Derek Otte

Derek Otte is a Dutch poet, spoken word-artist, teacher, and dramatist. 

Otte struggled with a stutter as he grew up, therefore he wrote down what he could not express in spoken language. In 2011, he overcame his fear of speaking and started presenting his texts on stages. From 2013 until 2015 he was the resident poet of radio station FunX and his debut poetry collection Regelgeving was published in 2015 by his own publishing company, Rorschach. This publication was followed by four more books of poetry, the newest being Aan de rand van Dromenland (2023). Otte was the Poet Laureate of Rotterdam in 2017 and 2018. 

Derek Otte’s often introspective work comes right from the heart. His themes of layered identities and the position of the individual in the world – especially in the city – draw connections between the personal and the societal, with his tone varying from light-hearted to philosophical or straight to the point. 

From 2012 until 2019 Otte organized and presented Paginagroots at Theater Rotterdam. Since 2015, he has been teaching spoken word at the Hogeschool Rotterdam. In the past few years, he has been traveling through the Netherlands and Flanders with his theater shows De tijd is om (Time is up) and Tijd over (Time to spare).