From 17 to 19 September, the international poetry festival Transpoesie takes place in Brussels. This year’s theme is ‘Where voices meet’, focusing on language, space and poetic resistance through and in translation. Fryslân will be represented by poet Geart Tigchelaar.
Geart Tigchelaar (1987) was born and raised in Damwâld and now lives in the Greidhoeke. During his time as regional poet of Noardeast-Fryslân (2021-2023), he wrote various protest poems. This is how he discovered that activist poetry suits him well: it allows him to express his frustration with the world and give a voice to injustice.
Tigchelaar made his debut as a poet with leech hert yn nij jek (Hispel, 2016), for which he received the Tamminga Prize in 2017. For his novel Om (Afûk, 2021), he was nominated for the Rink van der Velde Prize, and for his translation of Erik of it lyts ynsekteboek (Regaad, 2015) he won the Obe Postma Prize in 2016.
Geart Tigchelaar’s participation in Transpoesie 2026 is made possible in part by It Skriuwersbûn, poetry collective Rixt, the Douwe Kalmastichting and the Jan Roelof Geertsmafûns.
