Jens Meijen has been elected winner of the C. Buddingh ‘prize 2020 this year. The Flemish poet (born in 1996) receives the prize for his poetry debut Xenomorf, published by the Bezige Bij.
“The view of Meijen, unlike that of many other entries for the 2020 C. Buddingh ‘prize, is not directed inwards, but turned outwards”, the jury finds.
“The poet looks with disgust at how the climate is screwing up, ideals are insincere, progress is sometimes also deterioration and the social debate is dominated by anger.”
The presentation took place online this year due to the coronavirus. An animation video, made by Mirjam Debets, showed that Meijen has won the prestigious poetry prize this year.
Other contenders were Jérôme Gommers, Iduna Paalman and Laurine Verweijen. For the 33rd edition, a total of thirty poets had submitted their debuts.
Previous winners of the prize, which has been created to generate more attention for talented new voices in Dutch-language poetry, are Marieke Rijneveld, Anna Enquist and Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer.
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