Alara Adilow's debut awarded with poetry prize
Alara Adilow won the Herman De Coninck Prize for 'Mythen en stoplichten'! Along with Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and Mustafa Stitou, among others, she performed on Friday 21 April 2023 in the Winternachten 2023 closing programme 'De grondstof van het gedicht'.
In De grondstof van het gedicht, Alara Adilow read from Mythen en stoplichten (Myths and traffic lights) and also performed new work. Also performing in the Winternachten 2023 closing programme were Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and Mustafa Stitou, among others. With his new collection Waar is het lam, Stitou was also one of six nominees for the Herman De Coninck award.
Alara Adilow (born 1988) is a Dutch poet of Somali descent. She wrote one of the most striking debuts of recent years with her poetry collection Mythen en stoplichten (Myths and Traffic Lights, 2022). 'A fearless debut' said the jury that awarded her collection of poetry about her own transformation from man to woman with the Herman de Coninck Prize, the most important Flemish award for Dutch-language poetry. 'If the body doesn't fit the language, you adapt the language. I see that simple and effective reversal in Mythen en stoplichten,' Obe Alkema wrote in Dutch national newspaper NRC.
Adilow previously published poetry in De Gids, Het Liegend Konijn, De Revisor and Tirade, among others. She was part of the NOORDWOORD Poetry Talent Programme, is a guest writer at nY and is working on her first novel Naald van de zon (Needle of the Sun).
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