Geert Buelens

Geert Buelens Foto: Bozar

Geert Buelens (born 1971 Duffel, Belgium) is a poet, essayist and lecturer. He has been intensively engaging with poetry from the period of the First World War for years, and has published numerous academic works and poetry anthologies on the topic, such as the almost 700-page poetry anthology "Het lijf in slijk geplant" (The body planted in the mud). This Spring Suhrkamp published his encompassing study “Europas Dichter und der Erste Weltkrieg” (Europe’s Poets and the First World War), which looks at the poetry from this era in the context of cultural and political upheavals. This book received the Dutch Non-fiction Book Prize in 2009. Buelens own poetry displays the distinct influence of 20th Century American poetry, and distinguishes itself through a language rich in sound and rhythm effects.

Buelens is Professor of Contemporary Dutch Literature at the University of Utrecht and in 2012 became a member of the Royal Academy for Dutch Literary and Linguistic Studies. He is a co-editor of the Dutch literary magazine “Yang” and writes for large Dutch and Belgian daily newspapers.

 

Publications (selected)

Het is, Meulenhoff/Manteau 2002
Verzeker u, Meulenhoff/Manteau 2005
Europas Dichter und der Erste Weltkrieg, Suhrkamp 2014