Celebrated nonfiction from Flanders

Flanders is currently experiencing a real nonfiction boom: more nonfiction titles are being published than ever before, more nonfiction is being read than fiction, and many people now regard the genre as a full part of literature. 
At the beginning of February, we invited ten nonfiction publishers from Sweden for a fellowship to introduce them to nonfiction from Flanders. Two authors that write about political and social issues – Anton Jäger and Tim ‘S Jongers – could not make it then. Thats why we highlight them here, besides two highly acclaimed authors – Charlotte Van den Broeck and Bart Van Loo – whose books have achieved remarkable sales figures thanks to their compelling storytelling.

Anyone who has ever participated in heated discussions can confirm that politics has returned to everyday life and that debates about COVID-19, ‘wokeness’, and identity have long since spilled beyond the confines of X (Twitter). After an era of post-politics in which technocratic governance prevailed and citizens could at most comment from the sidelines, almost everything is now under political high tension. To describe this phenomenon, Anton Jäger coined the term ‘hyperpolitics’.

In ‘Hyperpolitics’, Anton Jäger travels through 150 years of democratic history to explain how current politics works and he comes up with a remarkable and illuminating explanation.

Most people with money barely scratch the surface of understanding poverty’s complexities. They moralize, oversimplify, and question why the poor make ‘bad’ decisions, all while assuming they would fare better in the same circumstances.

The chasm between those who craft poverty policies and those who are subjected to it harms both individuals and society as a whole. This book bridges the gap between academic analysis of poverty and the lived experience of those who have to face it.

Avoiding sensationalism and self-pity, the author uses parts of his own story of growing up in abject poverty as a tool to illustrate his analysis. Aimed at the privileged, this is a crash course in understanding poverty’s depths – a vital step towards meaningful change. Because fighting poverty begins with seeing it differently.

In ‘Bold Ventures’ Charlotte Van den Broeck has gathered thirteen tales about tragic architects – tragic because these well-known or forgotten master-builders committed suicide in or on account of a building designed by them. Their intervention in the public arena culminated in a fiasco or they viewed it as such. Over the past few years, Charlotte Van den Broeck travelled extensively to find out more about these architects and their fate. A full Danish translation published by Jensen & Dalgaard is available.

This highly successful book, which was translated into several languages, including German, English, French, Spanish and Italian, also deserves a Swedish translation. Debuted as a poet, Charlotte Van den Broeck is a master of detailed observation with an original point of view to address her topics. As a young and innovative author she does not hesitate to mix objective facts with subjective thoughts. Her latest book, A Flame of Thylacines, on the Tasmanian tiger, is also proof of her unique approach.

Following his bestseller The Burgundians, of which over 375,000 copies were sold across Europe, Bart Van Loo has written another fascinating journey about our distant past. In the final part of his diptych, the author brings the Late Middle Ages back to life in inimitable fashion.

Bart Van Loo is a Francophile who really masters the way to tell stories in an extraordinarily manner. In his books he bases himself on the most recent scientific research, but succeeds in making history, whether it is about the cultural remains of the Burgundian dukes or an historical figure as Napoleon, captivating and readable in texts that readers will devour.