Innovative

The work of Flemish author Ed Franck, one of the most important and innovative of today’s Flemish youth writers, is truly versatile. He addresses readers of all ages - and in all genres. He can write elegant stories, verses and illustrated books for pre-schoolers and beginning readers, historical and psychological novels for teen agers, humoristic detective stories and tales for adults with reading difficulties.

Ed Franck (photo Altiora)

His talent even extends to adult-sounding poetry for adolescents and tales from the classics of world literature. The careful style and psychological portraits of Ed Franck’s first children’s books, Spetters op de kermis (Stunners at the Fair, 1985) and Tenten in de wei (Tents in the Meadow, 1986), blew a fresh wind through Flemish children’s literature at a time when it was in definite need of airing. With Geen wonder dat moeder met de goud vissen praat (No Wonder Mother Talks to the Goldfish, 1988) and Zomer zeventien (Summer Seventeen, 1990), Franck won over a wide and enthusiastic adolescent public. The characters portrayed are reproduced in painstaking detail: vulnerable youngsters looking for their own identity and place in a frequently threatening society.

In both his verses for preschoolers and his poetry for adolescents Ed Franck experiments with all registers and levels of difficulty of the Dutch language. His work is characterised by a balanced combination of seriousness and dry humour, suspense and emotion, action and contemplation.

Illustration Gregie de Maeyer

Double talent Gregie de Maeyer can be introduced as the enfant terrible of the Flemish children’s book scene. From cartoonist and illustrator of the work of, among others, Henri van Daele, he has developed since the 1990s into a fully fledged author. After some cheerful experimenting with text and pictures, De Maeyer started searching for his personal style. This became simple, repetitive text and the bare illustrations of Fietsen (Bicycling, 1993), In de put (Depressed, 1993) and Mama? (1994). This trilogy initiated a new era. His style became authentically Flemish and unaffected; in the illustrations everything was reduced to essentials. In the past few years Gregie de Maeyer has engaged in projects with an international note. In collaboration with visual artist Koen van Mechelen he published Juul (1996), an oppressive story about bullying, and De kooi (The Cage, 1997), a book to encourage philosophising by and with children. In these splendid productions, literature, photography and the visual arts are harmoniously integrated. De Maeyer organised projects based on these books: exhibitions, theatre, work shops, philosophy sessions. In his latest book Niemand houdt ons tegen (Nobody’s Going to Stop Us, 1997), photographs by Alex Deyaert and an inventive text by De Maeyer tell an intriguing story.