Welcome to Dutch poetry - June 2006

 
Thursday 1 June 2006

This June issue takes a sneak peek at the 37th Poetry International Festival (www.poetry.nl), taking place in Rotterdam from June 17th until the 23rd. While preparations for the festival are still in progress, we can already present some new information on and translations of the participating poets from the Netherlands: Robert Anker, F. van Dixhoorn, Piet Gerbrandy, Elma van Haren, Esther Jansma, Elmar Kuiper, Alfred Schaffer and Hans Verhagen.

Two of the Dutch participants were already featured on our pages last year: Alfred Schaffer (March 2005 Issue) and Esther Jansma (September 2005 Issue). We don’t bring you any new translations of their work in this issue, but of course we welcome you to (re)visit their pages, for example to check out the animation film of one of Schaffer’s poems, or to discover that Jansma has recently won yet another important poetry prize and that a new book has just come out, a collection of the poems published between 1988 and 2005.

None of the six other poets in this issue has had a poet’s page on PIW until now, so there is indeed plenty of new and diverse work to be explored: from the intense and vital poems of the esteemed novelist and poet Robert Anker (b. 1946) to the experimental mental notations of F. van Dixhoorn (b. 1948), a completely unique poet, even in the pluralistic landscape of contemporary Dutch poetry.

If the visual lay-out of Van Dixhoorn’s poems could be described as minimal, the opposite can be said about the looks of Elma van Haren's exuberant poems. Van Haren (b.1954) combines a highly associative mind with a clear eye for detail and doesn’t spare an inch of the page in her quest to bring the fullest dynamic and rhythmical effects possible to her work. Association and a sharp focus seem to fuel Elmar Kuiper (b. 1969) too. This exciting and upcoming Friesian artist/poet tends more to the absurd or surreal, however, offering us highly original scenes and images.

The next poet, Hans Verhagen (b. 1939), has been around in the Dutch literary world somewhat longer. His career in poetry stretches out over more than forty years, starting in the neo-realistic movement of the sixties, after which Verhagen has shown an ability to develop and reinvent himself time and again. And if the poets above haven’t satiated you already, there’s still the rich poetry of Piet Gerbrandy (b. 1958), who as well as being a regarded poet and renowned classicist, is one of Holland’s most influential poetry critics, writing for Dutch daily paper de Volkskrant. His poems are literally dripping with death, good food, lust for life and language, and the awareness of the ultimate futility of it all.

We hope you’ll enjoy this special festival issue and for those visitors unfortunate enough not to be able to make it to Rotterdam in June: you’re always welcome to return to our pages and get a virtual taste of the festival atmosphere!

A world premiere for Poetry International Web: festival poets LIVE in your own home
Live streaming event, Wednesday 21st June

There is some consolation for those who can’t be in Rotterdam for the Poetry International Festival on Wednesday evening, 21st June. The appearances of two Dutch poets, Piet Gerbrandy and Elma van Haren, will be broadcast live in video and stereo on the Dutch section of Poetry International Web.

Gerbrandy will be appearing in an international programme around 8pm, Van Haren around 9.30pm. Both of their readings will be broadcast live on the website and a simultaneous English translation of the poems will be shown as subtitles. Thanks to technical developments, it will now be possible for the first time to bring live poetry appearances not just to audiences at the venue and but also to PIW-site visitors wherever they are situated. After the live event, both films will be available to review on the poet pages on the site and will be freely downloadable.

Visit the Dutch pages of Poetry International Web, Wednesday 21st June, from 8.15pm central European time.