“A deep, funky, well-written, and relevant non-fiction book”

Based on films, TV series, novels, comics, news and official reports from 1972, Buelens presents “what we already knew about living outside the world, what we learned from it, and above all, what we didn’t know.” Buelens, a professor at the University of Utrecht, has The check for the second edition of the Boon Prize at the Art Center Ghent VIERNULVIER by the Flemish Prime Minister Jan Gambon.

Buelens, who often dares to be polemical, has also previously written a much-praised cultural history of the Sixties (2018) and The Massive History of Literature From Estegina to the present (2001). Multi-award winning Buelens is also a talented poet. Tom Lanoye, De Boon’s favorite with his collaborative narration turntable He had to console himself with the audience award. Lanoye gradually becomes the champion of nominations for commercial literature awards such as Libris, which always seems to elude him. The other three candidates are the Flemish Tolin Erkan with the novel I eat honey and Dutch Nina Wiers (with essay collection Do it yourself) and Amy Koopman with signs of the universe. Buelens thus succeeds Marek Lukas Reinfeld on the honor roll, who won her first Boonprijs with My dear favourite.

detailed year

The panegyric reads “A recurring theme in the climate books we read is despondency”. “Gert Belens transcends this situation by writing a cultural history in which he connects the personal, the scientific, the political and social debate with literature and other art, and the climate awareness that was almost forgotten in 1972 to our time,” reports the jury chaired by Joke of Lions. “The result is a deep, unconventional non-fiction book that is very well written and relevant.”

Buelens himself sees 1972 as a pivotal year. This was the year that the Club of Rome, a private institution founded by European scientists in 1968, published the alarming report. growth limits Please attach your resume with the message Homo said about it What we already knew then: According to the Club of Rome report, eternal growth, as a result of optimism about progress, was like a fairy tale. If we do not change our behavior quickly, our waterways and oceans will become polluted and there will be a shortage of raw materials, and in the long run there will be very little food and water for an ever-growing world population.” He notes that they were not “long-haired hippies” but “natives.” Respectful.” In his book, Buelens investigates why that environmental warning later faded. The jury has already issued a candid statement on the climate issue, it seems.

More explicit participation in the jury’s selection of children’s and young adult literature, which made the topic of refugees prominent. The Literature Censors gave Bart Moyart the Best Cards winner in advance Mauricewhich he made with Sebastian van Donink. However, the Flemish duo had to be content with the €5,000 audience prize. The €50,000 jury prize (chaired by Sven Speijbroek) went to Dutch trio Edvard van de Vendel, Anos Elmann and Annette Schaap. their children’s book Mishka (published by Querido) It was praised as “a touching story, based on true events, about the love of a pet – the cute bunny Mischka – and a family’s escape from a war zone”. Also eye-catching: Querido’s publishers celebrate the Boon Award twice.

“Let Mischka be a beacon for all the refugees who are still looking for a home in the world,” Elman said on the stage of Fouruit. It is the sequel to lucky finderwhich Van de Vendel and Elman also wrote together in 2008. The other three nominees are Sanne Rooseboom and Sophie Pluim met Moths and metal huntersMarco art with cartridge And Marit Tornqvist with Turtle and I.