Peter Terrin (born 3 October 1968) is a Belgian novelist, and a winner of the European Union Prize for Literature. He is the author of several novels and two collections of short stories.

Biography

Terrin's first novel, ''Kras'' ("Scratch") was published in 2001, and his 2003 novel ''Blanco'' ("Blank"), described as a "

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...

-like reality breakdown" and translated into Swedish in 2006 was his breakthrough. ''

Knack Knack or The Knack may refer to: Music and entertainment * The Knack, an American pop-rock band famous for their hit "My Sharona" * The Knack (1960s US band), an American garage rock band active in the 1960s * The Knack (UK band), a British freak ...

'', a Belgian weekly that Terrin blogged for, described ''Blanco'' as the best Dutch-language novel about the father-son relationship since

Ferdinand Bordewijk Ferdinand Bordewijk (10 October 1884 – 28 April 1965) was a Dutch author. His style, which is terse and symbolic, is considered to belong to New Objectivity and magic realism. He was awarded the P. C. Hooft Award in 1953 and the Constantijn ...

's ''Karakter''. His third novel, ''Vrouwen en kinderen eerst'' ("Women and Children First") was published in 2004. Terrin's 2009 novel ''De bewaker'' (translated into English in 2012, "The Guard"), called a "coldly beautiful, dystopian allegory" by

Eileen Battersby Eileen Battersby ( Whiston; 4 June 1956 – 23 December 2018) was the chief literary critic of '' The Irish Times''. She sometimes divided opinion, having been described by John Banville as "the finest fiction critic we have", while attracti ...

in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', won the European Union Prize for Literature in 2010, and his novel ''Post mortem'' won the 2012 AKO Literatuurprijs. Terrin cites

Willem Frederik Hermans Willem Frederik Hermans (1 September 1921 – 27 April 1995) was a Dutch author of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, as well as book-length studies, essays, and literary criticism. His most famous works are ''The House of Refuge'' (novella, ...

as an important influence for his minimalist style, and critics have recognized the influence of

J. Bernlef Hendrik Jan Marsman (14 January 1937 – 29 October 2012), better known by his pen name, J. Bernlef, was a Dutch writer, poet, novelist and translator, much of whose work centres on mental perception of reality and its expression. He won numerous ...

in his prose.

Published books

Novels

*''Kras'' ("Scratch"), 2001 *''Blanco'' ("Blank"), 2003 (trans. into Swedish) *''Vrouwen en kinderen eerst'' ("Women and Children First"), 2004 *''De bewaker'' ("The Guard"), 2009 (trans. into English, Italian, French, German, Slovenian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian, Czech, Bulgarian, Croatian, Catalan) *''Post mortem'', 2012 *''Monte Carlo'', 2014 *''Yucca'', 2016 *''Patricia'', 2018 *''Al het blauw'', 2021

Short stories

*''De code'' ("The Code"), 1998 *''De bijeneters'' ("The Bee Eaters"), 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terrin, Peter Living people 1968 births 21st-century Belgian novelists Belgian male novelists Belgian male short story writers Belgian short story writers 21st-century short story writers 21st-century Belgian male writers