Young poets - part 1

Poets from the young generation, presented by poet Tsead Bruinja, will read from their work: Alfred Schaffer, Rustum Kozain (South Africa), and Vrouwkje Tuinman. Conversation in English, Dutch poems are simultaneously projected in English.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 13 January 2007 20:10 tot 21:05 uur
Location Filmhuis - zaal 7

'It is our explicit wish to remain anonymous', wrote poet Alfred Schaffer in his last anthology, Schuim (Foam). Nevertheless he and five other poets from the young generation read from their work. In this first part: Alfred Schaffer, made his debut in 2001 with the anthology Zijn opkomst in de voorstad (His Rise in the Suburb). He studied and worked in Cape Town, the city of poet Rustum Kozain. Kozains debut, This Charting Life, appeared in 2005. He did research into English South African poetry from the 1970s. The first book of poetry by Vrouwkje Tuinman, entitled Vitrine (Display Case), appeared in 2004. She read from her new collection De receptie (The Reception). Poet Tsead Bruinja introduced the poets and talked to them. The conversation was in English, there was a simultaneous projection in English of the Dutch poems.

Tsead Bruinja

(Rinsumageest, 1974) made his debut in 2000 with Frisian volume of poetry De wizers yn it read (The Needles in the Red). In 2008 a bilingual anthology appeared of his Frisian poetry, De Berte fan it swarte hynder (The Birth of the Black Horse). Bruinja translated the poems himself, and in many instances revised them. In this volume he evokes his youth in the Frisian countryside, whereby the illness and death of his mother plays a prominent role. Bruinja edited various anthologies, among others Droom in blauwe regenjas (Dream in a Blue Raincoat; 2004), a compilation of Frisian poems, Klotengedichten (Bollocks Poems; 2005, poetry about the scrotum) and Kutgedichten (Cunt Poems; 2005, on the female genitals). In 2007 the volume Bang voor de bal (Fear of the Ball) appeared. Tsead Bruinja wrote poetry reviews for newspapers, magazines, and radio. He combines his poetry readings with live music, such as flamenco, trance and hiphop and frequently interviews other poets before an audience.
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Vrouwkje Tuinman

(Den Bosch, 1974) studied general literature and music and has been a freelance journalist and reviewer since 1997. She made her debut in 2004 with the volume of poetry Vitrine (Display Case). Followed in 2005 by her novel Grote acht (Big Eight). She organizes literary events, writes columns, publishes anthologies and performs regularly at festivals and literary evenings. Vrouwkje Tuinman won the Hollands Maandblad poetry scholarship 2003-2004 and was nominated for the Libra Prize and the Debutantenprijs. Right now she is working on short stories and at a new volume of poetry, Reception (Receptie), which will appear in January 2007. She is a columnist for Zone030 and the talkshow Cafe Z, teaches creative writing (both prose and poetry) among others in the Trouw writing course 'Write!', at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and the Hogeschool Utrecht.
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Rustum Kozain

was born in Paarl (South Africa) in 1966 and grew up there. He studied in the Department of English at the University of Cape Town. As PhD candidate he focused his research on selected South African poetry in English from 1970 to 1990. His poetry has appeared in journals both locally and abroad and he has also published reviews, short fiction and journalism, and the occasional literary essay. His debut volume of poetry, This Carting Life, was published in 2005. A former lecturer in English literary studies, he now works as a freelance editor. He is currently working on an anthology of poetry for high schools.
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Alfred Schaffer

(Leidschendam, 1973) is a poet, translator and lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He made his debut in 2000 with the poetry collection Zijn opkomst in de voorstad (His Rise in the Suburb). Over the years, his poetry collections were often awarded or nominated for several important prizes, and translations appeared in English, Afrikaans, French, Chinese, Indonesian, Swedish and other languages. For the collection Kooi he received the Jan Campert Prize and the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize in 2008. His work is sometimes humorous, sometimes matter-of-fact and at the same time full of absurd inventions. In 2014, he published his, again critically acclaimed collection Mens Dier Ding. In 2021, he published the personal collection Wie was ik?, for which he received the Herman De Coninck Prize. That same year, Alfred Schaffer was awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize, the largest annual oeuvre prize in Dutch literature.
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