The BNG Bank Literature Prize, the annual Dutch prize for young writers − worth 15.000 euros, has been awarded to poet, novelist, and playwright Marjolijn van Heemstra for En we noemen hem… (And His Name Is..). German, English, French, Italian and Spanish translations of this novel are in preparation.
The jury states:
Van Heemstra knows how to attract the reader. Her quest changes the modern cliché that the past is neither black nor white but grey, into a colourful tangle of facts and memories. To turn this into something special − a story that refers both to the past and to the future − one has to be an eminent author.
The BNG Bank Readers’ Jury Prize was awarded to essayist and writer Arjen van Veelen for his novel Aantekeningen over het plaatsen van obelisken (Notes on the placing of obelisks; De Bezige Bij publishers). Van Veelen is offered a one-month residency in 2019 at the Adriaan Roland Holst House in Bergen, the Netherlands.
Both award-winning novels were written with a grant from the Dutch Foundation for Literature.
BNG Bank Literature Prize
The BNG Bank Literature Prize is a prize for young authors with a young oeuvre. The prize is meant for Dutch authors under 40 years old; who have written two or more literary prose works, which have not been bestsellers yet; who have not won an important literary prize and who have published a new novel in 2017.
Previous winners include Hanna Bervoets (2016), Jamal Ouariachi (2015), Maartje Wortel (2014), Wytske Versteeg (2013), Christiaan Weijts (2012), Jan van Mersbergen (2011), Gustaaf Peek (2010), Carolina Trujillo (2009), Rachida Lamrabet (2008), Sanneke van Hassel (2007), Yves Petry (2006) and Esther Gerritsen (2005).
More information
- Marjolijn van Heemstra in our Authors Database
- Marjolijn van Heemstra in our Translations Database
- website Marjolijn van Heemstra
- website Arjen van Veelen (Dutch website)
- writers residency Roland Holsthuis in Bergen, the Netherlands (Dutch page)
