Marieke De Maré

(Belgié, 1985) writers, performes and is a theatre director. Her debut novel Bult (2020) is set on a hill where a young woman, an old woman and a tall, slender man live. Everything they (don't) do is very often about death. Bult is a wistful, sometimes funny and detached story that expresses a desire to come to terms with something. Ik ga naar de schapen (I go to the sheep, 2024), her second novel, is a story about silence, watching, holding on and letting go. De Maré was awarded the F. Bordewijk Prize 2024, the annual prize of the City of The Hague for the best Dutch-language prose book, for Ik ga naar de schapen. ‘A gem to cherish,’ said the jury. ‘This novel speaks powerfully about people who are mainly silent, is both light-footed and heavy, and both painfully recognisable and utterly alienating.’ De awards ceremony takes place during the Writers Unlimited Festival.