UCL Dutch

The Poetry Cafe 22 Betterton Street London WC2H 9BX
Wednesday 26 September at 7.30 pm Tickets at the door: £5

Celebrating the first translation into English of a selection from the work of Leonard Nolens. We are very pleased to announce that Leonard Nolens will make a personal appearance and discuss his work with his English translator Paul Vincent.

Leonard Nolens

The Flemish poet and diarist  Leonard Nolens was born in Bree on 11 April 1947 and since his debut in 1969 with Orpheushanden (Orpheus Hands), he has created an impressive œuvre consisting of thirty poetry collections and diaries. Nolens is considered one of the most important contemporary poets in Dutch literature.

His collection of poems Liefdes verklaringen (Declarations of Love, 1990) was awarded the Jan Campert Prize in the Netherlands and the Triennial State Prize in Belgium. In 1997 he received the Constantijn Huygens Prize for lifetime achievement, and in 2008 he was awarded the VSB Poetry Prize for the collection Bres.

This year he has received the Dutch Literature Prize, the most prestigious prize in Dutch-language literature. The jury had this to say about Leonard Nolens: ‘He is an exceptional poet and a highly gifted reader’ and characterised his work as ‘a life-long struggle with language and a quest for his own identity and that of others’.

Collections of his poems have been translated into French, Italian, German, Polish, Serbian and Hungarian. Some of his poems have been translated into English and in autumn 2013 Anvil Press will publish the very first Leonard Nolens anthology in English translated by Paul Vincent.

Paul Vincent

Paul Vincent, honorary senior lecturer at UCL Dutch, has translated several of the leading Dutch poets, novelists and non-fiction writers, among others Louis Couperus, Harry Mulisch, Willem Elsschot, Joost van den Vondel, Gerrit Achterberg, Herman Gorter and Gerrit Kouwenaar.

His work is internationally recognised and he was the recipient of the first David Reid Poetry Translation Prize for this translation of Hendrik Marsman’s famous poem Herinnering aan Holland (Memory of Holland) in 2006, awarded by the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (now Dutch Foundation for Literature).

In 2012 Paul Vincent received the Vondel Prize for My Little War, his translation of Mijn kleine oorlog by Louis Paul Boon.

Poetry & Translation is organised by Holland Park Press. To reserve your place email bernadette@hollandparkpress.org.uk.