Erik Menkveld

Erik Jan Willem Menkveld (25 April 1959 – 30 March 2014) was a Dutch poet.

Erik Menkveld
Erik Menkveld in 2013
Born	Erik Jan Willem Menkveld (1959-04-25)25 April 1959 Eindhoven, Netherlands
Died	30 March 2014(2014-03-30) (aged 54) Amsterdam, Netherlands
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	Dutch

Early life

Erik Jan Willem Menkveld was born on 25 April 1959 on in Eindhoven, Netherlands. He was an only child^[1][2]

Career

Between 1987 and 1998 Menkveld worked at publishing company De Bezige Bij.^[1] In 1995, he published Achter het behang, a Dutch translation of the German work Der kleine Erziehungsberater by Axel Hacke.^[1] In the same year he also published Koebeest en vrouwdier.

Menkveld made his debut with poetry collection De karpersimulator (1997) which was published by De Bezige Bij.^[3] He won the C. Buddingh'-prijs for this debut but did not receive the award as Menkveld was working at Poetry International at the time, the organisation behind the award.^[4] Menkveld also won the Lucy B. and C.W. van der Hoogt Prize [nl] for De karpersimulator.^[5] In 1998 he was also nominated for the VSB Poetry Prize for this debut.^[4]

His second poetry collection Schapen nu! was published by De Bezige Bij in 2001 and his third poetry collection Prime time followed in 2005, this time published by Van Oorschot.^[3]

Recognition and awards

For Schapen nu! he was nominated for the Hugues C. Pernath-prijs as well as the J.C. Bloem-poëzieprijs.^[1]

In 2008, he was one of the nominees to become Dichter des Vaderlands, an unofficial title for the poet laureate of the Netherlands, along with Hagar Peeters, Joke van Leeuwen, and Ramsey Nasr.^[6]

Other awards include:

• 1998: C. Buddingh'-prijs, for De karpersimulator (won, but not awarded)^[4]
• 1999: Lucy B. en C.W. van der Hoogt-prijs, for De karpersimulator^[5]
• 2012: Academica Literatuurprijs, for his 2011 novel Het grote zwijgen^[6]

Personal life and death

Menkveld was married to Maria Vlaar.^{[citation needed]}

He died of cardiac arrest on 30 March 2014 in Amsterdam.^[1][6] He is buried at Zorgvlied.^[2]

Publications

• Briefwisseling met R.N. Roland en H. Roland Holst-Van der Schalk (1990)
• Koebeest en vrouwdier (1995)
• De karpersimulator (1997)
• Honderd jaar Nobelprijspoëzie (2000)
• Schapen nu! (2001)
• Prime time (2005)
• Met de meeste hoogachting (2006)
• Het grote zwijgen (2011)
• Verzamelde gedichten (2016)