Poet

Stefaan van den Bremt

(Belgium, 1941)

Biography

Stefaan van den Bremt made his debut in 1968 with poems classified as neo-realistic, but was distinguished by his intense social involvement. Gradually he emerged as the political poet of the 1970s. His poetry of that period deals with social topics such as the economic crisis, unemployment, political and industrial management. At the same time he wrote plays and songs. From the 1980s onwards his work became more intimate in content and more classical in form. Van den Bremt exchanged political poems for erotic love lyrics.

In his work of the 1990s, language games play an increasingly large part. His poems often contain autobiographical anecdotes; at a more abstract level the underlying theme is the human condition. Van den Bremt is also well known as a translator, of such authors as Verhaeren, Maeterlinck, Brecht and Kafka and is also a great advocate of Latin American literature. For example, he introduced a large number of Latin American poets to the Dutch-speaking world, among them José Luis Sierra, Jaime Sabines, Joaquín Silva and Marco Antonio Campos. Stefaan van den Bremt published his most recent poetry volume, Voegwerk (Pointing), in 2009.

Bibliography (selection)
Taalgetijden, Manteau, Brussels, 1999
Stemmen uit het laagland, Lannoo, Tielt, 2001
In een mum van taal – gedichten 1968-2001, Lannoo, Tielt, 2002
A, Lannoo, Tielt, 2005
Voegwerk, Atlas, Amsterdam, 2009

Translations
French
Toast, Autres Temps, Marseille, 1995
Racines d\'un nuage, Le Castor Astral, Bordeaux, 2002
Temps et lieux, Fédérop, Gardonne, 2005

German
Tuchbedekter Augenblick, Straelener Manuskripte, Straelen, 1986

Slovakian
Poznámky o zivote a smrti, Revue svetovej literatúry, nr.2, Bratislava, 1979

Spanish
El jardín de los cuatro vientos, Ediciones del Bronce, Barcelona, 1999
Palmo de tierra, El Tucán de Virginia, Mexico, 2005
Matando al héroe, Alforja Arte y Literatura, Mexico City, 2008

Literary Prizes
Flemish debut prize (1968)
L.P. Boon Prize (1980)
Premio Internacional de Poesía Ciudad de Zacatecas (Mexico, 2007)

Links
A portrait and a selection of poems translated into Spanish, presented by the Medellin Poetry Festival in Columbia

Stefaan van den Bremt on Lyrikline