The Anton Wachter Award is a literary prize for the best debut work of fiction in the Dutch language. The biennial award is presented to a promising author, who in the last two years has published a remarkable debut novel, as chosen by an expert jury.
Annemarie Haverkamp is the winner of the Anton Wachter Prize 2020. She will receive the prize for her novel ‘De achtste dag’ (The eighth day). According to the jury, she is able to profile herself in her debut “as an author who manages to bring a dilemma or drama into the limelight in a refined and subtle way”.
About the award
Debut works of literary prose published by Dutch and Flemish authors in the previous two years are considered for the award. The Anton Wachter Award, which was established to encourage emerging literary talent, is named after the main character in the series of semi-autobiographical novels by Simon Vestdijk. The award includes a cash prize of € 2,000 and a replica of the statue of Anton Wachter by Suze Boschma-Berkhout.
This year the ceremony will take place in a private circle and can be attended online through a livestream.
