Latest news

Albert Hagenaars was born on 7 April 1955 in the southern border town of Bergen op Zoom and was initially active as a visual artist and gallery owner. He studied Dutch and spent a lot of time in France . In 1980 he chose literature.

Besides poems, novels and translations, he also writes critical reviews on literature and modern visual art for different newspapers and the National Library Service. Regularly, he works with artists and musicians, as well as colleagues from other countries.

As an editor of poetry publishing house WEL, he was involved with the production of many compilations.

Several of his books have been translated, into German, English, French and Indonesian. Composers have also produced music to the work of Albert Hagenaars. Jan Walraven produced a CD with music for piano and organ, based on the compilation Linguisticum. The American musician Dirk Stromberg, chose 18 poems from ‘Tropendrift’ for a double CD of the same name with predominantly electronic music. On this CD, you hear the English translation by John Irons, recited by Douglas Cohen.

Albert Hagenaars has travelled a lot, through, amongst others, the United States, Latin-America and the Far East. For the last few years he has spent his summers living and working in Java ( Indonesia), the birth place of his wife. Therefore his most important themes are travel, intercultural relations, alienation and above all love, love in all its facets. His most important titles are published by In de Knipscheer.

In 2007 he received the Sakko prize, an oeuvre award, which is provided by Tamoil Nederland BV yearly.

Translation: Linsay Farthing