Radna reads her poem Oud verhaal met personen en dingen die in het echte leven niet bestaan, responding to the work Compass (Male & Female) (2012-2018) of Robin Rhode.
News
Habitus
Publisher
De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam (NL)
Caractères, Paris (FR)
Ensemble, Rome (IT)
ELIF, Berlin (GER)
Viento de Fondo, Buenos Aires (ARG)
Deep Vellum, Dallas (US)
Year
2018
Awards & nominations
Winner of the Grand Poetry Prize of the Netherlands (2019)
Winner of the Herman de Coninck Prize (2019)
Winner of the C Buddingh’ Prize (2018)
Winner of the Awater Poetry Prize (2018)
Winner of the Aan Zee Debut Poetry Prize (2019)
An explosive entry into the world of poetry from Radna Fabias, the most acclaimed debut poet ever in the Dutch language.
Subversive, visual, and bold, Curaçao-born Dutch Radna Fabias’ explosive debut collection Habitus marks the entry of a genre-altering poet. Habitus is a collection full of thrilling sensory images, lines in turn grim and enchanting which move from the Caribbean island of Curaçao to the immigrant experience of the Netherlands. Fabias’ intrepid masterpiece explores issues of racism, neo-colonialism, poverty, and sexism with a heartbreaking rhythm and endless nuance.
Broken into three parts (“View with coconut,” “Rib,” and “Demonstrable effort made”), Habitus explores the profound struggles of melancholic longing, womanhood, religion, and migration. This ambitious, powerful, and compassionate collection has emerged, cheering on ambiguity, fluidity, and a lyrical ego on a quest to find its home.
Translated by David Colmer, an Australian writer, editor, and translator, mainly of Dutch-language literature. He translates in a range of genres and has won many prizes, including the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (both with novelist Gerbrand Bakker), and most recently the James Brockway Prize for his poetry translations.
“the juiciest lie is splendor,” one poem in Radna Fabias’s incantatory Habitus begins, and reading the book I couldn’t get those words out of my head. Another poem tells us of “the wall that wasn’t there” that “didn’t fall,” saying “there were no explosives it wasn’t a war nothing blew up.” There is something extraordinary happening in this book, something recursive and apophatic and totally, somehow, unprecedented. “i peel the prints from my fingers,” she writes. It’s an unforgettable collection, among the best debuts I’ve read in ages.
— Kaveh Akbar
I was stunned and thrilled by these poems. They have a confident, clear, strange, wild energy, along with the rage and wisdom and humor of a soul who understands the terrors and beauties of this world. They are the electric record of an exceptional imagination. I love these poems and can’t wait to see what’s next.”
— Matthew Zapruder, Why Poetry and Father’s Day
What transforms this poetry into great poetry is its momentum and rhythm, the wealth of its images and its nuanced vision on human existence.”
— Piet Gerbrandy, Versopolis Poetry
- De ruimte van het volledige leven – De Groene Amsterdammer (Dutch review) >
- Het beste poeziedebuut van 2018 – NRC Handelsblad (Dutch review) >
- Radna Fabias pelt vooroordelen af – Trouw (Dutch review) >
english
Deep Vellum, Dallas (US)
french
Caractères, Paris (FR)
italian
Ensemble, Rome (IT)
german
ELIF, Berlin (GER)
spanish
Viento de Fondo, Buenos Aires (ARG)
Averno
PUBLISHER:
De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam (NL)
YEAR:
2021
Radna Fabias translates the poetry of Nobel Prize winner Louise Glück for De Arbeiderspers publishers. Although translations of some of her poems have appeared in literary magazines, this is the first time Glück’s poetry has been published in book form in the Netherlands.
‘The best characterization of Glück’s poetry is that “everything she touches turns to music and legend.” Indeed, Glück belongs to that club of poets whose work sings of its own accord, where the emphases are where she has conceived them and has a story to tell: of compassion, wonder, loathing, and sometimes of lyrical rage.’ – Philip Huff in De Groene Amsterdammer
Glück named Averno (2006) after a small crater lake in southern Italy, which the Romans considered the entrance to the underworld. Averno is like a long, restless lament full of shrewdness and harrowing images.
Radna Fabias translates poetry of Nobel Prize winner Louise Glück
Radna Fabias will translate the poetry of Nobel Prize winner Louise Glück into Dutch for publishing house De Arbeiderspers. Averno (a collection from 2006) will be published in September, followed by a translation of Glücks new Winter Recipes from the Collective at the end of this year. It is the first time that Glück’s poetry will be published in the Netherlands.