Anne Vegter has spent more than three decades refusing to keep poetry in a single box. Her work moves between the playful, the erotic, the enigmatic and the disturbing, often finding its energy in the uncomfortable spaces between them. On Thursday 19 November, the Dutch poet, writer and former Poet Laureate comes to Liverpool alongside poet and translator Astrid Alben, in an event presented in partnership with independent publisher Prototype. Part of New Dutch Writing, supported by the Dutch Foundation for Literature, the evening will explore Vegter’s work and the process of bringing it to English-language readers.
Vegter’s Pig Data, winner of the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize, exposes what its description calls the raw nerves of power and desire. It is a fitting introduction to a writer whose career has consistently crossed boundaries. Her first poetry collection, Het veerde, appeared in 1991, followed three years later by Ongekuiste versies, a collection of erotic stories. Since then, she has worked across poetry, children’s literature, theatre monologues and performance.
Her approach to language is similarly restless. Vegter regularly collaborates with composers and musicians and has received major Dutch awards for her work across literature and theatre. In 2013 she became the first woman to be named Poet Laureate of the Netherlands, a position she held until 2017.
Joining her is Astrid Alben, whose own work as a poet, editor and translator gives the evening another dimension. Alben is the author of Ai! Ai! Pianissimo, Plainspeak and Little Dead Rabbit, and her writing has appeared in publications including Granta and the Times Literary Supplement. She has also worked with BBC Radio, the Serpentine Gallery and Wellcome Collection, moving between poetry, performance, animation and non-fiction.
There is already a strong connection between Alben, Vegter and Prototype. In 2022, Prototype published Alben’s translation of Vegter’s Island Mountain Glacier, which went on to receive an English PEN Translates Award.
Prototype itself has built a reputation for publishing fiction, poetry, anthologies and interdisciplinary projects that challenge conventional ideas about what a book can be. Founded in 2019, its collaboration with Vegter and Alben is therefore particularly well suited to an evening concerned with language crossing borders and forms.
Anne Vegter and Astrid Alben appear in Liverpool on Thursday 19 November, from 6pm to 8.30pm. Tickets are £2–£5, with a limited number of free tickets available for those who are unwaged or experiencing financial hardship. Booking is required.
