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.
‘Roger is Reading a Book’ is both a tribute to the quiet life (the bliss of peacefully reading a book) and to going out and having fun together when city life beckons. The same hustle and bustle in town returns in 'Roger is Going Fishing' where Roger cycles out of town to go fishing. His neighbour Emily on the back of his bike, with the fishing rod in her hand, catches plenty of things before they’ve even left the town.
A masterly collection of stories, highly intelligent and hugely comical *****
De Standaard
This ‘novel-in-stories’ displays how people often believe they know more than they actually do. They apply labels or draw premature conclusions and, by doing so, cause others to suffer. In this collection of fifteen stories, Verbeke plays a beautiful game with fiction and reality, with believing and exposing. The characters’ assumptions are depicted so realistically and convincingly that readers find themselves going along with them too.
Three perfectly controlled puzzle pieces that will never entirely fit together
De Groene Amsterdammer
‘Post Mortem’ is an intense and ingenious novel about a writer’s inspiration, a father’s love for his daughter and a man’s fear of losing his life after his death.
‘Applesauce’ is a refreshing complement to all the picture books in which dads are always heroes. Here you see a father as he really is: he often realises his role of superdad, but occasionally he can be found lazing on the sofa and sometimes he even changes to scary and grumpy, with thunder in his voice and lightening in his hands.
His argument is lucid, eloquent and compelling, and easy to follow, even for laypersons.
Athenaeum Bookstore
Based on his clinical experience as a psychotherapist, Verhaeghe shows how our changing society works through into the psychological problems that afflict individuals today.
A warm story you can relate to, skilfully written and illustrated
De Bond
Bernie and Flora are a bear and a duck who like the same things and have been friends for years. A series of four books describes their adventures together. The books are an ode to friendship and love, and they also show how both characters need to have respect for each other’s individuality.
A fantasmagoria without balloons in which a man sets out on a surreal quest in search of his animality
Le Soir
In this wordless tale, the young human boy Mowgli lives alone in the jungle. He soon feels lonely and goes in search of a soulmate. Mowgli’s quest is full of slapstick humour with bloody violence and elephant droppings, but also contains reflections on philosophical questions like individuality and complementarity.
An apparently trivial event trips an unstoppable chain reaction, leaving few characters unscathed. A tragicomic thriller with a strong narrative and everyday, yet unforgettable, characters. Uncanny, original and haunting.
Like every year, everyone gathers on the top of the hill. Ant is very happy that it is finally her turn to chair the meeting, in which they will discuss a difficult question. Elephant asks how you know that you love someone.
Adriaenssens brings the insanity of World War I to life: the battlefields pocked with craters, the villages and towns shot to smithereens, the harrowing conditions in the trenches and the absurd orders of authorities, who had not the faintest idea what they were doing. The powerful story is told with muted shades and concise text.
‘The Making Of’ is a work of art, an absolute gem from start to finish. Evens captures emotions, both large and small, along with funny little human traits and tics. His story feels very familiar, with all of its absurdity. There’s not one single page that will leave you indifferent.
'I wish' presents the reader with 33 portraits that take you back to a bygone age. Toon Tellegen wrote accompanying fragments of thoughts, little reflections with a philosophical character. 'I wish’ is a unique and personal document on ‘la condition humaine’, which reveals great sensibility.
Otto and his dad spot some weird and wonderful sights as they drive through the village into the dazzling heart of the city. In dynamic prints full of detailed pictures, Tom Schamp brings all kinds of animals to life in the most bizarre and remarkable vehicles. This wonderful picture book guarantees to provide hours of viewing pleasure.
It’s written with this precision, tenderness and sense of desolation
Julian Barnes
After Mortier's mother falls victim to Alzheimer's disease at the age of 57, he becomes the chronicler of her slow deterioration. ‘StammeredSongbook’ is not solely about mourning, but also about language, and above all about love. Mortier's book is an essential, universal lament, bitter and razor-sharp yet pure and sublime in its beauty.
One big, hilarious pile-up – that’s ‘Bang’, a fabulous picture book story with hardly any words. Animals of all kinds go crashing into each other. They all have their own reasons for not noticing they’re about to smash into the others. But what a happy crash it is! The colourful illustrations make this book a feast for the eye.
The book is both entertaining and intellectually challenging.
Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies
Verhaeghe looks into the differences between male and female sexual fantasies and recasts the Freudian antithesis, Eros and Thanatos, as a contrast between two different forms of sexual pleasure.
An immensely appealing novel, razor sharp in the psychological depiction of three generations of women. Humour and bitterness in the same breath.
Trouw
‘Fire and Air’ is a moving tale of a family forced to live far from its native ground, in a place that will never feel like home. With sensitivity and humour Vlaminck shows the effect the uprooting of a family can have. It is the story of many emigrants all over the world, a highly-colourful portrait of a broken family.
A novel full of warmth and characters that capture the imagination.
De Standaard
‘Night Dancer’ is based on the contrast that exists between tradition and modern life in present-day Nigeria. In this book, the author shows the dilemma that many people in modern Africa face. Her portrayal is effective and is done with subtlety and a keen eye for the complexity of African society.
One of the most original books of the year, by a long way
parutions.com
With each of these seven short stories, Olivier Schrauwen changes his style: he uses different colour palettes, makes stories without words, composes pages as miniatures instead of the usual grid layout. A unique exercise in style by an extraordinary talent.
One day a stranger offers to make Mr. Renny’s dreams come true: everything he paints will come to life. Then his friend Rose asks if she can buy one of his paintings. The spell has to be broken – and soon! In this story, with a big nod to Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte, Leo Timmers combines a rich imagination with a clear, purified visual language.
Maia and her grandmother have a ball whenever they are together. But then Grandma suddenly falls ill and when she wakes up she has lost her words. Far from the realms of cliché, Tine Mortier and Kaatje Vermeire show how a sharp young girl copes with difficult themes like ageing and death.
Vande Wiele has illustrated a knowingly ridiculous yet loving portrayal of a world he clearly adores, bringing an elegant black line to the page as he pays tribute to the most superficial of the brilliantly superficial.
Sublime, monumental, virtuoso. This literary non-fiction is more thrilling than a novel.
NRC Handelsblad
Like many Belgians of his generation, David Van Reybrouck knew Congo from stories of the old days. The author begins his gripping account in the 1870s and chronicles the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras, right up to 2010, the fiftieth anniversary of Congolese Independence.
A playful, touching, and verbally extravagant memoir-novel of grief
Kirkus
'Speechless' is an ‘unadorned account’, an informal, honest testimony of a mother by her son, in which much is in what is not mentioned: good nature, gratitude, endearment, closeness. At the same time, Lanoye reflects on the actual function of writing and the vital importance of language in these circumstances.
A powerful look into the complexities of the human heart and prejudice *****
Comic Heroes Magazine
An enjoyable, flowing and exceptionally readable graphic novel about the author’s relationship with a Togolese political refugee. The story consists of two parts, in which we see the same relationship from two different perspectives. The visual narrative is vivid and follows a rhythm that matches the story perfectly.
Linthout’s choice to leave his pencil-work bare, is a masterstroke
Blog Critics
Willy Linthout has created a powerful, groundbreaking graphic novel that grabs the reader by the throat. From the very first page, he draws us into the difficult processes that await Charles as he lurches between loneliness, grief, incomprehension and love, often losing sight of the difference between reality and fiction.
Upon its publication, ‘The Wrong Place’ set off artistic fireworks in the Flemish graphic novel scene. This comic strip is bursting with artistic ambition: Brecht Evens has introduced a new and daring style with his expressive drawings and powerful choices of colour.
A tremendous novel, often horrifically funny and always unsettling
Irish Times
‘The Guard’ is set largely in the underground car park of a luxurious block of flats. Two guards, are never relieved. Terrin tells a strongly allegorical story of 21st century society. ‘The Guard’ is not only an enthralling psychological novel, but also encompasses oppressiveness, emotion and sensuality.
Sammy is a little boy with a huge appetite, he feels like eating the biggest, tallest sandwich in the world.
An ode to the creative fantasy of toddlers, who love to convert features of their surroundings into something quite different for a while. This is a look-and-find book full of visual discoveries that will endlessly excite the smallest of children, and indeed their parents.
Old Helena looks back on her youth, the loves she has known, her marriage and the distressing time she experienced in World War I. The topic and style make ‘While the Gods Were Sleeping’ in all respects an exceptional literary experience.
Buelens has written a brilliant and accessible book about the hyperbole of the Great War.
De Volkskrant
In' Europe, oh Europe!' Buelens describes how Europe was shooting itself to pieces while desperately seeking a new identity. It is a book about the destructive and healing power of the word, a chunk of lively cultural history and a meditation on nationalism and international cooperation.
The young aristocrat beautifully and convincingly portrayed in this book is Marguerite van Male, a girl of flesh and blood, a wayward, boyish, wild and eccentric child, constantly at odds with her authoritarian father. She cannot be forced to do anything and refuses to be corseted – literally and figuratively – by anyone.
Lively and engaging... On Black Sisters’ Street is a pleasure to read: fast-paced, lucidly structured and colourful.
Times Literary Supplement
‘On Black Sisters Street’ tells the haunting story of four very different women who have left their African homeland for the riches of Europe—and who are thrown together by bad luck and big dreams into a sisterhood that will change their lives.
Fantastic. Evens' linework is wonderful... but his coloring is even better.
Time.com
‘Night Animals’ contains two dreamlike, wordless stories that transform everyday experiences into fantastic journeys to strange new worlds. Brecht Evens surprises with stories and images in which he continually seems to extend the limits of his capabilities.
A wonderful and believable portrait of the period, through the medium of an intelligently constructed crime story.
De Morgen
The inhabitants of Paris are enthralled by a series of horrific murders that makes them forget the realities of the Franco-Prussian War: on each of the bodies, lines are found from The Flowers of Evil, the controversial collection of poems by the recently deceased poet Charles Baudelaire. Someone has taken it upon themselves to take revenge on the poet’s enemies. ‘Baudelaire’s Revenge’ is a literary thriller that brings to life a tumultuous period in French history in a masterly and evocative way.
A poetic trip and an aesthetic shock that makes your jaw drop
Knack
As the title suggests, this book has a very meditative, dreamlike quality. At the beginning of the book, the story seems to consist of short, individual anecdotes. As you read on, it becomes clear that, in spite of the unexpected twists and turns, everything forms a coherent whole in which the ideas flow together seamlessly.
A book that seems to have been written with a video camera on the shoulder
L'Express
Lieve Joris has written a lot about the African Congo. In The Rebels’ Hour, she chose the genre of faction to let the reader experience the complexity of human tragedy in what is called the African First World War.
Alex is a gluttonous little pig. ‘Don’t eat when we’re not eating’, his mother says. Alex is stopped by a monster who eyes him as a tasty morsel, whom he manages to distract with clever tricks. But every monster has a mother, and all mothers are more or less alike. A veritable feast for keen observers.
Often preposterous, sometimes poignant and, above all, consistently charming
The Independent
Many years ago, Madame Verona and her husband, both musicians, moved to a house on a hill outside the village of Oucwègne. Verhulst portrays this worn-out village with an extraordinary sensitivity to simplicity and authenticity. The exceptional care he devotes to style, as a master of the craft, shows some very appealing geniality and intimism.
In a forgotten village somewhere in Flanders, a boy lives with his father and three uncles in his grandmother’s house. They’re an ill-mannered and coarse bunch, unpredictable heavy drinkers. Wallowing at the bottom of the social ladder, their lives are a total mess.
So evocative that it’s as if you have actually set out in the company of Lieve Joris.
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden
Fascinated since childhood by the stories of her great-uncle, a missionary in the Congo, Lieve Joris travelled to Africa in his footsteps in 1985. Back to the Congo tells of her search for the old Congo of the Catholic fathers, and for the Zaire of the ubiquitous President Mobutu.
This is a story about how tragic loss can totally consume a human being. Chika Unigwe’s spare and accessible telling has created a truly poignant narrative.
Ike Oguine
She explores the relationship between migration and loneliness, both of which are becoming more entrenched in modern European society. ‘The Phoenix’ is Unigwe’s debut novel: the story of a strong woman who, hit by loss, homesickness and illness, tries to keep going.
Geneticist Victor Hoppe returns after an absence of nearly twenty years to the village of Wolfheim. The doctor brings with him his infant children – three identical boys all sharing the same disfigurement. ‘The Angel Maker’ is a chilling story that explores the ethical limits of science and religion.
A beautiful picture book to get to know all the colours of the rainbow.
Stiftunglesen.de
Since 2004, this loveable little white fish has been part of Guido Van Genechten’s oeuvre. In this first adventure, little white fish goes in search of his mother. Along the way, he meets creatures of all kinds and colours: a red crab, an orange starfish, a yellow snail, a green turtle, a blue whale and a purple octopus.
‘Omega Minor’ is a total novel with an international air, in which the author explores the essence of human nature against the background of twentieth-century history. Its baroque, epic narrative style and structure, its ambition to lay bare human motivation and its determination to present ‘science, art and memory’ as one great interwoven whole make ‘Omega Minor’ a fascinating and thoroughly impressive book.
When she finds her husband dead, Alice does not rush to the phone to call the doctor or her son. She wraps Jules in a plaid, and makes plans for lunch. She is willing to relinquish her husband to death if need be, but not to the outside world. ‘A Day with Mr. Jules’ is a touching, convincing novel about the end of a man’s life: a worthy “sputtering finale of belching steam”.
An extremely fascinating book in which the everyday lives of asylum seekers is told in an unparalleled fashion
De Standaard
The narrator, Bipul Masli, sketches an intriguing picture of life in an asylum centre. He describes the daily routine with detached irony. His tireless attempts to gain recognition as a refugee are both comic and touching.
Lighthouse keeper Tijs spends all day looking out at the sea. He’s waiting for his friend Sailor, who has promised to return so they can travel the world together. It’s all Tijs can think about.
‘Waiting for Sailor’ is a book that will long stay with you and where you can turn to whenever you find yourself missing someone.
A world that sizzles with activity and teems with life
De Standaard
In 'In the Shadow of the Ark' Anne Provoost takes her inspiration from the Biblical account of the Flood. Re Jana and her family leave the rising water levels of the marshes for the desert where it is rumoured that the largest vessel of all time is being built. The writer enthrals with a chronicle of quickly changing events in what is nevertheless a calmly developing story, with vivid scenes that appeal strongly to the imagination.
