Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (born 20 April 1991 in

Nieuwendijk Nieuwendijk is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is a part of the municipality of Altena, and lies about 8 km south of Gorinchem. History The village was first mentioned in 1468 as Nyewendijck, and means "new dike". Nieu ...

, the Netherlands) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

. Rijneveld won the 2020

International Booker Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize was announc ...

together with his translator Michele Hutchison for the

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

The Discomfort of Evening ''The Discomfort of Evening'' () is the debut novel by Dutch writer Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, published in 2018. On 26 August 2020, Rijneveld became the first Dutch writer to win the £50,000 International Booker Prize, shared jointly with the nov ...

''. Rijneveld is the first Dutch author to win the prize, the first non-binary person to do so and only the third Dutch author to be nominated.

Life

Rijneveld grew up in a

Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

family on a farm in

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Rijneveld has said that his debut novel, translated into English as ''

'', is inspired partly by the death of his brother when the author was three. It took him six years to complete the novel. Rijneveld is said to have developed an interest in writing in primary school after reading

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and Philanthropy, philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to ...

's ''

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers hi ...

'', which he borrowed from the local library. Because in Reformed circles references to magic are considered taboo, Rijneveld copied out the whole book onto his computer so he could re-read it upon returning the novel. Rijneveld identifies as both male and female, and adopted the second first name Lucas at the age of nineteen, having been bullied in

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

because of his "boyish appearance and nature". At the start of January 2022, Rijneveld announced that he uses ''he/him'' personal pronouns in English, having previously used

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentence ...

pronouns, and ''zij/haar'' (she/her) in Dutch. Rijneveld said

Jan Wolkers Jan Hendrik Wolkers (26 October 1925 – 19 October 2007) was a Dutch author, sculptor and painter. Wolkers is considered by some to be one of the "Great Four" writers of post-World War II Dutch literature, alongside Willem Frederik Hermans, Ha ...

, who also grew up in a Reformed environment, is his idol. His interest in poetry was ignited while attending

speech therapy Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

sessions and looking at pictures with poetry on them while waiting for the therapy session. When Rijneveld started making progress in therapy, he was allowed to read those poems by the therapist. Rijneveld studied to become a Dutch teacher, but dropped out to focus on writing. He published the poetry collection ''Kalfsvlies'' in 2015, and that same year was named the most promising new Dutch writer. He broke through, nationally and internationally, with his debut novel ''The Discomfort of Evening'', whose English translation received positive reviews and won the

in 2020. A second book of poetry followed in 2019 and a second novel, ''Mijn lieve gunsteling'', in 2020. Rijneveld served on the editorial team of ''de Revisor'', a Dutch literary periodical, in 2016. In 2021, Rijneveld was selected by American poet

Amanda Gorman Amanda S. C. Gorman (born March 7, 1998) is an American poet and Civil rights activist, activist. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, Race and ethnicity in the United States, race, and Social exclusion, marginalization, as well a ...

to translate her work into Dutch. Rijneveld initially accepted the commission, but later withdrew after Dutch journalist and cultural activist Janice Deul criticised the publisher for commissioning a white translator for the work of a black poet.

Works

Poetry collections

* ''Kalfsvlies'', 2015 (English: ''Calf's caul,'' excerpts from which were translated into English by Sarah Timmer Harvey and shortlisted for

Asymptote In analytic geometry, an asymptote () of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as one or both of the ''x'' or ''y'' coordinates tends to infinity. In projective geometry and related contexts, ...

magazine's "Close Approximations" translation contest in 2017). * ''Fantoommerrie'', 2019 (English: ''Phantom Mare'') * ''Komijnsplitsers'', 2022 (English: ''Hairsplitters, quibblers'' (literally: ''cumin splitters''))

Novels

* ''De avond is ongemak'', 2018, published in English as ''

'', translated by Michele Hutchison (

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

) . * ''Mijn lieve gunsteling'', 2020 (Atlas Contact)

Essays

* ''Het warmtefort'', 2022 ( CPNB Book Week) (English: ''The warmth fortress'')

Awards

* ''Kalfsvlies'', awarded the C. Buddingh’ Prize for best Dutch-language poetry debut in 2015. * ''De avond is ongemak,'' awarded the ANV Debutantenprijs, the prize for best debut novel in Dutch, in 2019. * Co-winner, with translator Michele Hutchison, of the 2020

for ''The Discomfort of Evening''. * ''Mijn lieve gunsteling'', awarded the ''Boon'', fiction and non-fiction category, 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rijneveld, Marieke Lucas 1991 births Living people 21st-century Dutch novelists 21st-century Dutch poets Non-binary writers People from Altena, North Brabant International Booker Prize winners