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On Saturday evening, the tenth Bronzen Uil was awarded as the final piece of the literary event Het Betere Boek in the Minard Theater. The prize, worth 10,000 euros, awarded by the Willemsfonds to the best Dutch-language debut, goes to the Dutch author Machteld Siegmann for her debut De kaalvreter.
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“The jury was impressed by their own voice, their own color and the rhythm that did justice to the different perspectives of the characters”, says jury chairman Jos Geysels. “Written thoughtfully and compellingly, we get a clear picture of a person who wants to take his life into his own hands and the consequences of this search for his immediate environment.”
The Bald Eater is about Leie Blum, a girl who was placed with a peasant family in Zanegeest during the Second World War. Since then, Leie has been waiting, first for her parents, later for something she cannot define. The wait seems over when she marries Dirk and has two sons. In the summer of 1974, Leie’s carefully constructed life is turned upside down by the death of the woman with whom she was in hiding as a foster child.
For the tenth edition 6 authors were nominated: three from Flanders, three from the Netherlands. Frederik Willem Daem (with Signs of Life), Max Temmerman (Conifers) and Chris Van Camp (The kiss of Dabrowski) were nominated from Flanders. Previous winners of the Bronzen Uil included Lize Split (Het Smelt) and Lenny Peeters (Daughter).
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