SIMONE ATANGANA BEKONO

Poet and novelist living in Amsterdam. Her first poetry collection in 2016, How the First Sparks Became Visible, won several prizes and was widely translated, into English in 2020. She travels widely with her poetry and performances. Her poetry alternates between confrontation and tenderness, showing how the personal can be simultaneously poetic and political. She’s written two novels, Confrontaties (Confrontations, 2021) and Zo Hoog Stond de Zon (The Sun Was This High In The Sky, 2022). She was 2023 writer in residence at UCL Dutch Studies. 

FEATURED BOOK: Confrontations. Winner of several major Dutch prizes, tr. Suzanne Heukensfeldt Jansen, Serpent’s Tail, 2024.  Powerful depiction of racism and resilience, the story of Salomé, bullied for years, at the age of 16 she finally snaps. 

Image credits @SimoneLinWoldendorp