Romkje de Bildt new managing director
23 August 2023
On 1 November, Romkje de Bildt becomes the new managing director of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. She succeeds Tiziano Perez, who announced in April that he will be leaving after ten years at the head of the national cultural foundation.

Roos Vermeij, chair of the foundation’s Supervisory Board, says, ‘Romkje de Bildt has wide experience in the field, and from her previous position, her managerial experience and her personality, she brings a great deal of knowledge and expertise. We are enormously pleased with her appointment.’
Romkje de Bildt (b. 1981) has worked at the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds since 2017 as adviser in the field of History and Literature. In that role she is responsible for its literature policy, which involves giving advice on applications and on adherence to guidelines such as the Fair Practice Code and the Diversity and Inclusion Code. She is also secretary to the Martinus Nijhoff Translation Prize and was involved right from the start with the latest Sleutelfigurenreeks, a series of literary and historical biographies. Her previous jobs include education staff member at the CPNB and editor at the Surinamese newspaper de Ware Tijd. She studied Classical Languages and Dutch Language and Literature at the University of Amsterdam.
De Bildt says of her appointment, ‘Sustaining a variegated literary landscape in the broadest sense is important for any society, and in that respect the Dutch Foundation for Literature has a crucial role to play. I look forward to being able to devote myself to that along with all the people who work at the foundation.’
News

Tiziano Perez to leave the Dutch Foundation for Literature at the end of 2023
Tiziano Perez has announced that he will leave as managing director of the Dutch Foundation for Literature at the end of 2023. By then he will have led the national culture foundation for ten years, having been involved with the organization in other roles before that. The Supervisory Board will begin the search for a successor.

In Memoriam: Sjoerd Kuyper
The Dutch Foundation for Literature received the sad news yesterday that Dutch Children’s Books Author Sjoerd Kuyper has passed away at the age of 74. Kuyper was one of the most important voices in Dutch children’s and young adult literature. With support from the Foundation, his work has been translated into more than fifteen languages, including English, French, Korean and Turkish. In 2014, he he was appointed Officer in the Orde van Oranje-Nassau for his merits in Dutch literature at home and abroad.

Antjie Krog New Writer in Residence
The South African writer Antjie Krog will be staying at the Amsterdam Writers Residence from 25 September to 19 October at the invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. During her residency, she will be working on several anthologies and will appear at events including ILFU and the Night of Poetry.

Agnes Vogt leaves the Dutch Foundation for Literature after 22 years
Agnes joined the Dutch Literary Production and Translation Fund in August 2004, as a specialist in children's and youth literature. In 2010, that organisation merged with the Fonds voor de Letteren to become the Dutch Foundation for Literature. There, too, she coordinated efforts to promote quality, diversity and awareness of children's books, and for seven years she was head of the International Department and a member of the Management Team.
Following an operation and a period of recovery last autumn, Agnes has decided to broaden her horizons. The foundation is delighted that she wishes to remain involved in specific projects in future.