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Welcome to Dutch poetry - July 2005
18 januari 2006
Other familiar faces might be {id="4022" title="Judith Herzberg"} (1934) and {id="3999" title="Anne Vegter"} (1958), who both performed at the Poetry International Festival in 2000, and {id="4008" title="Frank Koenegracht"} (1945), who did so in 2001. New translations of each of these magnificent poets have been, or will be, added to this magazine. Herzberg made her debut in 1963 and grew out to be one of the most widely read and loved poets in the Netherlands. She recently published her new collection Soms vaak (Sometimes Often), and still impresses her audience with her poems as well as her plays and scenarios. Anne Vegter, described by poet and critic Rob Schouten as “one of the liveliest, bounciest poets around”, also combines different activities in the field of literature: next to her poems, of which two collections have appeared, she writes plays, miniatures and stories for children and adults. In literary terms, Koenegracht sticks to poetry, but he combines this with his work as a psychiatrist. His most recent collection Vroege sneeuw (Early Snow; 2003) offers a selection from previously published work between 1971 and 2003.
Entirely new are the entries on {id="202" title="Gerrit Komrij"} (1944), {id="4005" title="Erik Menkveld"} (1959) and {id="4032" title="Peer Wittenbols"} (1965). In the Netherlands Wittenbols was known as a gifted writer of plays before he made his debut as a poet in 2000. Last year his second collection of poems, Kop van het hoofd (Top of the Head), appeared. Menkveld is a poet pur sang, who startled Dutch poetry lovers with his debut collection De karpersimulator (The Carp Simulator) in 1997 and recently published his third volume, Prime time. And last but not least: Gerrit Komrij, who (from 2000 until 2004) was the first Dutch poet laureate. Few contemporaries can boast such an influential and versatile literary career as Komrij. Over the last decades he practised nearly all existing literary genres, but he earned his laurels particularly as an anthologist and a writer of poetry and literary criticism.
We hope you’ll enjoy this updated special festival issue and invite you to come and check out the new issue we’ll publish in September.
UPDATE – A sad though undeniable fact: the 36th edition of the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam has come to an end. After a beautiful week filled to the brim with magnificent poetry and translations from all over the world, we offer some solace to those left behind with this update of our June issue, containing an addition to the previously published poems and translations of the participating Dutch poets: Tsead Bruinja, Judith Herzberg, Anne Vegter, Frank Koenegracht, Gerrit Komrij, Erik Menkveld and Peer Wittenbols.
Regular visitors of our homepage already know some of the works of the young poet {id="4038" title="Tsead Bruinja"} (1974): he was featured last December in the Frisian special, together with the mythical lyricist {id="4039" title="Tsjêbbe Hettinga"} and the sensitive word wizard {id="3996" title="Albertina Soepboer"}. Like Soepboer, Bruinja has published collections in both Frisian and Dutch; in addition to his previously presented Frisian poetry, we now bring you some of his poems originally written in Dutch. Other familiar faces might be {id="4022" title="Judith Herzberg"} (1934) and {id="3999" title="Anne Vegter"} (1958), who both performed at the Poetry International Festival in 2000, and {id="4008" title="Frank Koenegracht"} (1945), who did so in 2001. New translations of each of these magnificent poets have been, or will be, added to this magazine. Herzberg made her debut in 1963 and grew out to be one of the most widely read and loved poets in the Netherlands. She recently published her new collection Soms vaak (Sometimes Often), and still impresses her audience with her poems as well as her plays and scenarios. Anne Vegter, described by poet and critic Rob Schouten as “one of the liveliest, bounciest poets around”, also combines different activities in the field of literature: next to her poems, of which two collections have appeared, she writes plays, miniatures and stories for children and adults. In literary terms, Koenegracht sticks to poetry, but he combines this with his work as a psychiatrist. His most recent collection Vroege sneeuw (Early Snow; 2003) offers a selection from previously published work between 1971 and 2003.
Entirely new are the entries on {id="202" title="Gerrit Komrij"} (1944), {id="4005" title="Erik Menkveld"} (1959) and {id="4032" title="Peer Wittenbols"} (1965). In the Netherlands Wittenbols was known as a gifted writer of plays before he made his debut as a poet in 2000. Last year his second collection of poems, Kop van het hoofd (Top of the Head), appeared. Menkveld is a poet pur sang, who startled Dutch poetry lovers with his debut collection De karpersimulator (The Carp Simulator) in 1997 and recently published his third volume, Prime time. And last but not least: Gerrit Komrij, who (from 2000 until 2004) was the first Dutch poet laureate. Few contemporaries can boast such an influential and versatile literary career as Komrij. Over the last decades he practised nearly all existing literary genres, but he earned his laurels particularly as an anthologist and a writer of poetry and literary criticism.
We hope you’ll enjoy this updated special festival issue and invite you to come and check out the new issue we’ll publish in September.
© THOMAS MÖHLMANN
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