Jannah Loontjens
Jannah Loontjens (b. 1974) is a Dutch writer and philosopher. She was born in Denmark and grew up in Sweden and the Netherlands. Loontjens studied literature in Amsterdam and while studying philosophy in New York she was taught by Jacques Derrida.
Today Jannah Loontjens teaches literary theory and creative writing at ArtEZ and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. She writes about poetry, philosophy and Scandinavian literature for De Groene Amsterdammer and de Volkskrant.
Loontjens debuted in 2002 with a book of poetry, Varianten van nu. It was followed by two other poetry collections Het ongelooflijke krimpen (2006) and Dat ben jij toch (2013). Her poems have been published in magazines such as Het Liegend Konijn and Parmentier, and anthologized in Komrij's Nederlandse poëzie van de 19de tot en met de 21ste eeuw in 2000 en enige gedichten (2004).
In 2007 Jannah Loontjens debuted as a novelist with Veel geluk, a story that is set in both Sweden and The Hague. Published in 2011, her novel Hoe laat eigenlijk was nominated for the Halewijn Literatuurprijs.
Loontjens' most recent work is the autobiographical novel Roaring Nineties (2016), in which she weighs our current age against the 1990s, a time of multicultural ideas and optimism. In her other work too Loontjens blends important philosophical issues with everyday practical questions. In a calm, accessible style she puts forward an idiosyncratic perspective on the world. In the autumn of 2016 she will release the Danish and Hungarian translations of her novel Misschien wel niet (2014).
Jannah Loontjens will be staying in the Passa Porta writer's flat for six weeks in the spring of 2017. Her residence will take place in the context of an annual exchange with the Nederlands Letterenfonds.
Discover more about the author and her work on her website.
Press reviews: - ‘With this thought-provoking novel, Loontjens demonstrates the power of literature.' - De Tijd on Misschien wel niet - 'In Mijn leven is mooier dan literatuur, Dutch philosopher Jannah Loontjens skips light-footedly around themes such as writer's fears, women's literature, pulp and the autobiographical lie.' - De Morgen