A black-and-whiteportrait of Marjolijn Heemstra smiling at the camera. Een zwart-witportret van Marjolijn Heemstra die lacht naar de camera.

Marjolijn van Heemstra (NLD)

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Marjolijn van Heemstra (NLD)

Marjolijn van Heemstra (1981, NLD) is a poet, writer and theatre maker with a cosmic perspective and both feet firmly in the mud. Within themes such as space, time and sustainability, van Heemstra elegantly shifts between different scales to make us look differently at ourselves, the world and the life forms that call it home. Van Heemstra is an ambassador of darkness in the most positive sense of the word. The fathomless emptiness of the universe fascinates her. She is also the founder of the Amsterdam Dark Festival, an ecologically motivated advocate for the preservation of darkness, and with Het Nachtverbond she organizes activities that increase love for the night.

Where you might know this poet from

  • Winner of the BNG Bank Literature Prize (2017) for En we noemen hem
  • Winner of the NPO Radio 1 Non-fiction Book of the Year (2021) for In lichtjaren heeft niemand haast
  • City Poet of Amsterdam (2019–2022)
A black-and-whiteportrait of Marjolijn Heemstra smiling at the camera. Een zwart-witportret van Marjolijn Heemstra die lacht naar de camera.
© Frank Ruiter

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