Vanhauwaert have been especially commended by the prize jury, and one will be selected as the winner on 27 January 2016, 19:30, at an award ceremony held at the University of Groningen’s Academiegebouw Aula. The winner receives 25,000 euros and a glass sculpture by Maria Roosen.




The nominees for the 2016 VSB Poetry Prize:

Pieter Boskma, Zelf (De Bezige Bij, 2014)

In Zelf (Self), Pieter Boskma presents 39 poetic self-portraits, through which he examines his memories, sadness, love and lust for love. According to this year’s jury report, ‘[Boskma] uses ancient wisdoms that are contained by classical genres such as the eulogy and the epic poem. He uses abrupt changes of rhythm and tropes to show the artificiality of the notion of the self. This process of becoming has a healing effect on the poet, although the end of mourning coincides with a parting with the self that was loved by his wife.’. 

A selection of Boskma’s work in English translation, as well as audio and video recordings, here.


Geert van Istendael, Het was wat was (Atlas Contact, 2015)

Journalist, essayist and poet Geert van Istendael’s latest book of poems, He was wat was (It was what was) deals with an eclectic blend of themes and subjects: portraits of locals, observant compositions, and an analysis of the modern financial world all meander through this volume of poems. The jury adds that Istendael’s poems show ‘a world that lets itself be known in details, inhabited by people that cultivate their eccentricity while they seem to be  full of resignation’.

A selection of Van Istendael’s work in English translation, as well as audio and video recordings, here.

 
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Idyllen (De Arbeiderspers, 2015)

Idyllen (Idylls) consists of 50 long cantos rendered in alexandrines. Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer ‘fuses all his poetical power, desire and mastership in Idyllen’, this year’s jury report states. ‘These poetic outpourings render a mourning poet’s elegy about the downfall of poetry and the world. With a large amount of bravado, that is surprisingly alternated by moving insightful moments, Pfeijffer elaborates on his views on society and the art of writing poetry.

A selection of Pfeijffer’s work in English translation, as well as audio and video recordings, here.


Toon Tellegen, De werkelijkheid (Querido, 2014)

Toon Tellegen, also a beloved writer of children’s books, resumes his playful examination of abstractions and ideas with De werkelijkheid (The reality). The jury writes, ‘Reality appears to be paper thin, just a story that we tell ourselves and others and accept as a real thing. With seemingly simple linguistic tools he manages to create an absurd, threatening or desperate world from which we cannot withdraw ourselves’. 

A selection of Tellegen’s work in English translation, as well as audio and video recordings, here.


Maud Vanhauwaert, Wij zijn evenwijdig _ (Querido, 2014)

The prize jury describes the poet, performer and playwright’s second collection: ‘Aphorism-like conciseness is interspersed by melancholic humor, absurdism and a single self-conscious silly joke. Out of this rhapsody appears a poet that manages to allow the reader to marvel beneficially at her fickle logic and subversive images. Life lessons are full of limitations, there is not much more to it, but that is enough to show the scope of language and its power to live with its shortcomings and the ungraspable. With utmost precision and a great sense of composition, Maud Vanhauwaert lets the language do the work for her.’

A selection of Vanhauwaert’s work in English translation, as well as audio and video recordings, here.


This year’s VSB Poetry Prize jury consists of Kees ’t Hart, Jan Gielkens, Kris Humbeeck, Marrigje Paijmans and last year’s winner Hester Knibbe. Leading up to the prize ceremony on 27 January, the eve of Dutch-language Poetry Week, the nominees will tour Belgium and The Netherlands for a series of readings to introduce their collections. More information on these events can be found here.


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