This year marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Frisian freedom fighter Pier Gerlofs Donia, better known as “Grutte Pier” (big Pier). The birthplace of Pier is Kimswerd and it was here that the initiative arose to commemorate villager Pier with a writing competition.
Write an essay, story, contemplation, column or poem about what Pier was all that mattered: FREEDOM. How you explore that theme is up to you. Questions that could get you started include: Does Pier’s drive for freedom justify the way he fought? Is it right that the Frisian warlord, freedom fighter, hijacker and pirate is revered as a folk hero? How has freedom been experienced through the ages? What does freedom look like? Will we still be free in 2020, as an individual or as a group? How is that in Friesland, in the Netherlands and worldwide?
Game rules
Send your submission to info@friestile.nl before 1 September 2020. Your text is up to 1,500 words long. You can write in Frisian or Dutch. The entries will be judged anonymously by a jury. All entries are bundled in a book. The jury consists of: Willem Schoorstra (writer of, among others, the book on Grutte Pier “Pier-de profesij fan bline Simen”) and Meindert Bylsma (writer, former teacher and resident of Kimswerd).
For the winners
The award ceremony will take place around 28 October, Pier’s date of death, at Hotel Grutte Pier in Kimswerd. First prize: Tile panel consisting of 28 tiles by Pier, made by Sjoukje Tijssen of FRIEStile in Kimswerd. Second Prize: A one night stay at Hotel Grutte Pier in Kimwerd for two people.
Picture: NeONBRAND via Unsplash
