Dreaming Pays Off: the poetry of Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

Pfeijffers' masterful use of language and inventive style - both daring and humorous - invite an interesting discussion about his poetic oevre. Of course he will also present his own work.

20160120151844 16

Information

Date and time Friday 17 January 2020 20:00 tot 20:35 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - Zaal 2

Pfeijffers' masterful use of language and inventive style - both daring and humorous - invite an interesting discussion about his poetic oevre. Of course he will also present his own work.

In 1998 he won the C. Buddingh Prize for his poetry collection Van de vierkante man (Of the Square Man). His collection Idyllen (Idylls) won the 2015 Jan Campert Prize and the Awater Poetry Prize.

Pfeijffer is also the editor of the anthology 500 gedichten die iedereen gelezen moet hebben (500 Poems Everyone Should Read, 2008, co-edited by Gert Jan de Vries), Er is alles in de wereld/Lucebert (There is Everything in the World/Lucebert, 2009) and De Nederlandse poezie van de twintigste en de eenentwintigste eeuw in duizend en enige gedichten (Dutch Poetry from the 20th and 21st Century in a Thousand and Some Poems, 2016).

Tip: Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and his novel Grand Hotel Europa will be the focus of the "Europe on the Couch" event on Thursday, 15 January at Theater aan het Spui. Playing the role of Europa, Pfeijffer will be interrogated by psychiatrist Damiaan Denys.

Line-up

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

(Netherlands, 1968) is a classicist and writer. He has more than 40 titles to his name, including poetry, novels, short stories, plays, scientific studies, translations and anthologies. His work has earned many nominations and prizes, including the 2014 Libris Literature Prize for his novel La Superba, an ode to the city of Genoa, where he lives and works. In 2016 he published Brieven uit Genua (Letters from Genoa), an autobiography in letter format and the counterpart to La Superba, which also discusses the publication of the novel. Grand Hotel Europa (2018), a book about love in times of mass tourism, nostalgia, European identity, and a part of the world that has become a museum, was nominated for the 2019 Libris Literature Prize and translated into 10 languages. Pfeijffer never eschews debate, expressing himself in essays, columns and TV programs.
20161024135611 1

Maarten van der Graaff

(The Netherlands, 1987) debuted in 2013 with Vluchtautogedichten (Getaway Car Poems), which won the C. Buddingh' Prize. The jury praised his "boasting, swagger, and bravado." Van der Graaff escapes everyday reality in his very own getaway car — namely poetry — looking for new dimensions. His second volume Dood werk (Dead Work, 2015) won the J.C. Bloem Prize. He publishes poetry and prose in various magazines, performs regularly, and is editor and co-founder of the online literary magazine Samplekanon. His first novel Wormen en engelen (Worms and Angels, 2017) is a contemporary quest for the meaning of faith. In 2020 he published the poetry collection Nederland in stukken (The Netherlands in Pieces), followed by his second novel Onder asfalt (Under Asphalt, 2022). He curates compelling poetry recitation programmes each year for Writers Unlimited.

Go to website Maarten van der Graaff
20221215133534 1

Discover