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.
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.
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.
Monique gains a new lust for life in her devotion to protesting against the worldwide depletion of the fish population. This good cause justifies the flight from her own problems. Until she can no longer hide behind cod and tuna. An intelligent, intense and admirable novel full of ambiguous and laconic humour.
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.
The story is about eight boys and girls who view the worlds of school and adulthood as empty. Free and secluded, they dispel tedium with uninhibited sexual games, continually shifting their limits. When one of them dies as a consequence, even this fails to move them.
Grief, caring, love, despair – the whole panorama impresses with its light tone.
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis jury
As fifteen-year-old Jonas is eradicating all traces of his mother’s restless night, he discovers that she has committed suicide. He barely reacts at all, deciding to concentrate on the events of the day. With great verve, Jan De Leeuw succeeds in creating a sense of alienation, a concept that lies at the root of this cross-over novel. He pairs metafiction with seriousness and slapstick with sadness, all with flair.
An extraordinary novel, told in words and sentences of the finest crystal
De Standaard
In the enlightened 18th century, Leon is abandoned and taken in by an uncaring foster mother. Méline, the daughter of the family, takes pity on the tough little boy and makes his hard life bearable. When she commits suicide, Leon knows there is only one thing he can do: live.
'The Dog Eaters' describes the plight of ordinary citizens during WWI, as seen through the eyes of Victor, the epileptic 17-year-old son of a notary. With its mythical atmosphere and almost unbearable tension, this is an unforgettable novel for readers of all ages.
Literature of wonderment. For children. And for those few adults who are still capable of wonder.
De Groene Amsterdammer
In winter everybody hopes spring will arrive soon. Squirrel is counting down to his final beechnut, Elephant would like to push winter away, while Owl is writing a letter… Nothing seems to help. Until suddenly spring arrives and everybody starts visiting everybody else.
A small boy compiles a mythical portrait of his grandfather: he is the father of the wood, of the village, even the whole country. But sometimes the roles are reversed. On such occasions the little boy waits until it’s his turn to be the comforting ‘little dad’ to his mournful grandpa-without-grandma.
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.
A masterful symbiosis of colour, form and composition
Boekenpauw jury
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, ‘The Secret of the Nightingale’s Throat’ is a literary retelling that will appeal to readers of all ages. In the long line of illustrators who have made pictures to accompany Andersen’s tale, few have managed to catch the emperor’s despair as vividly as Carll Cneut.
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.
Majestic. A book like this is written once a decade at most.
Dagblad van het Noorden
1943. In rich and vivid language, Els Beerten maps out the hopes, dreams and desires of four friends, deftly capturing the blurring of the boundaries between good and evil, black and white. A moving and subtle portrayal of the darkest pages of our history. All of the characters follow their instincts and act in good faith. But what happens when the course you have chosen turns out to be the wrong one?
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.
Hallgerd is born in the frozen North, a land of wolves and snow – and of kings who vie for power. One night, she loses everything she holds dear. After that night Hallgerd has only one thing on her mind: revenge. A brutal and gripping story of revenge, lust and love in the time of the Vikings.
In the middle of the night a million different butterflies fly round the head of Stach, a young elephant. Stach is completely bewildered, but his parents know what he has to do. He must set out in pursuit of the butterflies. On his journey Stach realises that no one sees the butterflies but him.
Masterful. Brilliantly evokes an important historical period
De Leeswelp
‘We Two Boys’begins in 1910 when the Flemish family De Belder is getting ready for their new future in the promised land, the United States of America. Eventually it is only the young Adrian, however, who makes it all the way to New York. Aline Sax sketches a lively and convincing portrait of New York City.
The novel presents a Moroccan outlook on the differences between Moroccans in Morocco and those who have emigrated; between their own values and Western values; between tradition and the modern ways of thinking that men find so hard to deal with.
Lamrabet creates above all a subtle and convincing portrait of a fascinating woman, who, standing firmly by her decisions, must pay the social and intellectual price.
Dolores grows up as a dwarf, in 15th century Biar in Spain. When she is five she realises she is different to other people. But she refuses to reconcile herself to limitations and glosses over her handicap with a generous dose of humour.
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.
Fox and Hare live together in the wood, next door to Owl. They love each other and they tease each other and, as befits an inseparable duo, they’re complete opposites. Vanden Heede succeeds in creating unforgettable characters in a fresh and funny style. The story’s so much fun that the readers barely notice the words and sentences are getting longer and longer.
A book about shock and shame, about the power of the imagination and about the longing for forbidden fruit
De Morgen
Marita de Sterck beautifully depicts the claustrophobic atmosphere of the strict boarding schools of yesteryear and the shame and secrecy surrounding menstruation and budding sexuality. Rhythmic sentences are bursting with sensual suggestion and thrilling secrets about the body, secrets that must not be spoken.
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.
Sensitive language and delicate treatment of emotions
De Standaard
A Creole plantation on the Mississippi, in Louisiana. Planter's daughter Lara and slave girl Rebecca grow up together and become bosom friends. Vereecken describes her characters with great subtlety and nuance. But the division between black and white, between slave and master, cruelly and irrevocably tears them apart. A profound and compelling novel.
Virtuoso writing and an intellectually challenging reflection of our living environment
De Standaard
In this polyphonic theatre novella, there are fantasises, speculations and brainstorms in antitheses about the future of Europe. Seven anonymous Europeans tell their stories. Lanoye describes a future Europe that is dominated by dissatisfaction and the longing for a better version of itself.
Jan De Leeuw's book is unusual and surprising in equal measure.
Gouden Uil Young Reader's Prize jury
Fantasy and reality are combined in a mesmerizing fashion. Tension is built up and maintained throughout the book with skill and expertise, the plot remains exciting from the first page to the last, and there are a number of clever surprises built into the narrative. ‘Nightland’ is an exhilarating and layered literary work, which does not reveal all its secrets in a single reading.
A gripping and plausible book, which excites, moves and compels the reader to think
De Morgen
Joppe and his fellow nursing students organise a mass demonstration against the war in Iraq. In the meantime, he tries to win the heart of the intriguing but independent Alya, but his sick great grandfather Tist throws a spanner in the works. De Sterck combines the stories of Tist and Joppe in a particularly tight composition, which results in an emotional attempt at reconciliation between three equally stubborn generations.
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.
Vrancken shows you can write a story for six to ten-year-olds that is fun, accessible and believable, and, thanks to the surprising ending, meaningful too.
Boekenleeuw jury
Chef is a bossy little dog. When another dog joins the household, the beautiful, big and clever Herder, he is hugely jealous.
‘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”.
The nameless fifteen-year-old protagonist lives with her parents 'at the end of the world': on a hairpin bend that ends on an unfinished bridge. Drivers are regularly caught unawares by the bend in the road, and crash into the front of the house, where they are nursed back to health.
‘The Creation’ is a poetic book about a little man who is not afraid to fire existential questions at God and who gradually finds his own place in the world. Author and illustrator combine simplicity and scintillating philosophy.
Viktor, a biologist working for the Ministry of Public Health, has difficulty coming to terms with the death of his wife during a carjacking. Worried about the assumed lack of security at his son Igor’s school, he barricades the two of them in their flat. Extreme care and responsibility gradually turn into pure insanity.
Humour of the highest class: often absurd and surrealistic, but always sharp
De Standaard
Esther Verkest is possibly the sexiest heroine in the Flemish comic book universe. Bad is too respectable a word for her, mean is an understatement. Kim Duchateau’s lewd heroine lives in an absurd world full of freaks, strange fairytale figures and capricious gnomes.
‘Sleep!’ is a convincing novel about two insomniacs, in which the author uses the complex personalities of her characters to pen a strikingly insightful vision of life and its experiences. Verbeke writes about the underdog, about people whose poignant yearning for a normal life arouses our compassion.
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.
A feast for the eyes, and an intelligently composed life lesson for both child and parent
Het Belang van Limburg
A little princess loves cuddling, but her mother, Queen Mummy, never has any time for her. She is too busy receiving important visitors. And so the princess goes in search of the Queen of Cuddles. Along the way, she meets various queens who do have time for her and with each of them she has some lovely moments.
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.
All the problems of post-colonial Africa seem to rage there in exaggerated form. Ten years after her highly praised 'Back to the Congo', Lieve Joris was brave enough to return during a particularly precarious moment in Congolese history.
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.
A sparkling novel with a thunderous effect, a Flemish song of truth and semblance
Vrij Nederland
Mortier writes with great powers of suggestion. So many things in this book, although remaining hidden, are made as clear as day.
‘My Fellow Skin’ is ultimately about loss. Anton loses not only his love, but also his youth, the protection of his parents and the old house in the village, and is left desolate.
