Lucas Rijneveld (formerly Marieke Lucas Rijneveld; born 20 April 1991 in

Nieuwendijk Nieuwendijk is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is a part of the municipality of Altena, and lies about 8 km south of Gorinchem. History The village was first mentioned in 1468 as Nyewendijck, and means "new dike". Nie ...

, the Netherlands) is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

writer. Rijneveld won the 2020

International Booker Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Boo ...

together with their translator Michele Hutchison for the

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

The Discomfort of Evening ''The Discomfort of Evening'' () is the debut novel by Dutch writer Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, published in 2018. On 26 August 2020, Rijneveld became the first Dutch writer to win the £50,000 International Booker Prize, shared jointly with the nov ...

''. Rijneveld is the first Dutch author to win the prize, the first non-binary person to do so and only the third Dutch author to be nominated.

Life

Rijneveld grew up in a

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

family on a farm in

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Rijneveld has said that his debut novel, translated into English as ''

'', is inspired partly by the death of his brother when the author was three. It took him six years to complete the novel. Rijneveld is said to have developed an interest in writing in primary school after reading

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

's ''

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and was Rowling's debut novel. It follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who disco ...

'', which he borrowed from the local library. Because in Reformed circles references to magic are considered taboo, Rijneveld copied out the whole book onto his computer so he could re-read it upon returning the novel. Rijneveld identifies as both male and female, and adopted the second first name Lucas at the age of nineteen, having been bullied in

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

because of his "boyish appearance and nature". His name as a child was only ''Marieke'', and he previously published under the name Marieke Lucas. At the start of January 2022, Rijneveld announced that he uses ''he/him'' personal pronouns in English, having previously used

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

pronouns, and ''zij/haar'' (she/her) in Dutch. Rijneveld said

Jan Wolkers Jan Hendrik Wolkers (26 October 1925 – 19 October 2007) was a Dutch author, sculptor and painter. Wolkers is considered by some to be one of the "Great Four" writers of post-World War II Dutch literature, alongside Willem Frederik Hermans, H ...

, who also grew up in a Reformed environment, is his idol. His interest in poetry was ignited while attending

speech therapy Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

sessions and looking at pictures with poetry on them while waiting for the therapy session. When Rijneveld started making progress in therapy, he was allowed to read those poems by the therapist. Rijneveld studied to become a Dutch teacher, but dropped out to focus on writing. He published the poetry collection ''Kalfsvlies'' in 2015, and that same year was named the most promising new Dutch writer. He broke through, nationally and internationally, with his debut novel ''The Discomfort of Evening'', whose English translation received positive reviews and won the

in 2020. A second book of poetry followed in 2019 and a second novel, ''Mijn lieve gunsteling'', in 2020. Rijneveld served on the editorial team of ''de Revisor'', a Dutch literary periodical, in 2016. In 2021, Rijneveld was selected by American poet

Amanda Gorman Amanda S. C. Gorman (born March 7, 1998) is an American poet, activist, and model. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman was the first person to be named National ...

to translate her work into Dutch. Rijneveld initially accepted the commission, but later withdrew after Dutch journalist and cultural activist Janice Deul criticised the publisher for commissioning a white translator for the work of a black poet.

Works

Poetry collections

* ''Kalfsvlies'', 2015 (English: ''Calf's caul,'' excerpts from which were translated into English by Sarah Timmer Harvey and shortlisted for

Asymptote In analytic geometry, an asymptote () of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as one or both of the ''x'' or ''y'' coordinates tends to infinity. In projective geometry and related contexts, ...

magazine's "Close Approximations" translation contest in 2017). * ''Fantoommerrie'', 2019 (English: ''Phantom Mare'') * ''Komijnsplitsers'', 2022 (English: ''Hairsplitters, quibblers'' (literally: ''cumin splitters''))

Novels

* ''De avond is ongemak'' (2018). ''

'', translated by Michele Hutchison (

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

) . * ''Mijn lieve gunsteling'' (2020). ''My Heavenly Favourite'', trans. Michele Hutchison (2024)

Essays

* ''Het warmtefort'', 2022 ( CPNB Book Week) (English: ''The warmth fortress'')

Awards

* ''Kalfsvlies'', awarded the C. Buddingh’ Prize for best Dutch-language poetry debut in 2015. * ''De avond is ongemak,'' awarded the ANV Debutantenprijs, the prize for best debut novel in Dutch, in 2019. * Co-winner, with translator Michele Hutchison, of the 2020

for ''The Discomfort of Evening''. * ''Mijn lieve gunsteling'', awarded the ''Boon'', fiction and non-fiction category, 2022 * ''My Heavenly Favourite,'' longlisted'',''

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

, 2025

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rijneveld, Lucas 1991 births Living people 21st-century Dutch novelists 21st-century Dutch poets 21st-century Dutch LGBTQ people Dutch non-binary people Dutch LGBTQ novelists Dutch LGBTQ poets Non-binary novelists Non-binary poets People from Altena, North Brabant