Writersblog

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

The Dutch programme at the International Book Fair in Beijing was cunn... >>> read more

Henk Pröpper

Henk Pröpper, Director Dutch Foundation for Literature

In two weeks’ time, the official opening of one of the largest b... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

Dear Dutch publishers. The book fair is over. Perhaps you’ll now... >>> read more

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Dutch illustrators

The days are full and long. We are incessantly bombarded with impressi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

Arriving on the stand on the first day, I’d asked a Chinese visi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

Big excitement today since we were finally meeting with Songyu from Fl... >>> read more

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Dutch illustrators

It’s now the third day, and the first one with plenty of sun. Un... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

What a great opportunity to learn about the Dutch literature for Chine... >>> read more

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

A duck flies to and fro over the vast expanses of world ocean, despera... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

‘In the era of browsing, we provide reading.’ - Slogan see... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The jewel in the crown of our collection of Arbeiderspers titles publi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The Chinese publishers I have met during the course of my career, the ... >>> read more

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

I have so far never been to a book fair. Nor do I know what to imagine... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

Since 2006, I began writing about the Netherlands’ performance a... >>> read more

Henk Pröpper

Henk Pröpper, Director Dutch Foundation for Literature

Now that the fair is just round the corner, this is perhaps the moment... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The traffic in Beijing is horrendous, I’m sure the other blogger... >>> read more

Thomas Möhlmann

Thomas Möhlmann, Staff member Dutch Foundation for Literature

What an evening the poets and the approximately 200 onlookers present ... >>> read more


Nachoem M. Wijnberg - Selected Poems

Nachoem M. Wijnberg - Selected Poems

According to Nachoem M. Wijnberg, one of the Netherlands’ preeminent living poets, it should be possible to say of a poem: it begins well, but by line seven it becomes a false claim. He also once said that a child of twelve could understand his poetry. He seeks clarity and validity. Were it not such a cliché, it might be tempting to say that a Wijnberg poem instantly captivates the reader but does not reveal itself readily.

Yet Wijnberg’s poems do make themselves explicit straight away, and it is only when they are reread that unexpected aspects emerge. One of the most profound questions raised in his oeuvre is: what is worthwhile? It is an issue that fragments into all kinds of other questions. Where to sleep? What to sing? What to buy? What should we spend time on? Where should we travel? How should we act? And so on.

Biography

Wijnberg has been writing at demonic speed for over twenty years, publishing fifteen books of poetry and four novels. His first collection, The Simulation of Creation (1989), was nominated for the most important award for debut volumes of poetry. He has won several other awards including the prestigious VSB Poetry Prize for his collection The Life Of (2008). Wijnberg is a professor at the University of Amsterdam’s Faculty of Economics and Econometrics.

Quotes

  • ‘You are unlikely to assume his work to be by anyone else in the Netherlands or anyone else of his generation.’ – Vrij Nederland

  • ‘What Wijnberg writes does genuinely hurt. For that reason alone he is a great poet.’ – De Volkskrant

  • ‘Wijnberg is a unique author whose voice is always recognizable in extremely diverse collections. That is the characteristic feature of a significant poet.’ – De Groene Amsterdammer