The jury of the Libris Literature Prize 2020 has announced the six nominees. They are Flemish Saskia de Coster and Dutch Wessel in Gussinklo, Oek de Jong, Sander Kollaard, Marijke Schermer and Manon Uphoff.
The Libris is the prize for the best Dutch-language novel of the past year. The winner of 2020 will be announced on 11 May during a gala dinner at the Amstel Hotel, to be seen live in News Hour. The winner receives 50,000 euros.
In the spring of 2019, a professional jury, led by professor of science communication Ionica Smeets, began to read hundreds of Dutch-language books from the past year. “I have never read so many Dutch books before,” says Smeets. “A whole new world opened up for me.”
The jury was impressed by the quality. Smeets: “Only ‘good’ is not good enough. We have to be strict.”
Read below a selection of the jury reports of the six nominated books.
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The highest stacker (Wessel in Gussinklo)
“Who knows how to surrender to the almost plotless monologue interior is rewarded with a literary trip, the repetitive stream of rhythmic sentences and rumbling words is so hypnotic. It is addictive. “
“Te Gussinklo writes without wanting pee, in its own unique, unconventional but immediately trusted style. In this novel he impresses with the profound psychological insight he gives us in the main character Ewout, his neuroses and the peculiarities of his character. With The highest stacker Te Gussinklo delivers a flawless portrait of an unforgettable boy whom we are getting to understand better and perhaps even close to our hearts, despite his fuss. “
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Black barn (Oek de Jong)
“Many familiar elements from De Jong’s monumental oeuvre come in Black shed together. Once again, a sensitive, lonely boy in Zeeland is excluded and harassed by peers. And even now the confusion of sexual awakening is certainly provoked. “
“But De Jong is also exploring new terrain, such as when he outlines the ebb and flow movements in the relationship between (protagonist, ed.) Maris and his great love Fran, who ended up in a sexless impasse after twenty years. The uncertainties, blinds and annoyances of both. The frustrated impotence of loved ones who are in danger of escaping each other. “
“That and much more is evoked in this rich novel. In prose that never draws attention to itself with the word acrobatics intended as impressive, but which is very compelling and sensory. In sentences that you don’t seem to read, but experience.”
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Night parents (Saskia de Coster)
“With Night parents Saskia de Coster wrote a novel about a rarely discussed topic in literature: the fear of parents that they will not be able to love their child enough. De Coster does that in a swirling, stylistically innovative way. “
“The language in which the Coster writes is vital like a newborn baby.” The outside world shines through the sunny birth window, (…) looks down on everyone.‘The outside world is unimportantly present in the novel: the extreme right won big in the elections; in France a million people protest against same-sex marriage. The outside world seems to conspire with the inner demons of narrator Saskia: is she entitled to the title ‘mother’? “
“Saskia de Coster wrote a superior novel about the time we live in.”
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From the life of a dog (Sander Kollaard)
“With this writer, let us first pay attention to a reader: one Henk, the main character in this novel. We catch him, a single overweight, overweight, during a nap. A dog is sleeping in the room. There is no reason to wake Henk, because we can hardly imagine that with such an (anti) hero a story can be started that is worth reading, let alone Libris. But Sander Kollaard still wakes Henk up. “
“A day in the life of a dog – and his owner – contains no earth-shattering events, but in the twenty-four hours Kollaard shows with that ordinary Henk what life is all about. This extremely refined novel gives the reader shocks of recognition, a dose of zest for life, lessons in the art of living and, on the fly, lots of reading pleasure. “
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Love, if that is it (Marijke Schermer)
“What is love? It is quite a question to ask, let alone answer. Marijke Schermer makes an attempt with the novel Love, if that’s it, in which she runs the 25-year marriage of Terri and David on the rocks. “
“Through different characters, the reader is presented with as many different perspectives on relationships: the reliability of David, the urge to freedom of Terri, the reserved attitude of mistress Sev and the selfishness of lover Lucas.”
“Schermer raises big questions that the reader can think about for a long time: does love overtake us or do we have to work ourselves? Do we project desires on others? Can you be free if you are connected? And, I choose as a reader for Terri or for David? And what does that choice tell me about myself? Schermer remains impartial and thereby confronts readers with their own perhaps unstable love principles. “
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Falling is like flying (Manon Uphoff)
“Falling is like flying is “rooted in reality.” The enchanting horror history of the four Holbein girls and their (step) father. The man who was the worshiped Henri Elias Hendrikus Holbein during the day, amateur painter, hurried seminarian and omnipresent family god, who initiated the girls MM, Henne Vuur, Libby and Toddiewoddie into the world of art and sciences, turned into a monster at night. In the voluptuous Minotaur who visited their children’s beds to impose his sexual will on them. “
“Uphoff manages to lead the reader with a literary master’s hand through that confusing world in which the most horrifying can seem deadly normal. How? By wrapping the poignant scars of childhood trauma with the lyrical metaphors of a fairy tale. With references to literature, mythology and science And above all with language. Laconic and furious, veiled and non-concealing language. “
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