Donald Niedekker
(Netherlands, 1963) is a poet and writer. He debuted as a novelist with Hier ben ik (Here I Am, 2002). This was followed by an oeuvre full of characters who find themselves somewhat in the shadows of society, such as a cloakroom manager in the theatre monologue De garderobier (The Cloakroom Manager, 2002), or a man who sharpens pencils at Ikea in the novella Zo zie je alles (That's How You See It All, 2019). Under the pseudonym Ellen Winkelbach he published Het moet wel beschaafd blijven (It's Supposed to Remain Civilized, 2008). His 2016 novel Oksana was nominated for the Fintro Literature Prize; in 2021, he received the Brussels VUB Luc Bucquoye Prize for idiosyncratic literature. His most recent novel Waarachtige beschrijvingen uit de permafrost (True Descriptions from the Permafrost, 2021) was shortlisted for the Boekenbon Literature Prize and won the 2022 F. Bordewijk Prize.
(WN 2023)Share this page
Archive available for: Donald Niedekker
-
Haagse literatuurprijzen: a festive programme celebrating The Hague's Literary Award winners
With: Aad Meinderts, Amara van der Elst, Chelsy Valentina, Dominique De Groen, Donald Niedekker, Farah Karimi, Hasan Gök, Hashem Kabreet, Hassnae Bouazza, Jeremy Jordan Rosa, Jina Sumedi, Kaja Wolffers, LUWTEN, Marion Bloem, Marjan Slob, Obe Alkema, Orchestre Partout, Saskia Bruines, Sinan Can
The Winternachten festival 2023 opened with prose, poetry, spoken word, music and the ceremony of the literary prizes of the City of the The Hague. The prize winners Marion Bloem, Donald Niedekker, Dominique De Groen and Marjan Slob (respectively) received the Constantijn Huygens-, F. Bordewijk-, Jan Campert-, and J. Greshoff- prizes from Saskia Bruines, alderman of Finance, Culture and Economy of The Hague.
The prize winners were each of them be honoured with performances by special guests, including research journalist and documentary filmmaker Sinan Can, poet Obe Alkema, The Hague student Jeremy Jordan Rosa and film and TV producer Kaja Wolffers (son of Marion Bloem).
The programme kicked off with the first official performance of Chelsy Valentina, the brand new and first Jonge Stadsdichter van Den Haag 2023 (Young City Poet of The Hague). Percussionist and handpan player Hashem Kabreet and Orchestre Partout gave music performances.
Farah Karimi, who chaired the Board of Writers Unlimited, and Aad Meinderts, director of the Literatuurmuseum spoke words of welcome. Additionally, the jubilee publication on the occasion of 75 years of The Hague literary prizes, was presented to the alderman.
Lobby programme with Amara van der Elst, Hasan Gök and the Jonge Stadsdichter
From 14:30 hours, preceding the award ceremony in Zaal 1, spoken word artist Hasan Gök presented from the lobby stage a short interview with Chelsey Valentina, the Jonge Stadsdichter (Young Civic Poet). Spoken word artist Amara van der Elst performed, and also Hasan Gök performed some of his poems, accompanied by Jina Sumedi on keyboard.Bookstore De Vries van Stockum was present in the lobby with a stand offering books by participating authors of this programme, among others — including signing opportunties!
Haagse literatuurprijzen was curated by Jet Steinz for Literatuurmuseum/Writers Unlimited. Moderator was Hassnae Bouazza.