Willem Maurits Roggeman (born Brussels, 9 July 1935) is a Belgian poet, novelist and art critic.
Brussels-born Willem Roggeman attended the Etterbeek Royal Atheneum and then studied economics at Ghent University. His journalistic career began in 1959 when he became cultural editor of Het Laatste Nieuws, where he published articles on literature, visual arts and jazz. Between 1981 to 1993 he was deputy director and acting director of the Flemish Cultural Centre De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam, where he organized exhibitions of important Flemish artists and literary evenings with Flemish and Dutch authors. From 1982 to 1989, and again from 2006, he served as president of the Louis Paul Boon Society. He has also worked on the editorial boards of the literary magazines Diagram (1963-1964), Kentering (1966-1976), De Vlaamse Gids (1970-1992), Atlantis (2001-2002) and Boelvaar Poef (since 2006). In 1988 he was awarded the Order of Leopold II for his cultural work.
Roggeman received his first poetry award when he was 21 and a number of others have followed. His poetry up to 1985 was collected in Memoires and a further comprehensive selection appeared in De tijd hapert in de spiegel (2000). His poetry has been widely translated and he is a regular guest at international poetry festivals. He has also published two novels as well as several collections of articles on artists and highly regarded interviews with writers.
Le Reve du robot, 1976, Bruxelles, tr. Jeanne Buytaert, illustration by Serge Vandercam, [French]
Le travail du poete 1979, Bruxelles, tr. Jeanne Buytaert, illustration by Jacky Duyck [French]
Die Arbeit des Dichters, 1982 Basel, tr. Heinz Schneeweiss [German]
The Revolution Begins in Bruges, 1983 Windsor, Ontario, tr. Dorothy Howard, Hendrika Ruger, [English]
A Vanishing Emptiness, selected poems, London 1989, ed. Yann Lovelock, illustrations by Pol Mara [English]
Cruth an Daonnai, de vorm van een mens, Dublin 1990, selected poems by Willem M. Roggeman, translated into Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock [Irish]
L' invenzione della tenerezza, Faenza 1995, tr. Giovanni Nadiani [Italian]
Die Erfindung der Zartlichkeit, Munster 1996, tr. Hienz Schneeweiss [German]
L’invention de la tendresse, Marseille 1997, tr. Evelyne Wilwerth, illustration by Mireille Ayakaluka [French]
L’utilite de la poesie, B-4540 Amay 2003, tr. Evelyne Wilwerth
L' utile della poesia, Faenza 2004, tr. Giovanni Nadiani [Italian]
Les metamorphoses du poete, B-4540 Amay 2006, tr. Elisabeth Gerlache [French]
Blue Notebook : Poesie in jazz, Faenza, 2007, tr. Giovanni Nadiani [Italian]
A Splendid View on Words, 2010 Demer Press, Belgium, ed. Roy Eales [English], ill. Marc Mendelson
Hotel Melancolie B-4540 Amay 2010, poetry and theatre [French]
Poems and Portraits, 2012 tr. Dmitri Silvestrov, Moscow [Russian]
1963: Dirk Martens Prize of the city of Aalst for the poetry collection
Baudelaire verliefd.
1974: The Louis Paul Boon Prize
1975: Prize of the city of Brussels for
Sneeuwblindheid.
1997: Premio Internazionale di Poesia Riccardo Marchi Torre for the poetry collection
L'Invenzione della tenerezza
2007: Premio Tratti for the Italian translation of
Blue Notebook
2010: Zeist (NL) Literature Prize for his poem
Lichaamstaal
2012: Dilbeek Culture Prize, in conjunction with the publication of
Hier wonen de wolken
