Bart Chabot (

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, 26 September 1954) is a Dutch writer and poet.

Biography

Chabot went to the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

to study

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. During that period, he befriended the artists and drug users

Jules Deelder Jules Anton Deelder (24 November 1944 – 19 December 2019) was a Dutch poet, spoken word poet and writer. His poems cover topics such as life in the city of Rotterdam, drug use, and jazz. He was very passionate about the Dutch language and fear ...

and

Herman Brood Hermanus "Herman" Brood (; 5 November 1946 – 11 July 2001) was a Dutch musician, painter, actor and poet. As a musician he achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and was called "the greatest and only Dutch rock 'n' r ...

. Chabot's parents thoroughly disapproved. Soon after, Chabot decided to abandon his studies. In 1979, he made his debut as a poet with ''Als u zó gaat beginnen'' followed by ''Popcorn'' in 1981. Chabot did not want to cater to the world of literary critics, and attempted to write poetry everybody could understand with references to McDonalds, supermarkets, and rock-and-roll. Of his 1993 poetry collection ''Genadebrood'', a reviewer in ''

World Literature Today ''World Literature Today'' is an American magazine of international literature and culture, published at the University of Oklahoma. The stated goal of the magazine is to publish international essays, poetry, fiction, interviews, and book review ...

'' noted Chabot's cynical philosophy and commented on the depressing nature of many of the poems. In 1996, Chabot wrote his first biography called ''Broodje gezond'' (Healthy sandwich) about Herman Brood. The book became a bestseller selling 50,000 copies by 2003, and received

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

s as ''Broodje halfom'' (2001), ''Brood en spelen'' (2002) en ''Broodje springlevend'' (2003). In 2007, Chabot received the

Johnny van Doorn Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Variant ...

Prize for literature. The biography even received critical acclaim from Arjan Peters of

de Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...

for showing the degeneration of the elderly

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

singer while keeping a good sense of humour. The critic did show his prejudice for having to write about a common subject. In 2014, Chabot composed the

Grand Dictation of the Dutch Language The Grand Dictation of the Dutch Language ( nl, Groot Dictee der Nederlandse Taal) was a televised spelling test for adults organized by the Belgian newspaper ''De Morgen'', the Dutch newspaper ''de Volkskrant'' and the Dutch public broadcaster NT ...

which was an annual spelling contest organised by ''

De Morgen ''De Morgen'' (Dutch for ''The Morning'') is a Flemish newspaper with a circulation of 53,860. The paper is published in Antwerp, Belgium. History and profile ''De Morgen'' originates from a merger in 1978 of two socialist newspapers ' (meaning ...

'', ''

'' and NTR. Chabot was a prominent participant in the previous editions of the spelling contest, and wanted to make it more accessible to normal people using familiar words. In 2020, Chabot published ''Mijn vaders hand'', about his youth. ''Hebban'' expected a gloomy book, but Chabot's cynical irony managed to make them laugh once in a while. ''Hebban'' did question the commercial motivation of a television personality writing about his youth.

Carel Peeters Carel Peeters (born 5 June 1944, in Nijmegen) is one of the leading Dutch literary critics and since 1973 a writer and editor at ''Vrij Nederland''. Peeters grew up in Nijmegen but moved, with his parents, to Amsterdam at age 14. In 1964 he enrolle ...

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly and now monthly magaz ...

observed that Chabot is always somewhere else, and that triggered him to go beyond acceptable and normal patterns. Chabot is also a columnist for ''

Oor ''OOR'' is the oldest currently published music magazine in the Netherlands. ''Oor'' is the Dutch word for ear. Until 1984 it was published as ''Muziekkrant Oor''. History The magazine was first published on 1 April 1971, being founded by Ba ...

'' and ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'', and a television personality making frequent appearances on ''

Pauw & Witteman ''Pauw & Witteman'' was a Dutch late-night talk show, hosted by Jeroen Pauw and Paul Witteman. It was generally focused on current affairs and politics. It was broadcast every weekday at 11 pm on Nederland 1. It was initially co-produced by Dut ...

'' and ''Barend & Van Dorp''. In 1989, Chabot embarked on a theatre tour with

Remco Campert Remco Campert (28 July 1929 – 4 July 2022) was a Dutch author, poet and columnist. Early years Remco Wouter Campert was born in The Hague, son of writer and poet Jan Campert, author of the poem ''De achttien dooden'', and actress Joekie Bro ...

and Jan Mulder. In 1999 he decided to go on the road again this time with Jules Deelder and Herman Brood. In autumn 2006, Chabot participated in the television program ''De Slimste Mens'', which aimed to find the smartest person in a group of celebrities. Chabot won.

Family

Bart Chabot married Yolanda in 1987. The couple has four sons whom he taught to write. "Writing starts with

empathy Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...

, you don't put yourself in the centre, but the world around you," according to Bart. The writing muse got passed on, and Sebastiaan and Splinter are columnists in their own right. Splinter had even gone beyond that, and has, after graduating from the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

, become a

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

for

NPO 3 NPO 3 (''NPO drie'', formerly Nederland 3 until 2014) is the third and youngest of the terrestrial television channels operated by the Dutch public-broadcasting organization NPO in the Netherlands. It carries programmes provided by member-based ...

Works

References

External links

Official site
(in Dutch)
Bart Chabot at Digital Library for Dutch Literature
(in Dutch) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chabot, Bart 1954 births Dutch male poets Living people Writers from The Hague Leiden University alumni