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.
Following the adaptation and sanitisation of fairy stories by the Brothers Grimm, Disney and others, writers are increasingly restoring these tales to their original, complex and sometimes dark and creepy forms. Marita de Sterck is the unbeatable master.
Aerts has the ability to make emotions glow beneath his words.
Kinderboekenpraatjes
Some friends are much more than that. They grow up like twin cherries on the same stalk. Adin and Dina have that kind of friendship. ‘Cherry Heaven’ is a sensitive story about going away and coming back, and about the power of friendship: in spite of Adin’s move to the city, the two children do whatever they can to stay connected.
Impactful. Shows shameful current realities that get deep under the skin.
De Morgen
A girl is hiding in the back of a lorry. She’s sharing the space with a horse, her mum, and Captain Compass, her best friend. They’re on their way to another country, where the walls don’t dance and the houses don’t fall, and where the sky doesn’t rumble like thunder when there’s not a cloud to be seen. A light book about a weighty subject.
A passionate plea against hate, thirst for revenge and the urge for destruction
De Volkskrant
El Bachiri transforms the pain he suffered into a message of love and humanity, in which he appeals to western Muslims for a more humanist approach to Islam. ‘A Jihad for Love’ is the answer to the hatred of those who wish to divide us, of those who propagate violence and terrorism.
A monument, in the oeuvre of Verhelst as well as in the history of poetry
De Standaard
‘Choir’ is the first anthology of poems Peter Verhelst selected himself out of published and unpublished works. This new context forced Verhelst not only to change the chronological order, but often also to a rewriting of several poems.
His sentences are balanced and rhythmic, his language shines. *****
Haarlems Dagblad
Seb and Billie are seventeen and are both a little strange. Thanks to their friendship, the quiet Seb blossoms and opens up. But then Billie has an accident on a trampoline and ends up in a coma. Seb stops going to school and shuts himself away inside his room and inside himself. His despairing parents give him an airsoft gun for Christmas.
In her historical novel, which is based on actual events, Janzing shines the spotlight on the childhoods of two of the greatest icons of the 20th century: Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank. Two world-famous girls born in the same year, connected by one devastating war.
An astute monument to the dislocation of modern man. A light-hearted yet meaningful portrait of an inscrutable reality.
Cutting Edge
The play wants to explore how some of the most famous exiles of the 20th century defended, revised or abandoned their European traditions in their new ‘paradise’. And whether we, in this day and age, could or would mount a similar defence. An exploration of ‘home’ and the idea of feeling displaced in your own home country.
The subtleness of this poetry continues to affect you, even once you have left the swimming pool of imagination
De Standaard
‘Swimming Pool of Imagination’ is Tom Van de Voorde’s third collection. The poems explicitly reflect the current political and societal issues. He is nothing more than an engaged spectator of ‘military fear’. We might heroically resolve to get involved in the world around us, but to what extent do we succeed?
‘Beyond the Borders’ reads like an ode to the unfathomability of human relationships.
De Standaard
'Beyond the Borders’ is an account of Meulemans' fascinating literary pilgrimage, digging into the history of the American author Glenway Wescott (1901-1987). Right from the very first page this book whisks the reader away to a now-forgotten literary and artistic world in America before and after the Second World War. Gradually, the lives of Meulemans and Wescott become ever more intertwined. Is friendship beyond death possible?
Top-level theatre that explodes your conscience like an expanding bullet.
Knack Focus
This monologue is neither an indictment nor a celebration, but instead explores the complex tragedy of international peace operations. It is a tale of idealism and incompetence, of noble objectives and dirty business.
In a candid conversation, the two characters explore how this new situation can bring them together and how this illness either challenges or strengthens their friendship. Tragicomic, vulnerable and moving – but above all genuine.
In unconnected short texts, Ruth Mellaerts draws the reader into familiar situations, memories, thoughts and feelings. The interaction between words and illustrations lifts the book to a higher level and creates calm and beauty as well as words to ruminate on.
What is love? Is it still possible in this day and age to go through life as a couple? This exuberant and multifaceted piece that deliberately unsettles the reader offers the authors' destabilising, crazy and brilliant take on those universal questions.
With his talent for well-balanced, focused writing, De Moor now occupies an unrivalled position within Dutch-language literature.
Knack
How did the Nazis poison the bustling life of the city? Which communist absurdities were the residents of East Berlin confronted with in the GDR? How did the city transform after ‘die Wende’?
In ‘Berlin. Life in a Divided City’, Piet de Moor goes in search of the soul of the mythical metropolis, a city that suffered like no other during the violent history of the 20th century. The result is an informative and kaleidoscopic book that is truly worth reading.
‘The Fall’ tells the story of five guys who meet by chance over the course of a few years. All five have a single goal: racing, or a career as a professional cyclist to be precise. On the towpath along the river Scheldt, from Ghent to Oudenaarde, they train together: Iljo Keisse, Wouter Weylandt, Dimitri De Fauw, Bert De Backer and Kurt Hovelijnck. Young, virile and popular, they do indeed manage to become professional cyclists. But life is harder than the dream. What once brought them together, racing, just as ruthlessly tears them apart again.
Stroeykens, a physicist at heart, has thought of everything.
KIJK Magazine
What might the end of the world really look like? Should we be worried about the climate, mutating viruses, artificial intelligence and asteroid impacts? Or is that fear just as irrational as that of the medieval cultists who constantly expected another biblical flood to wash away the world?
‘The End of the World’ is a fascinating history of catastrophes, fears and nightmares.
Dewulf’s writing succeeds in making the mundane new again.
Trouw
No matter what Bernard writes about, he sees the world like a photographer, and analyses each moment in a unique, almost philosophical way. These ‘Late Days’ are marked by melancholy, as parenting increasingly makes way for ticking time.
‘I finally understand why my opponents find it so hard to admit that they are wrong’
Stand-up comedian Wouter Deprez
Why do we so often see two camps emerge that are both convinced they have a monopoly on wisdom? Why do we so love to dig ourselves into the trenches of our own rightness? ‘Why Everyone is Always Right’ is the ideal book to give us more insight into the eccentricities of the human spirit.
Fantomia’ provides hours of viewing pleasure, with lots of silliness, creativity and visual spectacle. Reviewers have compared Dieter VDO to the likes of ATAK, Basil Wolverton and medieval painter Jeroen Bosch.
A great creative and imaginative adventure full of surrealistic braveness and subtle humor
Global Illustration Awards Jury
Oskar is a special toy dinosaur. Ever since a little boy received Oskar as a present, the two have been inseparable. So when the boy suddenly loses his buddy, he doesn’t just accept it, but sets off fearlessly in search of the creature. This is the start of a fantastic adventure in which mountains are moved, seas are crossed and the two friends face great dangers.
Once again, a fantastic thriller that you want to read in one sitting.
Het Nieuwsblad
Gaelle wakes up injured in a psychiatric hospital in Berlin. Her seven-year-old son is in a coma in another hospital, and the police suspect her of attempting to murder him. Gaelle manages to escape and is determined to uncover the truth. Michael is a contract killer. When Michael decides to reject an assignment, he knows he must run for his life. One makes a living by killing, the other would kill to survive. And soon their paths will cross...
This comic book’s recognisability has a comforting effect that radiates a warm feeling of gratitude.
Knack
Ilah portrays relationships between men and women in a way that says more than an exhaustive analysis. Her short comics are both candid and subtle, true-to-life and dramatically adapted, apparently nonchalant and virtuoso, modest and self-assured.
‘She Alone’ is a story of a love between Western Europe and Islam, and a confrontation between and a merging of Europe and Islamic values, as well as a dystopic warning for Europe, and its growing fear of everything that is different.
Yuji Kohara is a molecular biologist who is researching the roundworm, C. elegans. One evening he accidentally gets off the metro a stop early. His absentmindedness sets him on the trail of an old flame. What follows is a long night, a restless week and a strange rest of the year.
A razor-sharp book about the cowardice we call neutrality *****
De Standaard
Wilfried Wils is an auxiliary policeman in Antwerp at the start of the Second World War. The city is in the grip of violence and distrust. Wilfried does what he can for himself, avoiding paths that are too slippery.
A crucial book that will stir hearts and minds ****
De Standaard
Stefan Hertmans based the story of ‘The Convert’ on historical facts, and he brings the Middle Ages to life with immense imagination and stylistic ingenuity. This is the story of three religions and a world going through massive change, a story of hope, love and hatred, a novel about a woman who can be certain of one thing: at home the death penalty awaits.
‘Yucca’ is not a classic thriller with a dénouement. The pieces of the puzzle never all fall in the right place, but seek an answer to the question how to deal with threatening violence and loss.
A debut that you wish every writer would write: surprising, imaginative and merciless *****
De Standaard
Eva, in her late twenties, travels back to her native village with a big block of ice in her car. She has been invited to a viewing of a new milking parlour at a dairy farm where her childhood friend Pim still lives, an occasion that will also serve to commemorate the death of his older brother, who drowned as a young man. Slowly it becomes clear she returned to her village to take revenge for what happened to her as a child...
On their way home from a holiday on the Costa Brava, Suzanne, Catherine and Hanna watch as their mother is mowed down by lorry on the shoulder of a French motorway. From now on, father Ivo will do his best to raise their three daughters, but without great success.
Packed with a Verhulstian wealth of poetry and politics
Humo
Liliya Dimova is the art-loving merry widow of an aggrieved Bulgarian writer. Her final wish in life is to correct the literary history of communism and wipe out every word written by Soviet regime puppet Mikhail Sholokhov by using the pages of his book as toilet paper.
For love of her late husband, and for all the other forgotten people who paid such a high price for their freedom of expression.
An original and refreshing study that does not shrink from taking the shine off some well-worn symbolism.
IFILOSOFIE
In this well-documented narrative account, with reference to personal experiences, religious traditions, Western literature and philosophy, cultural, technological and scientific developments, Jan Verplaetse looks for answers to the question of why blood fascinates us, yet instils revulsion in us at the same time.
Ward Zwart and Enzo Smits evoke the atmosphere of endless boredom in which teenagers sometimes find themselves. Zwart creates fabulous things with a pencil. His dreamy and accurate drawings of joyless details and gloomy faces create a slightly nostalgic universe.
Sublime, sketch-like artwork by Mannaert, with sharp dialogue
Metro
The American Weegee’s street photographs made him world famous. Wauter Mannaert and Max de Radiguès turn the photographer into a man of flesh and blood and make you identify with him, so his rather tragic fate hits all the harder.
When widower Anton breathes his last breath and goes looking for his wife Betty in the ‘thereafter’, nothing is quite as he expected. Jan Truyens’ debut is nothing less than an art project: an enormously rich book, with nods in the direction of the ‘Divina Commedia’.
A book in which everything is just right. The best comic book of 2016
De Groene Amsterdammer
Wide Vercnocke subtly builds up a story in which, through shaman’s sessions, the tragedy of the equipment manager at an athletics club is connected to the iconic narwhal and its spear-like tusk. A surprising and highly original story about physicality and rejecting absolute rationality.
A masterpiece of atmosphere and empathy, a must-have book of the year
Focus Vif
‘Mikel’ tells a true story, based on the experiences of the author, Mark Bellido, who spent four years protecting Basque politicians against ETA. With her brilliant use of colour, Judith Vanistendael depicts the light of a wild and rainy Basque Country.
A poetic comic book that fully spotlights Cromheecke’s drawing talent
Enola
Luc Cromheecke and Bruno De Roover depict brief scenes from the life of the cheerful bon vivant Daubigny, based on the letters he wrote to his wife or friends on his travels. The result is a wonderfully relaxing book that paints a beautiful picture of the artist as a human being.
Gijsemans can shout if he wants to, but he's more than happy to whisper.
The Herland Scotland
Gijsemans’ drawings, washed out but somehow lush, too, are tender and telling, from the doleful curve of Hubert’s back to the workaday treads of the stairs in his apartment building. In this gentle account, Hubert is neither noble aesthete nor creepy loner, simply a man who likes pottering around looking at art.
This absurd picture book is a successful introduction to the richly nuanced oeuvre of René Magritte, which at the same time invites one to explore further. Verplancke shows himself a born surrealist.
Following a stroke, Louis can no longer live at home with his wife. Before he has to leave for the care home, the whole family wants to give him one last unforgettable day. Michaël Olbrechts sketches a very convincing portrait of an average dysfunctional family.
His most personal and at the same time most universal book
De Standaard
'Abadaringi’ is a sketchbook and an intriguing documentary about the genocide in Rwanda. Janssen draws the landscapes and settings he encounters, and creates portraits of the people he speaks to. He also tells his own story, in handwritten notes. A phenomenal piece of journalism.
When a little girl sees a jet-black puppy in her bedroom window in this wordless picture book, it marks the beginning of an exceptional night. The clown on the bedroom wall also comes to life and transports the little girl to the circus. In ‘Circus Night’, De Leeuw plays with reality, imagination, dreams and fantasy.
‘The Book of Children’s Books’ is a kaleidoscopic book for reading, looking at and leafing through, for all readers who know how it feels to be a child, and a source of information and inspiration for publishers, booksellers, librarians, teachers – and for everyone else who is passionate about books.
Suzy Doozy is a headstrong girl with boundless energy and imagination. In a series devoted to her adventures, she more than lives up to her impish name. Benjamin Leroy and Jaap Robben illustrate and write with a lot of empathy and love for this recalcitrant heroine.
The illustrations demonstrate impressive skill and a steady hand.
JaapLeest
Walter is always falling asleep. It doesn’t matter where he is: at his birthday party, on the seesaw, in the swimming pool. His parents try everything they can think of to wake him up, but nothing works. Until a little dog walks in by accident and licks Walter’s face. A wonderful universe full of magical details.
True gems of illustrations. An exquisite picture book
Pluizuit
Owlet and Twiglet are two little owls who live in a nest on a branch of their beloved Apple Tree. The old tree has looked after them ever since their parents were killed by a hawk. Now it’s time for them to fly the nest, but will they have the courage? Sabien Clement expresses the vulnerability of the little owls in a beautifully sensitive way.
‘I Must’ is a collection of powerful portraits and philosophical texts full of compassion, vulnerable and confrontational at the same time. It exposes a merciless and terrible human tangle of obligations and expectations. Godon and Tellegen inspire thoughts, give a name to feeling and trigger involvement.
The central character in ‘Me and the Bear’ is young Leo, who in his own eyes meets with resistance everywhere. Only a brown bear does not run away from him. That is the beginning of a friendship that gives Leo enough confidence to go on.
