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.
The beautiful design is eye-catching from page one: different colours, fonts and flourishes.
Leeswelp
‘Nine Banana Slices In Search Of A Place To Sleep’ is a surprising photobook that presents a fun variation on the well-known nursery rhyme 'Ten Little Indians'. Nine banana slices are fed up with being in the cold fridge and go in search of a better sleeping place. Along the way, one after the other is left behind: in a dirty cup of hot chocolate, in the fur of a dog, in a shoe...
16 incisive observations by a stylistically strong writer who holds his readers’ attention with a great sense of timing and narrative skill
De Tijd
A declaration of love to the Belgian in the street, wonder at his pastimes, an ode to his beautiful, but archaic turns of phrase. And also: a deliberately fragmented narrative about a Belgian childhood, a chronicling of the things that pass.All this Verhulst describes, ponders and pokes fun at in his unique and inimitable style: fluent and smooth, incisive and ironic, as well as over-the-top and hilarious, but never without compassion.
Detached and playful; mischievous, ironic, ambiguous and not seldom hilarious
De Morgen
The main character in ‘Blockmeat’ and his pal Celis attempt to organise a ‘better’ food distribution for the homeless. But thanks to the liberal amounts of wine involved, this inevitably gets completely out of hand.
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.
This is great theatre on the square centimeter. The leading role? The classical duo: you and me.
Leonard Nolens
The poems in ‘Help’ show the influence of the theatre: the two characters presented are utterly at the mercy of their urges, fears and desires. ‘Help’ is representative of Meuleman’s themes and obsessions; he is a cold observer of what might better be concealed behind closed doors. The author portrays characters who cast off their façades and make their way through a dark universe of loveless dependency, power, perversion and rampant sexual compulsions.
Impressive, many-voiced poetry, generous, rich, unhampered by conventions of fashion or good taste
Jury VSB Poetry Prize
Although Claus is a stirring eclectic who displays a masterful variety of genre and style in all his activities, the basic theme of his work is clearly the urge for freedom, which must be fought for in family, church and society. Claus’ work addresses not only the malaise in society, but also inner unease.
Full of colour, sounds, clear water, and pure poison
De Standaard
‘The Unexpected Answer’ is a sultry book, full of insatiable passion that explodes in the penultimate chapter ‘The Love Letter’, an amalgam of letter fragments written by the collective of women circling Godfried H., and ultimately a single woman who appears in different guises.
‘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.
‘Little Red Rag’ is a graphic masterpiece which introduces the reader to the life of Rag, a little girl who always dresses in red. Her loneliness prompts her to escape into a fantasy world in which a herd of bulls are both her friends and foes.
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.
Noor is eighteen and is running a marathon. Within the tight framework of the marathon and its slowly passing miles, Els Beerten sends Noor back and forth through time. The more miles she runs, the deeper she descends into herself and the more space she creates for her past. A layered novel that remains with the reader for a long time.
‘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.
Possibly the greatest Flemish poet of the 20th century. High time for a rediscovery
De Standaard
In a time when competing upheavals and –isms came successively at break-neck pace, Minne searched for and found his own voice, which made no attempts at pathos, sentimentality or exaggerated optimism in progress. With its inimitable blend of minimalism and irony, Minne’s poetry was remarkable, accessible and subversive right from the outset.
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.
Sober language, restraint, observational talent and the ability to tell a good story: Joseph Pearce has it all.
NRC Handelsblad
Gisèle remains a mystery throughout. Joseph Pearce shows everything she does, exposes her every thought. And yet... It gradually becomes clear that Gisèle makes things unnecessarily difficult for herself and for others.
Everything proves that the work of Christine D’haen is unique in Dutch-language literature
Jury Report Anna Bijns Prize
It is certain that the oeuvre of Christine D’haen will be read by different generations for many years ahead. This dense and highbrow poetry asks much from its readers, but in return they enjoy broad vistas that invite reflections on life and culture.
‘Like the First Day’ is a novel of three trilogies. Every story starts with a burning desire for experiencing the first time anew. To achieve this apparently innocent aim, Hertmans’ characters overstep the psychopathological boundary, lose their way in the dark and slip into the abyss.
Verhelst writes this story of an inspired passion in highly poetic, but also glowing, compelling and incisive prose, with a strongly physical wealth of images, a super-sensitive and sensual explicitness. This creates a troubled, but fascinating blurring of the boundaries between reality and imagination, as well as reality and memory.
A talented writer, original and funny, who is definitely one to watch
Le Monde
While working on his thesis, David Van Reybrouck came across the accusation that the Belgian writer and Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck had plagiarised from the work of the South African author Eugène Marais. ‘The Plague’ sweeps the reader along in a thrilling literary adventure, which leaves its image on the mind’s eye long after the last page has been turned.
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.
The evocative power of language, together with Pleysier’s masterful arrangement of words and sentences, combine to make this a literary jewel.
De Telegraaf
Pleysier is a master at giving voice to that great and painful silence of the generations. He does this without using any great emphasis, so that the reader feels he is a guest in the house, and, like the narrator, looks forward to being invited to Berchem again next year.
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.
Van Bastelaere provokes, menaces and seduces, curses and sings, but ceaselessly knows to fascinate his reader, to tangle him in his web of words
Ons Erfdeel
‘Affairs of the Heart’ is generally acknowledged as Van Bastelaere's best and richest work to date. In this collection, the heart appears as an empty signifier which is accorded another meaning in every poem and is shown as a cultural construction.
Gilliams’ sixty-eight poems and his entire body of work are part of the painful and obsessive effort to uncover and preserve his true self. The ultimate goal of his endeavors was to create a “lyrical autobiography”, a still portrait in the sea of life.
Moeyaert proves without doubt that even a happy childhood can be a goldmine for a writer.
De Volkskrant
Bart Moeyaert is the youngest of seven brothers. His early years in his native city of Bruges were particularly happy and furnished him with an abundance of material for this much-praised autobiographical collection. In the forty-nine stories, humour, warmth and a sense of solidarity are prominent, but between the lines lies a far richer spectrum of emotions.
This novel, peppered with countless striking metaphors and colloquialisms, describes the vivid history of a family in a Flemish village. The essence of the novel is a cautious fumbling for truth. A young boy attempts to fathom his grandmother’s proud, dour demeanour and to get closer to his teacher. But above all he wants to understand what happened to Marcel.
A display of fireworks so sensual you can taste them.
Gouden Uil jury
Perfect order always degenerates into chaos, and revolutions into hell. Peter Verhelst describes a city falling apart and descending into violence. ‘Tonguecat’ is a real literary tour de force, a visionary story about today’s urban society and about revolutions.
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.
When Joseph Pearce was fourteen his father told him he was not an Englishman but from Germany and of Jewish origin. Twenty-five years later, Pearce decided to seek out his Jewish relatives. With the story of his own odyssey, which takes him to blood relatives on four continents, Pearce makes the tragedy of the twentieth century painfully palpable.
I am well past fifteen years old, but I am glad that this book has come my way.
Het Parool
Through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old girl, we witness the life of a broken family over the course of three stories. In the first of the three we plunge straight into a fierce family quarrel. All survive intact. But the tone has been set. Bart Moeyaert deals with love in a sensitive and refreshing way, expertly unravelling its complexities while at the same time leaving its mystery intact.
More than a tribute to a loved one and a poet: a sincere work by a sensitive and powerful writer
NRC Handelsblad
The author uses De Coninck’s poems as the vehicle to tell his story; with them she is able to describe the biographical background and the intimacy of their shared life, while retaining the balance she seeks. Within this poetic space she makes clear what Herman de Coninck was – and is – to her.
Van hee holds on to the ordinary, familiar, everyday things: landscapes, conversations, relationships and moments of intense love. The seeming transparency of her language gives a universal dimension to our everyday images of loss. The reader imagines himself safe in her world, an illusion that is often suddenly dashed.
His poems seem so easy and so obvious, but their core is the sense of being alone in a silent world
Hugo Brems
A constant in Herman de Coninck's poems is the urge to bring poetry closer to everyday reality without adopting the pose of a distant observer. In his poems, he often takes a familiar situation as the point of departure, things like an autumn walk or a birthday party. He is a poet of understatement, who counters sentimentality with ironic humour.
Claes’ ingenuity conceals the fact that he has cast his tale in the form of a thriller - a convincing and exciting thriller
De Volkskrant
‘The Phoenix’ is a historical detective story in the tradition of Umberto Eco’s ‘The Name of the Rose’. It takes place in Florence in 1494, and the leading character is one of the greatest scholars of the Renaissance, Count Pico della Mirandola, known as the Phoenix.
The great charm of this book lies in its explosive mix of opinion and storytelling.
El Pais
The result is a beautiful balance between intellectual understanding and personal impressions. His great strength is his ability to keep his eyes open in all circumstances and to surprise himself with the realization that ‘travelling often turns out to be a process of finding what you weren’t looking for’.
Hard, pleasantly crude and more topical than ever. His stories are on fast forward without the brakes on.
De Standaard over 'Web'
Mennes depicts young characters who resort to extreme measures in an attempt to deal with the emptiness of their lives. ‘Toast’ offers a heart-wrenching and impressive portrait of a Lost Generation.
Aspe’s characters are very complex, his plot excellent.
Vrij Nederland
‘From Bruges with Love’ is the third instalment in the popular thriller series around Inspector Van In. By touching on issues such as paedophilia, corruption and blackmail, the narrative provides a critique of the cover-ups that have rocked Belgian politics.
‘The Rose and the Swine’ was inspired by ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and is a tribute to the primal force of the fairy tale. Provoost, a celebrated author for all ages, offers her readers works of the highest literary quality.
Three Sisters in London will one day form the exquisite prologue to the inevitable Collected Works of Eric de Kuyper.
De Stem
During World War I, Eric de Kuyper’s grandfather’s position with the railways took him and his family to London. The family’s three daughters, who were then in their adolescence, never returned to London. They gave this gleaming period of their lives a special place in the stories they often told on family occasions. De Kuyper, who was born during World War II, has collected these stories in a captivating book.
A particularly complex plot that intrigues, surprises and fascinates until the very last page
De Morgen
‘The Midas Murders’is the second in the popular crime series around the eccentric Inspector Pieter Van In. The title refers to King Midas, the Greek mythological figure who had the ability to turn everything he touched into gold. Aspe demonstrates that in both ancient Greece and present-day Belgium profiteering can lead to tragedy.
‘The Rumours’ evokes a panoramic image of 'la Flandre profonde', delving beneath the shiny veneer into the depths of its corruption and violence. Comprehension of the central storyline is hampered by the permanent tension between truth and lie. All this is presented by Claus in a playful style, as if we were reading not a dramatic allegory but a juicy village chronicle.
An accurate, well-researched depiction of the extreme political tensions in the Middle East in the twentieth century. Against this historical backdrop, Mendes steers his story to a spectacular climax.
She has expanded the boundaries of travel writing.
Times Literary Supplement
In Mali Blues Lieve Joris travels from Senegal via Mauretania to Mali. She gives a portrait of the people she encounters. In their will to survive they have learned to adapt to constants such as poverty and rebellion.
