Jan Baeke

(Roosendaal, 1956) is a poet and translator. Baeke’s collection Groter dan de feiten (Bigger than the Facts), was reviewed positively and nominated for the VSB Poetry Prize. In this book he takes the reader via often ambiguous cinematic poems on a journey to a sunbaked but oppressive mediterranean provincial town where nostalgia, uneasiness and love lie in wait. Baeke made his debut in 1997 with the poetry book Nooit zonder paarden (Never without Horses). Baeke' s work is influenced by filmmakers like Luis Buñuel and Andrej Tarkovksy and poets such as Ingeborg Bachmann and Jaap Kaplinski. His work has been translated into English and French. Since 2009 Baeke works for Poetry International in Rotterdam.
Jan Baeke receives the Jan Campert Prize 2016 for his collection Seizoensroddel (Seasonal gossip). The jury states: "As obvious as the poems of Jan Baeke sound, as little flexible is the world he describes in his masterful collection. These uncomfortable poems offer little protection but do console with the awareness that we have all lost our way."