K. Michel

K. Michel (c) privat

Exuberance, exclamation marks and the connection between humour and philosophical ideas characterise the debut Ja! Naakt als de stenen (1989) of poet and prose author K. Michel, born in 1958. Before his debut as a poet, K. Michel co-edited several magazines and some of his poems appeared in the poetry collection Maximaal. At the end of the 80s the Maximals rejected the hermetic poetry of things and strove for a poetry of gestures. Exclamation marks, capital letters and appeals were to call up a certain emotion! This light-footedness also characterises the later work of K. Michel, e.g. in the subsequent collections Boem de nacht (1994), Waterstudies (1999), Kleur de schaduwen (2004), In een handpalm (2008) and Bij eb is je eiland groter (2010), but the exuberance is grandually being replaced by a calmer tone, and in these collections K. Michel does not avoid more serious topics either. The work of the poet is praised, Boem de Nacht was awarded the Herman Gorterprijs, Waterstudies the Jan Campert-prijs and the VSB Poëzieprijs and Bij eb is je eiland groter the Guido Gezelleprijs and the Awater Poëzieprijs.