Haus für Poesie

Mustafa Stitou was born in Morocco in 1974 and grew up in Lelystad. His first collection, Mijn vormen, came out when he was 19. His humour, his open gaze, his ability to see poetry everywhere and a kind of ambivalence often resulting from the clash of two cultures have meant that Stitou’s poetry has attracted attention. “At long last a poet again”, the Dutch writer Remco Campert praised the young poet’s debut. It was nominated for the C. Buddingh Prize, the major honour for poetry debuts in the Netherlands. Other poetry collections followed, including Mijn gedichten (1998), Varkensroze ansichten (2004) (VSB Poezieprijs) and Tempel (2013) (Awater Poezieprijs). Stitou has taken an active part over the years in many literary events and festivals all over the country. In 2001 the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam performed a choreography based on his poetry and in 2003 he accompanied silent film fragments with his poems at the Amsterdam Film Biennale. He was a city district poet in Amsterdam in 2009-2010.