HH ter Balkt

Han Lammers and HH ter Balkt (1974)

Herman Hendrik "Harry" ter Balkt (born September 17, 1938 in Usselo , Enschede , Overijssel province ; † March 9, 2015 in Nijmegen , Gelderland province ) was a Dutch teacher and poet who wrote his first anthologies under the pseudonym Habakuk II de Balker published and among other things, in 1998 the Constantijn Huygens prize and in 2003 with the PC Hooft prize was awarded.

Life

Verse by HH ter Balkt on Gebroeders Van Limburgplein in Nijmegen (part 1)

Verse by HH ter Balkt on Gebroeders Van Limburgplein in Nijmegen (part 2)

Ter Balkt, who worked as a teacher after completing his studies, published his debut work Boerengedichten ofwel Met de boerenbijl in 1969. In the period that followed, numerous other volumes of poetry appeared under the pseudonym Habakuk II de Balker , which were often awarded literary prizes such as the 1973 Herman- Gorter Prize for De gloeilampen, de varkens (1972). His first work Boerengedichten was awarded the Kabouter-Van het Oosten Prize in 1975 together with the volume Uier van het Oosten published in 1970 , while in 1980 he received the Henriette Roland Holst Prize for Waar de burchten stonden en de snoek zwom (1979) .

After he gave up his activity as a teacher in 1983, he lived as a full-time writer and was honored with the Jan Campert Prize for Aardes deuren (1987) in 1988, while he was awarded for In de kalkbranderij van het absolute (1990), Laaglandse hymnen (1991) and Ode aan de grote kiezelwal was awarded the Charlotte Köhler Prize in 1993. In 1993, the volume of poetry edited by Gregor Laschen , Einejacket aus Sand: Poetry from the Netherlands , was published in German in German with adaptations by Adolf Endler and pictures by Anna Schwerdtfeger-Laschen.

In later years ter Balkt received several awards for his oeuvre, namely the Karel de Grote Prize in 1997, the Constantijn Huygens Prize in 1998 and the PC Hooft Prize in 2003 . In 2005, he announced in a newspaper interview that he had bipolar disorder . In 2014, his adopted city of Nijmegen , where his poems can be read on buildings, awarded him the honor coin (Erepenning) .

Publications

• Boerengedichten ofwel Met de boerenbijl , 1969
• Uier van het Oosten , 1970
• De gloeilampen, De varkens , 1972
• Groenboek , 1973
• Zwijg , Roman, 1973
• Icons , 1974
• Oud gereedschap mensheid moe , 1975
• De viegen dragen de zomer , 1976
• Helgeel landjuweel , 1977
• Joseph Beuys , 1978
• Waar de burchten stonden en de snoek zwom , 1979
• Hemellichten , 1983
• How to Start a Wine Cellar , 1984
• Nieuw give away , 1984
• Aardes deuren , 1987
• Het strand van Amsterdam , 1990
• In de kalkbranderij van het absolute , 1990
• Ode aan de Grote Kiezelwal en other poems , 1992
• Het Overijssels landschap , 1992
• Laaglandse hymns , 1993
• Tegen de bijlen , 1998
• In de waterwingebieden , 2000
• Laaglandse Hymnen II , 2002
• Laaglandse Hymns I-III , 2003
• Vuur , 2008
• Vfluguigmagneet , 2011

In German language:

• A jacket made of sand: Poetry from the Netherlands , Gregor Laschen (editor), adaptations by Adolf Endler and pictures by Anna Schwerdtfeger-Laschen, 1993, ISBN 3-89429-290-3

Web links

Commons : HH ter Balkt  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about HH ter Balkt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Profile on the website of the Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (DBNL)
• Bibliography in the Open Library
• Nijmeegse dense HH ter Balkt (76) overleden . In: De Gelderlander, March 9, 2015