Poet
Anneke Brassinga
Anneke Brassinga
(The Netherlands, 1948)
© Anneke Brassinga / VPRO
Biography
Anneke Brassinga is the language wizard of Dutch poetry. Perhaps the special feeling for language that she possesses has something to do with her work as a translator (of a.o. Nabokov, Beckett and Plath). Whatever the case, you are certain to find words and expressions in her work that you will encounter nowhere else.
At the same time, you feel that via her baroque, at times passionate at others burlesque, use of language in which intense experiences of love, despair, doubt play a role – something is at stake: could it be primeval forces? All of this together means that Brassinga’s work – from her debut Aurora from 1987 up to and including her latest collection Ontij from 2010 – leaves a particular impression on her readers, one that cannot be compared with that left by any other poet.
That her exceptional capacity both to evoke emotions and to create an autonomous work of art has been recognised is evident from the prizes she has been awarded for her poetry in recent years: the Herman Gorter Prize, the Paul Snoek Prize, the Ida Gerhardt Prize and the VSB Poetry Prize.
She has also won two important prizes for her complete works: the Constantijn Huygens Prize 2008 and the P.C. Hooft Award 2015.
© Rob Schouten (Translated by John Irons)
BibliographyPoetry
Aurora, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 1987
Landgoed, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 1990
Thule, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 1991
Zeemeeuw in boomvork, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 1994
Huisraad, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 1998
Verschiet, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2001
Timiditeiten, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2003
Wachtwoorden (collected Works), De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2005
IJsgang, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2006
Ontij, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2010
Het wederkerige, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2014
Broodkruimel, Eikeldoornpers, Apeldoorn, 2015
Herinnering, Stichting CPNB, Amsterdam, 2016
Verborgen tuinen, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2019
Prose and essays
Hartsvanger (prose), De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 1993
Hapschaar (prose), De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 1998
Het zere been (essays), De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2002
Bloeiend puin (essays), De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2008
Links
In Dutch
The poem 'Tuin' at YouTube (animation and audio)
Essay on ‘Roeping’ by Joop Leibbrand
Anneke Brassinga at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague
Poem by Anneke Brassinga on Raster
Poems
Poems of Anneke Brassinga
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère