Willem Jan Otten

(Amsterdam, 1951) writes poems, prose, plays, reviews and essays. The Constantijn Huygens Prize for his entire oeuvre is only one of many awards for his work, which, in translation, has reached readers in Italy, France, Germany and Sweden. Otten knows how to touch upon socially sensitive issues, like pornography in his essay Denken is een lust (Thinking is a lust, 1985), euthanasia in the novel Ons mankeert niets, (We're all right, 1994) and catholicism in his pamphlet Het wonder van de losse olifanten (The miracle of the loose elephants, 1999). He made his poetic debut with Een zwaluw vol zaagsel (A swallow stuffed with sawdust, 1973), which won him the Reina Prinsen Geerligs Prize. For the collection Ik zoek het hier (I seek it here, 1980) he received the Herman Gorter Award, for Paviljoenen (Pavillions, 1992) the Jan Campert Award, while the collection Eindaugustuswind (End of August wind, 1998) earned him a nomination for the VSB Poetry Award. He was again nominated for that prize with his eleventh anthology, Gerichte gedichten (Targeted Poems) as it raises issues such as 'loss, emptiness and inescapable existential questions'.