Nyk de Vries

Nyk de Vries Dutch (Frisian) writer, poet and musician, born in 1971 in the village of Noardburgum in Friesland and now based in Amsterdam. He began his career as the singer of the band The Amp before turning to writing. His prose is published in both Frisian and Dutch. His novel Renger was described by critics as “David Lynch on the Frisian plains”, and earned him the Piter Jelles Prize. He is best known for his distinctive “prose poems” – short, strange and melancholic miniatures about seemingly insignificant things. From 2019 to 2021, he held the title of Dichter fan Fryslân (Poet Laureate of Friesland), during which time he also wrote about inequality and the COVID-19 pandemic. He appears at the festival as part of the European platform Versopolis.