André Degen 

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BIOGRAPHY

André Degen, born one fine day in Leek in 1963, spent his youth in Friesland and made his debut at the age of eleven with a story in the 'Lyrische Courant', what was then the youth section of newspaper the 'Leeuwarder Courant'. He studied French in Groningen, after which he landed a job in the ad copy writer’s trade. At the age of twenty-three he had a brief correspondence with Gerard Reve for a while and actually met him a couple of times, which resulted in a rather unflattering poem for Reve, entitled 'Afrekening' (Settle the Score), which was published in the Flemish-Dutch literary magazine 'Appel'. He also published in 'Weirdo's', 'Schrijver & Caravan' and in anthologies by Uitgeverij De Vleermuis. He is a great admirer of Gerrit Achterberg.

On 5th April 2001 he was awarded the Apollo Poetry Prize 2001 for his poem 'Hulshorsterzand', a prize consisting of a thousand guilders (some 450 euros). His poem had been selected from no less than 265 entries. Degen had adopted the pseudonym Jules Hertzinger for this competition.

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