Kaya Erdinç (b. Maastricht, 1994) is a poet, visual artist and gardener. He lives in Houthem St. Gerlach, between Valkenburg and Maastricht, where his life gravitates around his immediate surroundings. For the festival he has written an essay about a suspension bridge linking the Wilhelminatoren in Vaals with the mountain of Ida in Turkey.
Sholeh Rezazadeh (b. 1989) came to live in the Netherlands from Iran in 2015. Her first-ever novel in 2021 (De hemel is altijd paars) was highly acclaimed and won two literary awards in 2021 and has sold over 35,000 copies. Her second novel (Ik ken een berg die op me wacht) came out this year and has been nominated for European Union Prize for Literature. Sholeh also writes poetry and is a literary performer.
Photo: Frank Ruiter
As well as writing poetry, Jürgen Nendza (b. 1957) is a writer of radio plays and commentaries, editor, and a teacher of literature and philosophy. He has published nine poetry collections, the most recent being Picknick (2017) and Auffliegendes Gras (2022), some of which have been translated from their original German into English, Dutch and Macedonian. In 2018, French composer Patrick Otto set Jürgen Nendza’s cycle of poems Apfel und Amsel to music for soprano, mixed choir, chamber orchestra and wind quintet. Jürgen Nendza’s poems have won several awards, including the Christian Wagner Prize.
Christoph Wenzel (b. 1979) is an editor and freelance author and also works at RWTH Aachen University. His poetry has been widely published in anthologies and magazines. Along with Daniel Ketteler, he has been involved in literary publishing since 2005 and he was awarded the Rolf Dieter Brinkmann Scholarship in 2013.
Anett Frontzek (b. 1965) explores urban, architectural, geological and sociological structures in her work, primarily with the aid of drawings, paper cuttings and installations. Her work is characterised chiefly by site-specific studies and artistic transformation and since 1993, she has been awarded many prizes and grants.
Anett Frontzek’s works are represented in public collections, including the Federal Rpublic of Germany’s Collection of Contemporary Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MoMA New York and the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Art in San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museums, and she has exhibited widely in Germany and abroad.
Photo: R. Baege
Mahnaz Heygharnejadi (b. Iran, 1960) will be performing a song about the Iranian mountains from her youth at DMFF’s mountain literature brunch.
Aged just 16, Mahnaz worked as a kindergarten teacher in Iran, before moving to Rotterdam, where she followed a teacher training course and now teaches. She has a great passion for singing and has performed widely in the Netherlands. For example, she will be performing in Alphabets of Flesh at the PLT theatre in Heerlen on 19 December.
Together with Merlijn Huntjens, Max Hermens (b. Boxmeer, 1991) is curator of the DMFF’s literary programme. He is a writer and teacher of creative writing and his work has been published extensively in literary journals. His debut novel, Het verdwijnen van Ferdi Heijen, published this year has already been nominated for a literary award in the Netherlands. At the DMFF, Max is primarily know for his literary contribution to our trail guide StauSeeSteig – Een oefening in verdwijnen. Max grew up in a small village in Limburg.
Photo: Dirk-Jan van Dijk
Merlijn Huntjens (Heerlen, 1991) is curator of the DMFF’s literary programme along with Max Hermens. Merlijn writes poetry. In 2016, 2017 and 2018 he took part in the finals of the Netherlands Poetry Slam. In his work, Merlijn portrays ordinary people leading seemingly ordinary lives. Without his characters ever realising however, they are part of a secret world which is special, magical and above all eternal.
Merlijn’s work has appeared widely online and in August 2022, he published his collection, De zee zwaait terug. Merlijn founded PANDA, VIA ZUID and De Nieuwe Oost | Wintertuin.
Photo: Gaby Jongenelen