Bio

Jens Meijen (1996) holds Master Degrees in Western Literature, Cognitive Literary Studies, and European Studies. He works as a PhD Researcher in Political Science at the University of Leuven (Belgium). His research mainly focuses on populism and nationalism and was awarded the Wilfried Martens Prize in 2020. In 2019, he published his début poetry collection, Xenomorf, at the Dutch publishing house De Bezige bij, and his book won the C. Buddingh-prize for best Dutch poetry début in 2020. His first novel, De Lichtjaren (2021), is a poetic exploration of mankind’s future, a search for what it means to be at home somewhere, and an inquiry into the human ability for empathy. Aside from his research and writing, he works as a journalist and literary critic for various Belgian publications.

Project

I mainly plan to work on my new poetry collection, Sunset Industries, and my new novel, De Waarnemers (roughly translatable as The Apprehenders). I primarily hope to have discussions with the other participants and integrate those undoubtedly inspiring conversations in my new work.