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.
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.
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.
A sea of beauty. It’s difficult to imagine a more beautiful plea for love.
De Standaard
Penguin crosses the ocean to the house of his friend Bear. He wants to tell him a big secret, so big that it will change everything: he’s in love with Bear. Even the most hard-hearted of readers will be captivated by this love story for its humour and the playful, exceptional use of colour. ‘A Sea of Love’ shows that love is love, no matter who you are.
This collection of four short stories for children by renowned Brazilian author Clarice Lispector is bursting with quirkiness and amusing ideas. And who better to illustrate these remarkable tales than Gerda Dendooven? In Dendooven’s work it’s not just the people whose faces are full of personality – she can seemingly effortlessly imbue a chicken or a rabbit with an inner world. Her utterly unique style complements Lispector’s like no other.
Wonderfully strange and strangely wonderful, an epic dream captured in superbly meticulous detail
Shaun Tan
A paper boat is launched in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It makes a long journey, meeting the strangest of beings, passing between towering mangroves and braving a devastating storm. In ‘The Wanderer’, his debut, Peter Van den Ende presents a wordless spectacle of pure imagination.
'Mazel tov' is a compelling, thought-provoking story about children growing up in a Modern Orthodox sect, as seen through the eyes of a young woman who is not Jewish. It gives a unique glimpse of the unfamiliar world for both sides.
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.
Verster is a master at evoking atmosphere and longing.
JaapLeest
Five-year-old Matteo has the best day of his life when he gets a soccer ball and a pig for his birthday. For Vasco the pig, it’s also the best day of his life – it’s not even his birthday and he still gets Matteo. Edward van de Vendel beautifully describes the loving friendship between Vasco and Matteo, while Alain Verster adds another dimension to the story through his illustrations.
A rich, accessible treasure trove of facts and figures
Financial Times
‘Timeline’ is a trip through time, past dinosaurs, Vikings, Aztecs and spaceships. It is an illustrated journey through our world’s culture and events and travels from the Big Bang to the iPod. Peter Goes constructs a continuous line, on which different historical periods make their appearance one by one.
It starts almost imperceptibly, with something innocuous. Tommy is shy, he blushes easily. A little girl notices it, points to him and winks at Paul, the biggest bully of all. Jan de Kinder offers us a powerful story about strong children on the playground who don’t like bullying.
An unusual tribute to the consolations of imagination
The Wall Street Journal
In this moving story about the healing powers of the imagination, Anton Van Hertbruggen and Edward van de Vendel broach major themes such as sadness and loneliness. Dreamy, realistic and fascinating enough to want to look at again and again.
‘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.
‘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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
A little boy is both scared of and fascinated by an old woman he often sees. Until one day she drops her bag, and she suddenly looks a lot smaller. ‘The Woman and the Little Boy’ shows children that prejudices actually make no sense. Because big old women are not usually scary giantesses, but sweet little old ladies.
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.
‘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.
A rabbit family that you instantly adopt as your own
De Leeswelp
Ricky Rabbit is different from the other rabbits: his right ear droops, while his left ear stands straight up. Whatever he does, the other rabbits make fun of him. In the end, his humour earns him a place in the group as the entertainer.
Geert De Kockere’s poetic language and Lieve Baeten’s gorgeous illustrations lift this book above the average, as does its content: together with Elly Dark Blue, readers learn that there is more beyond a monochromatic world.
One can speak of Elsschot’s oeuvre as great European literature
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Since its publication in English, ‘Cheese’ has conquered the world with translations in more than 30 languages. The novella deals with an episode in the life of Frans Laarmans, a clerk who is suddenly made chief representative of a Dutch cheese company. ‘Cheese’ is a satire of the business world and the perfect vehicle for Elsschot’s dry humorous style. In a brilliant evocation of the thirties, it depicts a world full of smart operators and failed businessmen.
