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Anna Enquist is the pseudonym of Dutch writer Christa Widlund-Broer. She is a psychoanalyst and a pianist. In 1988, Enquist published her first poems in Maatstaaf magazine. Three years later her debut collection Soldatenliederen (The Songs of Soldiers) was published by De Arbeiderspers. Since then Enquist has published a further 6 collections of poetry: Jachtscènes (Hunting Scenes; 1992), Een nieuw afscheid (A New Goodbye; 1994), De tweede helft (The Second Half; 2000), Hier was vuur (Here Was Fire; 2002), De tussentijd (The Interval; 2004) and Nieuws van nergens (News from Nowhere; 2010).
Enquist cemented her status as a writer with her first novel, Het meesterstuk (The Masterpiece; 1994). In 2002 Enquist wrote De ijsdragers (The Ice Carriers), which received wide circulation as part of the annual Dutch Book Week, where as per tradition it was given away for free with all book purchases in the Netherlands. Last year saw the release of Enquist’s most recent novel, De verdovers (The Stunners). All of Enquist's poems to date have been collected in Gedichten 1991-2012.
The release of Enquist’s new poetry collection Een kooi van klank (A Cage of Sound) marked the start of the 2013 Week of Poetry, and was the first Poëziegeschenk. In the same style as Book Week, readers who bought poetry in the Netherlands during the Week of Poetry also received Anna Enquist’s collection as a gift. All of the poems in Een kooi van klank also appear on this website, accompanied by English translations and readings by Enquist herself.
On 5 February 2014, Enquist was named Amsterdam’s poet laureate.
Links
Author website: www.annaenquist.nl
Anna Enquist on the website of the Dutch Royal Library
Anna Enquist on Wikipedia (in Dutch)