Lieke Marsman

“the problem with getting old is not
that you get sadder 
but that you gain more and more words 
to describe your sorrow” 
_{- from: Man met hoed} 

Lieke Marsman is a Dutch poet, columnist, philosopher and novelist. Her debut publication Wat ik mezelf graag voorhoud (2010) was a resounding success. In 2011 she won three literary awards for the collection, one of _which was the C. Buddingh’-Prize for best poetry debut. 

Marsman is very outspoken about current affairs and always has a sharp take on what’s happening in this world. In her poetry this acute sense of reality is represented in very clear language, humorous takes on heavy topics and keen observations. A lot of her writing has been influenced by her experiences with grave illness; the author has been very open about her experiences with cancer and how it’s affected her life. In The following scan takes 5 minutes (2018), which was translated into English, she describes the process and political context of illness. 

From 2013 until 2015, Marsman was part of the editorial team of literary magazine Tirade. In 2017, Marsman's first novel Het tegenovergestelde van een mens, in which she blends essayistic prose with poetry, was published. From 2021-2022 she was Poet Laureate of the Netherlands. Marsman assembled her poems written during that time in the collection Ter gelegenheid van poëzie (2023).