Acclaimed fiction from Flanders

The small size and position of Flanders within Europe mean that we have always been reliant on other countries. Flemish literature has never been self-centred. Who am I? How do I relate to others? And how does this change the world and my view of it? These are questions that Flemish writers have posed in their books time and time again. Often from the perspective of the underdog. Discover some of the most popular and widely translated novels from Flanders.

Young Eritrean Hannah arrives in London as a refugee. While the teenager tries to clear a path for herself through Britain’s bureaucratic immigration policy, she recalls memories of her family, torn apart by war. She immerses herself with words, the diary of her belated mother, the work of British poets and authors, and starts exploring her sexual boundaries.

‘The Seers’ is a compelling and powerful novel, exceptionally rich in imagery. In a single paragraph, which Addonia wrote on his iPhone, he disentangles his characters’ psychological and sexual lives by unparalleled means. This is a raw story about love, loss and inexhaustible resilience, colonial traumas, and the true face of Britain’s immigration policy and its impact on young refugees.

Marie and her sister Georgine, who is eleven years younger, live together in the family home after the death of their parents. Both sisters fall in love with their neighbour Luc Hancq, but he strings them along. He flirts with Marie, but eventually proposes marriage to Georgine. When the sisters discover that he has been two-timing them, they show solidarity for one another and hatch a plan: Hancq is murdered.

While the title hints at a thrilling detective story or a whodunnit, ‘A Revolver Shot’ is so much more than that. It’s a Shakespearean drama, regional novel, gothic novel and naturalistic novel all in one. In Marie, Loveling has created a passionate, complex and intriguing protagonist. ‘A Revolver Shot’ has also been praised for its beautiful language, its atmosphere and tight composition. The novel, a highlight of Loveling’s acclaimed oeuvre, is so well written that it has been captivating readers for over a century.

Olaf’s world is turned upside down when his former girlfriend Hilde tells him she’s seen his best friend W. in Antwerp again after an absence of three years. The news marks the start of thirteen gripping days in which Olaf goes searching for answers. Why did W. disappear and flee to a different life? How well did he actually know W.? Are his memories of their friendship real at all? Through flashbacks we learn how the two boys, and later Hilde as well, became friends. The novel pays tribute to youth and the idealism that goes with it.

‘W.’ is an addictive novel in which Hiemstra displays a great deal of literary talent, presents distinctly layered characters and plays extravagantly with language and composition. The result is labyrinthine prose in which it’s a delight to lose your way. The novel has won various prizes such as the Debutant Prize 2024.

At eighteen, Wolf travels as far north as his bank balance will allow, without telling anyone where he is. Six months after his disappearance, his lifeless body is discovered in a forest in northern Sweden. His Moleskine notebook, attached to his body, contains an account of Wolf’s final journey, towards a self-chosen death. Wolf wanted to be a writer; his sister Lara became one. In ‘Wolf’ she looks back on their childhood, on the turbulent months after Wolf’s disappearance and the years after his death. She combines her own story with fragments from Wolf’s diary and with snatches from the almost daily emails their father sent his son while he was missing.

‘Wolf’ is a rock-solid book about grief, and about the power of imagination and the written word: ‘writing back’ to Wolf ultimately proves impossible. With this universal and lacerating story about her own brother, Taveirne leaves not a single reader unmoved.

In 2024, Tom Lanoye was awarded the triennial Grand Prize for Literature, the most prestigious award in Dutch-language literature. ‘Speechless’ is one of the key novels in Lanoye’s oeuvre and a bestselling contemporary classic.

In this novel, the author tells the story of the life and death of his mother. After a thrombosis, she suffers from aphasia and behavioral problems and never recovers sufficiently to be able to live at home. As an amateur actress, her loss of speech affects her to her core. In an informal and honest testimony of a mother by her son, Lanoye describes the personal, yet very recognizable experience of losing a parent and his feelings of impotence and anger.  Against the lively backdrop of ‘la Flandre profonde’, the author pays tribute to his mother, and to storytelling and writing in general, by reconstructing her life in the abundance of language that used to be hers.

‘Speechless’ is touching and full of love, at the same time playful and full of grief. Made into a successful screen adaptation and selling over 140.000 copies, this is an incontrovertible gem of Flemish fiction.

Hunter White lives for the big game hunt. As an immensely wealthy American share trader, he goes to Africa to shoot a rhinoceros, the last of the Big Five he has yet to bag. In this page-turner Schoeters takes us into the twisted mind of a Western hunter. White is guided by a morally dubious compass as he weighs up the value of a life, whether of a person or of an animal.

A psychological chess game, an ethical mind-bender with elements of a thriller, a compelling ode to wild nature, postcolonial reflections and a sharp critique of how we relate to Africa: ‘Trophy’ has it all. This gripping story resonates strongly with readers in Germany, where it has reached huge success: several reprints, lectures by Gaea, and rave reviews that have declared ‘Trophy’ the book of 2024.

This raw, semi-autobiographical debut tells the story of the unnamed protagonist’s childhood and a night with his former lover. It takes the reader through an emotional landscape that’s reminiscent of Ocean Vuong and Douglas Stuart. In cinematic scenes, Angelo Tijssens depicts the pain and longing of a life spent searching.

Tijssens’ debut novel packs an emotional punch. In just 120 pages, this tale of queerness, loss, and longing unfolds with breathtaking intensity. Already translated into four languages, ‘The Edges’ showcases the poetic and cinematic brilliance of the screenwriter behind ‘Girl’ and ‘Close’, two films by director Lukas Dhont that won awards worldwide.

‘WILL’ is a bold, ambitious and multifaceted novel in which no one is spared. 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, he’s the archetypal antihero.

In this gripping novel, Olyslaegers explores the complexities of moral choices during war and the far-reaching impact on individuals and generations. Recently adapted into a Netflix film by Tim Mielants, director of ‘Small Things Like These’.

If you have ever been to Antwerp, you have undoubtedly noticed the Orthodox Jewish community in the city. Yet, their lives remain shrouded in mystery. 'Mazel tov' tells the story of young Margot Vanderstraeten who works as a tutor for a Modern Orthodox Jemish family. Her account offers a unique glimpse into a hidden facet of Belgian life.

'Mazel tov' is a compelling and thought-provoking story, written with journalistic precision and wry humour. This insider’s account bridges cultural divides with empathy and insight.

‘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.

‘Sleep!’ is the most translated debut from Flanders, with over 75,000 copies sold worldwide. With this novel, Annelies Verbeke took the Dutch literature scene by storm and established herself as a force in contemporary literature. It is the perfect introduction to her work: razor-sharp and poetic storytelling with dark humour, seamlessly blending irony and poignancy.

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.

Flanders’ answer to ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, is a coming-of-age story that appeals to many readers because of its sharp humour, vivid realism and deep emotions. It has been translated into 25 languages – including Norwegian, Danish and Finnish – and has sold over 400,000 copies worldwide.

In twenty powerful short stories, Van de Velde portrays his ‘companions in misery’, people living on the fringes of society, with whom he found himself in psychiatric institutions. His humanity, his command of style, his clarity of mind and his ability to resist sentimentality still effortlessly hold readers in their grip more than fifty years after his stories were first published.

Roger Van de Velde (1925–1970) is the quintessential cult author, still admired by Flemish writers today. His extraordinary life story, combined with his masterful prose, makes him a unique figure in literature. Echoing ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, his stories continue to resonate profoundly, both in Flanders and abroad.