Flanders Literature helps publishers and festival organisers find that one particular title or author that is the perfect fit for their list or audience. So take a good look around, we present a selection of the finest literature from Flanders. If you like what you see, please get in touch with us for further information.
This raw, semi-autobiographical debut tells the story of the unnamed protagonist’s childhood and a night with his former lover. It takes the reader through an emotional landscape that’s reminiscent of Ocean Vuong and Douglas Stuart. In cinematic scenes, Angelo Tijssens depicts the pain and longing of a life spent searching.
A refined mix of biographical facts and accessible philosophizing about relationships, sex, politics and society.
De Volkskrant
Writer, actor, singer-songwriter and philosopher Stefaan Van Brabandt brings Sartre & de Beauvoir into the limelight. An accessible reflection on two greats of philosophy whose ideas and lives are intertwined for ever. ‘Sartre and de Beauvoir’ distils the two role models of existentialist philosophy to their essence.
A warm and humorous family portrait that’s brimming with love.
ZIN Magazine
Lieve Joris is an internationally renowned writer of non-fiction books about the Arab world, Africa, Eastern Europe and China. After writing about her much-admired and maligned brother Fonny in ‘Return to Neerpelt’, she revisits her family history in ‘Hildeke’. Her parents’ growing care needs pull her back to the Flanders of her youth: the mother she barely knew and the difficult father who was preoccupied with his prodigal son and who goes by the nickname ‘The Creator’.
This is a major work by Jeroen Theunissen, one of our best wordsmiths. Impressive.
David Van Reybroeck
When he was around twenty, Jeroen Theunissen came across a map of Europe in a travel agency, with thick purple lines marking long-distance hikes. When, many years later, the writer starts suffering from anxiety attacks and depression and feels melancholic and trapped in an unhappy marriage, he leaves everything and everyone behind, including his two children, and embarks on a six-month walk from Southwest Ireland to the Bosporus Strait.
In her latest book, Caro Van Thuyne draws on her unique voice to address another theme that’s close to her heart: the natural world. Some time ago, Caro withdrew from hectic urban life and moved to Houtland, near the Flemish coast. There she lives and writes surrounded by nature.
In 1950s Hollywood, Newland Archer and May Welland are the glamour couple du jour. But Newland soon discovers that he’s not entirely immune to the charms of one of May's male friends. With ‘Bungalow 5’, Maarten Vande Wiele breathes new life into ‘The Age of Innocence’ by Edith Wharton.
1792. Pierre-Marie Dragon is a mounted infantryman in the French revolutionary army. With this character, Juncker and Spruyt lift the anti-hero to an entirely new level. Oversexed, arrogant and gutless yet full of himself, Dragon Dragon is the undisputed star of this grotesque, picaresque narrative.
Tenderly and mercilessly, Sabi gives voice to three generations in a breath-taking novelistic debut.
De Morgen
In this family chronicle that takes the reader from sunny Casablanca to the chilly Netherlands, three women of different generations speak to us. From these three perspectives, each with its own narrative register, ‘Half a Life’ investigates the problem of how to live as a (Moroccan) woman, mother, daughter, grandmother, wife, widow and loved one. With love and empathy, Sabi portrays the lives of the women who have gone before her.
Another gorgeous Timmers spectacle, full of captivating details.
De Morgen
Four ducks get bored of their little pond. ‘Come on, we’re going to the lake!’ decides one of the four fearlessly. Erik walks at the back of the group and cautiously expresses his doubts. The lake? Doesn’t a terrible monster live there? Unimpressed by Erik’s objections, the group continues undaunted, off on an adventure. In ‘The Monster Lake’, Leo Timmers demonstrates once again what makes him unique as an illustrator.
A collaboration between two gifted artists which resulted in a magnificent picture book.
TZUM
Right from the very first sentence, ‘From Looking Came Seeing’ submerges the reader in the sense of loss felt by a woman whose husband has gone from her life for ever. Godon, with characteristic brilliance, portrays the loneliness, emptiness or aimlessness that his departure brings with it. In a soft, carefully considered palette, she closes down and opens out the woman’s world. Without doubt both a homage and an invitation to the human gaze.
One of the strongest visual artists in Flanders and beyond.*****
De Standaard on ‘The Whale Library’
The Cyclades, five thousand years ago. Atan has an extraordinary gift for modelling clay. During his training as a sculptor, the boy is forced to abandon his creativity to concentrate on skill and technique, until his master recognises that Atan’s muse must not be silenced. 'Atan of Kea' is a touching and intimate story, that proves, yet again, that Vanistendael is a peerless story-teller.
A compelling historical adventure full of exciting, filmic scenes. Van Rijckeghem proves yet again that he’s one of the best writers in the genre.
Trouw
Denmark, 870 AD. Yrsa is a tough Viking girl with a club foot who won’t let herself be pushed around. She is tasked with looking after a Christian hostage, but the two girls and everything they believe in couldn’t be more different. ‘Daughter of Doom’ is a cinematic adventure novel in which two women hold their own at a time when this was anything but a given. A remarkable book about fate, faith and free will, in vivid language.
A literary masterpiece. ‘Morris’ is Moeyaert at his best.
De Standaard
Morris climbs a mountain to fetch his grandmother's dog safely home for the hundredth time when a snowstorm catches them by surprise. Moeyaert depicts Morris, with masterly precision, as a loner who carries sadness within him and at the same time – almost to his own surprise – doesn’t let anyone mess him about. Sebastiaan Van Doninck's illustrations bring warmth and colour into the snow-white cold of the story.
His new book ‘Listen’ cracks open your listening habits
Knack Focus
Did you ever listen to Hindustani Dhrupad music, a Gisalo from Papua New Guinea or the chants of the Blackfoot people? Does it mean anything to you to listen to a piece of music that lasts 639 years? Followed by the noise experiments of Maso Yamazaki? Or do you think that this is not music?
Nelle is a dreamer. She likes school, but Mr Bart less so. In turn, the school teacher isn’t crazy about children. Nelle’s parents don’t have a lot of money, but by chance Nelle is able to buy a ticket for the school raffle. The most incredible thing happens: Nelle wins the first prize, a trip to a sun-drenched island for her and her parents.
Saved! is a compelling picture book, full of beautiful details, which invites our imagination to examine the effects of global warming. ****
NRC Handelsblad
Arend is born in a nest on an ice floe. The sun never sets there, which at first Arend finds rather pleasant. But then the ice melts and the nest slides into the cold sea. Arend acknowledges defeat. He takes to the air, spreads his wings and lets the wind carry him along. From the sky, however, Arend can see that the water is rising. Soon all the animals will drown, he thinks. Somebody must do something, but who?
'Bodies' is one of the best things Verhelst has written.
TZUM
A man leaves on a voyage of discovery to forbidden territory. He roams a post-apocalyptic no man’s land, in which nature seems to have defeated humankind. ‘Bodies’ reads like a meeting between personal and global trauma, perhaps the result of climate change. Verhelst forces the reader to reflect upon all that we are in danger of losing. More than a dystopian tale, ‘Bodies’ is an ode to language, the imagination and the telling of stories.
You don’t need metaphorical excesses when you can write like Peter Terrin. *****
NRC Handelsblad
'The Event’ is a masterful frame story in which tales of love, loss and growing older subtly flow into one another. At the centre are Willem, a bestselling author, and Juliette, his assistant. The writer has become almost blind towards the end of his life and he dictates his novels to Juliette. After his death, Willem leaves the recordings for his final novel to his beloved assistant, along with the task of finishing the book. Following its publication, Femke, Willem’s young wife, takes Juliette to court. Willem has the final word, after his consciousness is digitally reproduced by scientists.
A tight and funny play that unerringly rips apart the patriarchal rhetorical conjuring tricks of our politicians and other media personalities
De Standaard
‘Uproar’ manages to capture the debate over feminism in lightning fast and quick-witted dialogues. It is an incisive story with contemporary relevance that feels both absurd and almost alienating at the same time.
In this moving and sometimes funny dual coming-of-age story, Ben Gijsemans presents us with extraordinary page compositions that offer a wonderful insight into the relationship between Harold and Carl. The two brothers want only the best for each other, but burgeoning hormones disturb the harmony between them. A magnificent portrayal of the tension between child and adolescent in the 1990s.
A delightfully designed period thriller that can both speak to a broad public and a connoisseur of graphic novels
Knack
François is a driver for a dry-cleaning business. When he suddenly comes upon a gruesome scene and spots a chance to grab a bagful of money, it proves his downfall. In panoramic spreads that highlight faded glory, Joris Mertens creates a universe all his own. Its noir atmosphere is offset by the tragicomic aspect that Mertens has given his antihero. A beautifully crafted graphic novel.
In this provocative and wide-ranging book, philosopher of science Maarten Boudry explains how we can solve our current climate crisis, just as we warded off earlier potential environmental disasters.
Tom Lanoye brings together three closely connected lives in Flanders at the time of the Second World War. Alex, a gifted theatre director and actor, his wife, Jewish star actress Lea Liebermann, and his brother Rik Desmedt, also a director and founder of the Flemish SS. 'The Turntable' is a timeless novel in which the author mercilessly exposes the inner workings of a European war.
Over a period of forty years, master con artist Piet Van Haut has presented himself as director of Johnson & Johnson, as an examining magistrate, and as the CEO of Belgian Railways. He has thereby stolen millions. Inghels not only tells the story of a real-life swindler, but also recounts his own adventures in writing a book about that criminal. He plays an interesting game with the boundary between fact and fiction. A shocking story about heroism, vanity, greed, ambition and manipulation, not just on the part of the con artist but on the part of the author too.
An entertaining excursion into the extraordinary world of English-language literature
Stretto
'Even today, most of those who talk about literature are elderly white professors. We must introduce new perspectives, fresh views of the classics. We urgently need to make literature more accessible, so that the canon will change from the outside,’ claimed Ibe Rossel in a popular podcast. With her nonfiction debut she has acted on her own advice. Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen and George Eliot are great names in English literature, but for many readers they amount to no more than a distant memory of English lessons. After all, what does a dead author have to offer us today?
‘Breakers’ is a compact, visually oriented novella with a dash of magic realism.
MappaLibri
Five lifeless bodies wash up on a beach close to a couple’s home, followed not long afterwards by the body of a child. From that moment on, everything between the man and woman who live in the beachside house will be different. Their safe world belongs to the past, now that the refugee issue has disturbed their harmonious world. Torn between guilt and impotence, the man and woman drift further and further apart until their relationship hits the rocks.
The atmosphere is vaguely reminiscent of Ben Lerner, Samuel Beckett and also the early Peter Handke.
De Morgen
Sibel, Ömer and Wernicke all live illegally at Istanbul airport. They symbolize a new generation of adults who do not feel at home in the countries where they were born, nor in their parents’ native lands. In this sensitive debut novel, language and the inability to understand one another are central, as is the impossibility of feeling truly at home if you are unable to speak your mother tongue.
An impressive story collection, in which Carmien Michels proves herself an extremely intelligent and sensitive storyteller.
Het Parool
In her debut story collection, Carmien Michels exposes the fragility of fatherhood. Her six short stories are really mini novels, in which her characters face illness, memories of a difficult childhood, stalking, rape and death. All fathers have a hard time, but some rather more than others. They fall short of expectations, miss their children, or struggle to emulate their own fathers. Michels’ characters echo the universe of Roald Dahl.
We seldom see so much humour, beauty and linguistic creativity.
Cutting Edge, on ‘Show and Tell Me the World
In this unusual and colourful look-and-learn book, Schamp takes us on a journey through the centuries, from the invention of the wheel to the car of tomorrow. ‘The Biggest and Cheeriest Book of All Vehicles’ carries the unmistakable stamp of Tom Schamp. You’ll never tire of looking at the packed pages with their vibrant colours. A book that fills both children and the adults reading to them with joy.
Sassafras De Bruyn’s illustrations turn the book into a real gem.
Pluizuit on ‘The Book of Life’
People have always told each other stories – about gods, humans, minor quarrels or powerful magicians. In 'For as Long as People Have Existed' Sassafras De Bruyn has chosen thirty stories from all over the world, each of which has a metamorphosis at its heart. Her drawings, printed in tints of deep blue, create an extraordinary and surreal atmosphere that fits the book perfectly.
Debruyne has written one of the most interesting autobiographical novels of the year.
Tzum
Heleen Debruyne was inspired to write ‘Friend of the Family’ after reading her grandparents’ letters and diaries. While pregnant with her first child, she immersed herself in an unsavoury family story that had been glossed over. She discovered how and why her father was deliberately entrusted to a friend of the family called Albert, Bertie to his friends, a rich homosexual. Debruyne intersperses the story with essayistic passages in which she contemplates motherly love and shifting beliefs about sexuality, love and intimacy.
In a dystopia that lies halfway between a western and science fiction, a team of adventurers goes in search of a mythical hoard of gold in the ghost town of Centralia. With this debut, Miel Vandepitte proves that we can expect a great deal from him in the future.
In ‘Passages’ Martha Verschaffel interweaves four mysterious stories. Are there any connections between them? Is there a single main narrative? Or is that just the interpretation you favour as a reader?
‘The King’s Golden Beard’ is an allegorical fairy tale as absurd as it is topical, with delightful humour. It makes children think about the meaning of power and the use of power, and demonstrates the dangers of dictatorial rulers.
Penetrating and splendid, full of brilliant, somewhat harrowing images
NRC Handelsblad
A maverick of Flemish literature, Roger Van de Velde has had a lasting impact on the current generation of Flemish authors. The novel 'Crackling skulls' reflects his unique life. In twenty powerful short stories, Van de Velde portrays his ‘companions in misery’, people living on the fringes of society, with whom he found himself in psychiatric institutions. Empathy, combined with a powerful talent for observation, an eye for detail and literary flair, produces compelling portraits of lost souls.
Antonia grows up along with her three half-sisters and her flamboyant mother in the Flanders of the 1980s and ’90s. Her father is out of the picture. While she grows up, she discovers who he was. 'Pluto' is a multifaceted family story in which strong but essentially lonely women are central. With evocative writing full of sensual details, Taveirne creates an intimate world and presents a completely authentic view of major themes: loss, the desire for love and safely, the inability to form close relationships, absent fathers and the lack of an ‘ordinary mother’.
Splendid true-to-life characters. Beerten’s sentences are measured and expressive, her dialogues informal, sometimes suggestive.
Het Parool
After the First World War, little Fredo migrates with his father to Liverpool, where he lives an unassuming but pleasant life. When the Second World War breaks out, every Italian in Britain is suddenly suspect. Fredo goes into hiding in the countryside with a woman with whom he finds solace, but when the war ends he’s asked to leave. In despair he travels back to his native Italy. Els Beerten’s sharply delineated characters and the profound psychological insights that we detect between the lines add up to a magnificent epic about migration, parent-child relationships and homecoming.
In 'The Things We Knew in 1972' Geert Buelens addresses the dangerous condition of our planet, a topical, alarming and complex subject, and he succeeds magnificently in making it totally accessible for a broad audience. While the reader remains aware of the seriousness of the subject throughout, the book is as captivating and informative as it is miraculously entertaining.
A book to cherish and enjoy, to take into your heart along with Bahar
Pluizuit
'Bahar Bizarre’ is a joyful and uncomplicated story about growing up and identity. How are you supposed to know what you want to become? And how soon do you need to know? Bahar is a happy little girl with a unique outlook on the world and recognizable feelings about searching an unfamiliar place for a way to fit in, about making friends and being accepted.
One day, Crocodile decides to leave his pond and to head into the big wide world. That’s when he realises that quite a few of his friends are in trouble. ‘The Kind Crocodile’ is a light-hearted and funny cumulative tale about the unexpected power of teamwork.
'Swans' is a musical and atmospheric tale about those mysterious but oh so beautiful animals: swans.
CC De Adelberg
‘Swans’ is a moving and imaginative story about daring to dream big and taking the plunge to go look for adventure. And of course it’s a show full of swans. The play is performed by a single actor or actress with musical accompaniment from a string section made up of nine swans.
Extremely funny, sometimes touching and of course exceptionally well-drawn.
9e kunst
Brecht Evens brilliantly subverts the conventions of the fairy-tale and fantasy genres in ‘Idulfania’. Populated by trolls, giants, kings, witches and dwarves, Idulfania is a land where high hopes tend to be quickly and painfully dashed. Dark humour at its best.
A tale of exceptional beauty. Moving, tender, thoughtful and unique
Ligne Claire
A postman at sea befriends an enormous, ancient whale which carries an entire library inside her belly. When two extremely talented professionals join forces, the result is bound to be impressive. Zidrou’s poetic and playful fable about the importance of inspiring stories is lifted to an even higher level by Judith Vanistendael, whose gorgeous paintings depict the characters and their surroundings with great love and tenderness.
Ruben’s grandfather Emiel is eighty-five and becoming more and more forgetful. Clearing out is dead wife's things triggers quite a few half-memories in him. Marita de Sterck tells a story of memory and love, and the pain caused, and eased, by both.
A multi-layered and dynamic adventure, full of surprises and ingenuity
Ricochet Jeunes
A boy writes a letter to a girl. But just as he’s about to post the letter, a sudden gust of wind takes off with it. At the end of the book, the girl herself is also writing a letter. She gives it to her pigeon, which traverses the book in the opposite direction: from back to front. And so the last page becomes the first.
In the playful numbers book ‘What’s In That Hat?’, celebrated illustrator Judith Vanistendael joins forces with typesetter Peter De Roy. The two use basic wooden blocks designed to create woodcuts and Vanistendael conjures up animals in coloured pencil. The end result is a seemingly simple, but ingenious little book.
Beautiful! It’s hard not to be moved by the tender bond between brother and sister.
Het Parool
Nour is seven and incurably ill. But she keeps smiling and playing, whenever possible. While her parents are completely focused on her illness, the girl is growing closer to her older brother. He tells her stories to try and take her mind off the pain. Brother and sister imagine a universe of their own in which they are safe and connected. An ode to imagination, written in pared down language, somewhere between poetry and prose.
Little Mouse is running through the woods, trying to find granddad. Owl seems to know where granddad is and offers Little Mouse pride of place at his table. But Little Mouse soon discovers that Owl has other plans. ‘Little Mouse’s Big Adventure’ is a thrilling adventure and a gripping, heart-warming and humorous story to read to children.
