Meet the jury of the C. Buddingh'Prize 2023

March 23, 2023

No fewer than 26 poetry debuts are competing this year for the C. Buddingh' Prize, the prize with which Poetry International annually awards the best Dutch-language poetry debut. The jury of this 36th edition consists of poet and writing teacher Sasja Janssen, poetry critic and lecturer Janita Monna and slam performer Seckou Ouologuem. They are now poring over the 26 collections in search of the most impressive poetry debuts of the past year. In mid-April, Poetry International will announce the shortlist of four nominees. Afterwards, on 11 May, the C. Buddingh'-Online Reading Club will start, in which enthusiastic readers can discover the work of the new generation of poets together with poet Ingmar Heytze. The presentation of the 36th C. Buddingh' Prize will take place on Sunday 11 June during the 53rd Poetry International Festival.

Sasja Janssen is a poet and writing teacher. After two novels, she has published five collections of poetry since 2007, nominated for several prizes. Her most recent collection Virgula (2021) was also nominated for four prizes and awarded the Awater Poetry Prize. Together with poet Eva Gerlach, she made the bibliophilic dialogue collection Groet god. 

Janita Monna studied Dutch Language and Literature in Amsterdam and works as a journalist and teacher. For newspaper Trouw, she frequently writes about poetry and conducts interviews with poets and writers. She teaches Dutch language and communication at Inholland University of Applied Sciences. 

Seckou Ouologuem is a pioneer of Flemish slam poetry and has performed on poetry, music and theatre stages worldwide. He started as a backpack rapper, content and rhythm are central to his performances. He was city poet of Antwerp, museum poet of Bruges and won slam, poetry and rap awards. Seckou supports and organises decolonial movements.

C. Buddingh'-Online Reading Club

The C. Buddingh'-Online Reading Club will start on Thursday 11 May. Every Thursday in May, readers will dive deep into one of the four poetry debuts nominated for the Buddingh' Prize with poet Ingmar Heytze. It is the ideal way to discover what the new generation of Dutch-language poets has to say and how they do it. Of course, we invite the nominated poets to join online to talk about their collections and read from them. The Reading Club consists of up to 15 participants and will meet four evenings online, on Thursdays 11, 18 and 25 May and 1 June from 19:30 to 21:00. Participation costs €85 for the four evenings.