Van der Hoogt Prize 2009 for Ester Naomi Perquin

The Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde has awarded the Lucy B. and C.W. van der Hoogt Prize 2009 to Ester Naomi Perquin. The jury report says: ‘What is striking about the poetry in Servetten halfstok (Serviettes Half-mast) and Namens de ander (In Name of the Other) is the use of apparently ordinary language and familiar, every-day situations which are deceptively simple but reflect the entire world. Perquin questions life, attempts to get to grips with the world and every poem echoes her sense of wonder. The tone, clarity and attention to the ordinary are given almost careless shape, but underneath the lightness there is a sad, melancholy undertone.’

The Van der Hoogt Prize is an incentive prize which is awarded annually - alternately in the categories Poetry and Prose - to a writer who has published his or her first or second work in previous years. Ester Naomi Perquin has published two collections: Servetten halfstok and Namens de ander (Van Oorschot, 2007 and 2009). The prize consists of a medallion and 7,500 euros.

Previous Van der Hoogt Prize laureates include Thomas Möhlmann, Micha Hamel, Geert Buelens, René Puthaar, Erik Menkveld, Piet Gerbrandy, Peter Ghyssaert, Anna Enquist, Eva Gerlach, H.C. ten Berge, Christine D’haen, Leo Vroman, Ida G.M. Gerhardt, M. Vasalis, H. Marsman and J. Slauerhoff.

Published: March 13, 2009 news