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.
Verplancke surprises and astounds with this witty parable that goes against the flow.
De Morgen
Rosa the salmon can’t decide whether to calmly stay where she is or leave for the unknown. In the end the itch in her tail pushes her on her way. Her daring brings her both adventure and emotion. ‘Rosa the Very, Very Brave Salmon’ urges us to be headstrong and to show the bravery it takes to swim against the flow and see what that audacity brings.
Flanders’ sharpest and most linguistically skilled comic-strip humourist
Enola
Bart Schoofs (who signs his work ‘brt’) takes aim at our society both extensively and with great precision. Although he mainly pokes fun, with obvious pleasure, at anti-wokers, conscious and unconscious racists or climate-change deniers, nobody is safe from Schoofs, not even himself.
A selection from a series of vertical comic strips created between 2017 and 2022, the beautifully RISO-printed ‘Thighbootman’ dives deep into Wide Vercnocke’s universe. That universe is almost boundless, aside from the format of the strips. His work is unapologetically fantastical and subversive, as is his humour.
Cutting Edge on ‘The Hunt for the Sabre-Toothed Tiger’
After a year of trying to get pregnant, the verdict is harsh for Ben and Mina: they won’t succeed by natural means. They start out on a long and demanding course of ICSI treatment. Meanwhile Ben, an illustrator, grapples with his feelings by drawing a world of clay, where the creation of a child fails too. In pencil and in orange and blue ecoline, Leroy creates a loving and moving portrait of two people who despite everything keep rediscovering each other.
‘Sister!’ is an unusually forceful theatrical thriller. ★★★★
Knack Focus
‘Sister!’ is a script typical of Peter De Graef: philosophical, poetic and at the same time astonishingly carefully composed. Hildegard’s story stimulates our imaginations and explores the boundaries of recognizable experience.
A fully rounded, spot-on comedy, taken straight from the modern day.
Theaterkrant
‘Gen X Has Left the Chat’ is a tightly composed comedy in which different generations try to engage in a conversation with each other, but every attempt ends in chaos.
In all its most intense moments there is room for nuance, warmth and solidarity, and an invitation to think for ourselves.
Theaterkrant
‘Wilderness’ is a family portrait about extreme poverty and the decision to shape your own life, even if that sets you in opposition to those who are closest to you. Mariën makes us reflect on ethical dilemmas, rich versus poor, city versus nature, and the way that our choices influence others.
It shimmers, crackles, sparks and blazes between Lady and Lord MacBeth.
Theaterkrant
The blood-soaked lust for power and inescapable downfall of the Scottish Macbeths are familiar the world over. In Tom Lanoye’s new version, Lady MacBeth comes more clearly into the foreground and an absolute but also tragic love between the MacBeths lies at the root of their calamity.
Brother is mad about birds. And he’s ill. So ill that Sister is afraid he’s going to die. Since he wants to know what happens if you die, Sister invents the Land of Yesterday, where you fly to if Death comes to fetch you. Their dead dog Bobby is happy there too, so they decide to throw a party for the anniversary of his death. But an uninvited guest shows up: Death. Melancholy and poetic, funny and sad, ‘Say Hello to the Geese’ is a moving story about the inevitable.
Director and playwright Freek Mariën has understood perfectly what it is that makes the difference between entertaining and outstanding youth theatre.
Het Nieuwsblad
Three indeterminate figures, ‘the one’, ‘the other’ and ‘one more’, live together at an indeterminate place. Every day brings the same sequence of habits and everything is played out under the all-seeing eye of ‘The Heap’. Freek Mariën presents a world in which private property is non-existent, even as an idea. The result is an imaginative and playful piece of work that raises questions about ownership, greed and charity.
A surprising new Flemish voice. Restrained and pure.
Jaapleest
For the second summer in a row eleven-year-old Maia and her parents go to a holiday park called Hotel Kosmos. But Maia’s parents are not getting along well. As her parents struggle to save their relationship, Maia finds new friends. In this moving and tragicomic book, Schmitz succeeds in incorporating Maia’s sorrow into a real holiday story.
,ROSA.’ shows that a play about history need not be dry, documentary theatre, and that a great diversity of source material is compatible with uncompromising captivation.
Theaterkrant
In a thrilling montage, ‘,ROSA.’ delves into the life and work that lie behind the modern image of Rosa Luxemburg as a public figure, salvaged after her death by political movements of both the left and the right. The script by Koen Boesman allows her unbending idealism and turbulent love life to speak for themselves, without being a hagiography or illuminating only the dark sides of her political engagement.
Strange and wonderful, and ultimately very very memorable
School Library Journal on ‘I Wish’
Ingrid Godon and Paul de Moor explore the life and work of the famous Belgian painter James Ensor through a unique lens. The book immerses readers in Ensor’s thoughts with poetic snapshots of his life, from his childhood experiences with masks in his mother’s gift shop to his enduring fascination with light. The narrative stimulates curiosity rather than providing straightforward information. Godon’s enchanting illustrations, inspired by Ensor, feature masks, skeletons, and grotesque faces, showcasing her artistic prowess.
Sometimes the very best books originate at the interface between fiction and nonfiction.****
De Standaard
Ten factories open up their doors for once. Pieter Gaudesaboos and Bart Rossel show how ten objects are made, each time in eight clear steps. While the text sticks to reality, the pictures steal the show with their playfulness and fantasy; the factories run flat out to produce everyday and familiar objects. The sparkling colours, delightful compositions, humour and rich details in the illustrations hold your attention throughout.
‘Down Day’ does not avoid difficult subjects, and perhaps for that reason it’s an exceptionally comforting book.
De Standaard
Gaston struggles with the loss of his best friend after accidentally dropping Fons's hamster. Feeling alone as his parents focus on fertility treatments, he finds comfort in a duckling. As the duck grows, so does his mother’s tummy. But then Gaston learns of his unborn sister's death. Dieltiens tells this story of loss with great feeling, with perfectly chosen words, plenty of room for suggestion and wonderful characterization.
Penetrating voyage to discover maternal intuition, a lost natural instinct and a sense of home. ****
Humo
A pregnant writer decides to make one final trip before the baby arrives. She drives along the Danube in a campervan with her boyfriend Leon, from its source in Germany to its mouth in Romania. Reflecting the way the author is subject to transitions, the book switches between reporting and lyricism, between mythology and cultural history, between the diaries of a mother, author and traveller. Van Offel allows us to share in her quest, which, because of the echoes of centuries-old fairy tales and stories, is universal as well as intensely personal.
An exceptionally good standard work to leave lying around everywhere in classrooms and living rooms
Denkkaravaan
Barbara De Munnynck brings 100 remarkable events of world history to life in a fascinating way. The stories include interesting facts and fun anecdotes about well-known and less well-known events or people. The narrative tone, the powerful illustrations of Isabelle Geeraerts and the humour in both text and image make ‘A Small World History in 100 Big Dates’ an excellent book for generating enthusiasm for history and research in readers young and old.
Silence, as Marieke De Maré shows in her second novel, can say more than a thousand words. *****
Knack Focus
Simone and Andrej have lived for many years in a house on the edge of a sparsely populated village, looking out on their sheep barn. In ‘I’m Going to the Sheep’ we look at the couple’s small world over a period of two weeks. Shimmering through the daily routine the reader can detect fairy tales, magic realism and a touch of absurdist humour. De Maré succeeds in touching a sensitive chord with her poetic parable about life, parenthood and love.
Refined, layered, bloodcurdling, a book about sensuality and desire on the one hand and purity on the other. ****
Bazarow
Marieke and Vik have been a couple since they were fourteen and are devoted parents to their twin daughters Hasse and Lotte, who were the result of IVF treatment. Years later, Marieke mourns the loss of sexuality. The combination of her sexual frustrations and her exploratory, practical nature prompts Marieke to undertake research into male sex workers. In ‘Gentlemen’ Patricia Jozef frankly investigates female desire and sexual morality. What happens when we reverse traditional roles and expectations?
A bittersweet story that has a serious undertone, yet whose development is nevertheless full of humour
Het nieuwsblad
On the day of his first communion, Ernest loses his family. He renounces his early faith and is intent on revenge. When Brother Rémy asks him to continue the beatification of Sister Merita, Ernest sees in the task a chance to personally settle accounts with God. In Rome he is helped by scammers Livio and Stefania. But then the case miraculously takes off and the process of canonization gets completely out of hand.‘Santa Subito’ is a compelling tragicomic story with ingenious plot twists, colourful characters and laconic irony.
A mature, cleverly constructed book, with a rich array of themes and sensory impressions.
De Morgen
After an incident of homophobic violence, a painter and his husband move into a house in a quiet residential district. The painter’s loneliness grows to become isolation. Doubts and his efforts to process the act of violence make his creativity run dry. In ‘The End of the Street’ Angelo Tijssens shows two men trying to find their way amid social expectations and heteronormative role models. In an unadorned and subtle style he lays bare the main character’s search, both in his personal life and in his work as a painter.
An ode to the aesthetic, sensory and natural life, which supposedly has no place in today’s world. ****
De Standaard
Anton teaches art. One evening one of his students calls by and offers him his unconditional friendship. Dius and Anton find each other in their yearning for beauty, classical painting and the wide-open polder landscape. What starts as mutual curiosity gradually becomes a firm friendship, with a shared fascination for the sublime. Against a rich background of artistic associations and references, a special bond grows between two artists’ souls.
A brilliant slice of life with a warm, beating heart; as vivid as literature can possibly be.
NRC Handelsblad
During a visit to the barber’s, news of the death of Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac, casts seventy-year-old Werner back to the days of his youth. With a masterful structure and an endless variety of styles, reminiscent of authors like Haruki Murakami, Jennifer Egan and Ian McEwan, ‘With the Two Prong Crown’ elevates a normal life to become literature of the highest order.
This is an exquisitely brilliant novel. Politically exciting and wild and beautiful
Holly Pester
Young refugee Hannah arrives in London with only her late mother's diaries. As she navigates the complexities of Britain's immigration system, she reflects on her family's war-torn past and uncovers a different side of her mother. Far away from her native country, Hannah finds solace in British literature and explores her identity and desires with a fellow asylum seeker. ‘The Seers’ is a compelling and experimental novel about love, loss, resilience, colonial traumas, and the true face of Britain’s immigration policy and its impact on young refugees. A confronting and chastening reading experience.
After centuries of division, six European countries joined hands. Borders blurred and barriers vanished. The continent united by establishing institutions and signing treaties. But above all the story of Europe was written by people. Prime ministers, presidents, chancellors and commissioners determined the direction taken, each in their own time and in their own way.
Politics and economics cannot exist without each other. The global financial crisis makes many people long for a government that will set things straight. Convinced Europeans seize upon the situation to appeal for yet more European integration. For radical nationalists the market is no more than an instrument for striving after their political and cultural vision. ‘The Prosperity and Pride of Nations’ describes the global, European and Belgian history of the complex relationship between politics and economics.
WT. Tijdschrift over de geschiedenis van de Vlaamse Beweging
The shaping of national identity in states and peoples is a continuous process that evolves in relation to the geopolitical situation. Intellectuals, especially historians, have an important part to play in both creating and substantiating that national self-image, since history is a productive tool in the process. Countries have borders, but some countries are borders in themselves. Historian Olivier Boehme describes how the history of Europe has been shaped to an important extent by what he calls ‘border nations’.
Following his bestseller ‘The Burgundians’, of which over 375,000 copies were sold across Europe, Bart Van Loo has written another fascinating journey about our distant past. In the final part of his diptych, ‘In the Footsteps of the Burgundians’, the author brings the Late Middle Ages back to life in inimitable fashion.
Reading about Ceustermans’ quest is enough to make you less nostalgic.
Doorbraak.be
During the Covid-19 crisis, Chris Ceustermans was beset by an existential emptiness that prompted musings about his student days in Leuven in the late 1980s, when he often spent time in the company of a Hungarian called Yuri. A dissident journalist for Radio Free Europe, Yuri had fled Hungary and was staying in the Collegium Hungaricum, where in unexplained circumstances he resorted to suicide. Yuri was of the same generation as Viktor Orbán, in those days an important voice in the liberal resistance to communism. Thirty years later, Ceustermans decided to travel to Budapest in search of answers to his questions.
This book is the total opposite of the famous ‘Voyage autour de ma chambre’ by Xavier de Maistre, although initially Lotte Lola Vermeer explores the world without leaving her room. Google Street View enables her to travel cheaply and tirelessly at her desk, since modern technology allows us to go absolutely everywhere, from dazzling Alaska to icy Siberia. That at least is the idea on which the author was relying. On one of her many digital journeys, however, she discovered that Street View ends abruptly at apparently random places.
Ish Ait Hamou has written his most personal book yet.
VRT
In this unguarded, open, relatable but also confrontational essay, Ish Ait Hamou seeks explanations and answers to life-defining questions from the starting point of personal experience. He focuses first on his own Moroccan community, but the theory of ‘the 1 or 2’ that he develops is at once unique and universal, making his essay potentially important to any reader.
‘Know Yourself’ is a work to cherish and to reread.
Humanistisch Verbond
The starting point for each of the pieces in this book is a philosophical question. They are not chosen at random but arise out of a desire for self-knowledge. With each question the author found that, after brief reflection, her first spontaneous answer proved inadequate. What she initially thought she knew turned out to be no longer valid.
The questions Claeys raises are relevant, and she cleverly links the thinking of Martha Nussbaum and John Rawls to societal issues such as gender freedom, MeToo situations, and the Black Lives Matter movement.
NRC Handelsblad
Pride may seem like something for people with big egos, for individuals who are easily offended, and for braggarts who have no boundaries on social media. Those who are proud tend to put themselves too much in the spotlight.
But pride also underlies emancipation and can be a powerful weapon in protest. With pride, you can better appreciate your own worth. More space for certain forms of pride may be the key to social justice.
‘Under the Bridge’ has the presence of a thriller, but also lifelike characters and astute sentences.****
NRC
After a Friday night celebration under the bridge, Jowi ends up in a coma after a fall from that very bridge. Did he jump? Was it an accident? Or did someone push him? In an ingeniously structured story, the reader gradually finds out exactly what happened. ‘Under the Bridge’ is an intense reading experience and a demonstration of De Vlieger’s extraordinary voice.
Carlo Collodi’s wooden puppet continues to inspire authors and illustrators all over the world. With ‘Oh Pinocchio’, Carll Cneut and Imme Dros add a remarkable retelling to that tradition. In the book Dros works magic with her pen and Cneut with his paintbrush.In ‘Oh Pinocchio’, Cneut and Dros bring the 140-year-old wooden puppet back to life in a way that is truly impressive.
A clever and sultry story in sensual language that shimmers between the lines
Het Parool
Fourteen-year-old Jakob is head-over-heels in love with Julia, his older brother Esse's girlfriend. Jakob finds out that Esse is risking a great deal in his efforts to make his dream a reality. To impress Julia, Jakob tries to save his brother, but things don’t turn out the way he hoped. Herman van de Wijdeven shows himself at his best, with extraordinarily well-drawn personalities, tension that winds to a fever pitch, sensual language and a lot that can be read between the lines.
A tour de force. Engagingly and faultlessly executed
De Morgen
In ‘A Book Full of Houses’, Pieter Van Eenoge is able to give free rein to his love of architecture. In his clear painting style, which gives the impression of being almost geometric, he brings famous houses and architectural forms to life. This is a colourful and intriguing work that treats both iconic architectural achievements and bizarre curiosities with equal amounts of love.
After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Lena is utterly at a loss. She becomes convinced a sea monster is to blame, but nobody believes her. Along with her new friend Vincent, she sets off in search of proof. ‘Sea Sparkle’ is both a thrilling adventure story and a spot-on portrait of a young girl who is struggling to deal with overwhelming grief. A strong and multi-layered debut.
De Vlieger approaches her subject with sincere admiration, and it shows.
NRC
The chicken is more intelligent, more important and more beautiful than we tend to think. It’s high time to become more familiar with this exceptional creature that’s found everywhere but about which we know little. 'The Big Chicken Book' is bursting with love for the bird, convincing even the most ardent chicken-haters.
As a child, Tomiko dreams of other lives and the other people around her. She wants to be far away from the red door that follows her everywhere. When she gets bigger, she decides to flee, further and further from the person she was as a little girl. But even though Tomiko travels to the other side of the world, she can’t leave her past behind. In this debut, Kevin Sezgin creates an intriguing world reminiscent of the work of Shaun Tan.
On a cold winter’s day, Mika and Pip, a couple without children, make a snow child. The child of ice comes to life, laughs and runs, and is given the name Winter. When Winter secretly goes outside to play hide-and-seek in the spring sun, no one can find him... 'Where is Winter?' is a comforting story that makes us feel what the arrival of a child means, how painful parting can be, and how hope brings life.
Playful, inventive and magnificently illustrated story
De Morgen
Chicken Vera is the only one of the flock to survive a fox’s raid, because she’s sitting on eggs. Next to the barn she finds a frightened fox cub that has lost its hunting mother. She knows she really ought to chase the cub away, but her motherly heart is too big. She hides him under her wings and names him Spark. In the tradition of old fables and fairy tales, ‘Robber's Cub’ is a timeless story about tolerance and about caring for others, even for an enemy’s child.
Anaïs Van Ertvelde was born with a short right forearm. A matter of course for her, she thought, but other people seemed to question it. At a certain point she discovered that there was much more behind that disability, in both personal and social terms.
Harry Kessler was an intellectual dandy, and politics and art were the focus of his life. He defended the arts from every form of political interference. As an arts patron, lover of males, publisher, thinker and writer, he pledged himself to no one and refused to live according to other people’s expectations.
A magnificent style – scholarly but vivid and punchy
Ons Brussel
James Ensor (1860–1949) was everything in one: cocky and solitary, baron and bohemian, a misunderstood bourgeois, a peintre maudit who surveyed the world from his ivory tower in Ostend and sought refuge in the salons of Brussels. Min peels away the mask of the mythmaker to create a wonderful portrait of this enigmatic and multi-faceted painter.
A consummate storyteller. Narrative history of the most fascinating kind
Knack
The French Revolution and Napoleon: two epic, captivating tales from western history brought together in a vibrant and compelling narrative. This revised and expanded edition is the result of working on the French translation, published by Flammarion in 2023.
The diary of the ‘Flemish Sartre’, which after reading just one page is impossible to put down.
NRC Handelsblad
Leopold Flam (1912-1995) lived for the greater part of his childhood in a cellar inAntwerp. At the age of thirteen, Flam started keeping a diary that was as candid as it was grim. The fact that he managed to lift himself out of the extreme poverty of his early years rates as a minor miracle. The son of beggars eventually became a professor of philosophy.Leopold Flam published an impressive number of books and articles, but his diaries – which he kept all his life, literally until he was on his deathbed – are among his strongest work. Out of more than two million (!) words, Kristien Hemmerechts and Guido Van Wambeke have compiled a fascinating book.
In this coming-of-age novel we follow Ajali during her final year at secondary school. As a child of Rwandan refugees, she has difficulty finding her place in society. She feels distanced both from her family and from her white classmates. Not a single word is wasted in ‘Companions in Fate’. In a style both clear and incisive, Ingabire has written a relevant and necessary tale about growing up, trauma and love in a family that struggles both with silence and the past.
