Joz Knoop (30th December 1957, Rotterdam Overschie) developed the jozzonet (mirror verse) in 1990, which he elaborates on in the years following. The results of this research may be found in a trilogy, of which he completed the final part in the autumn of 1997. In 1993 he won the Gorinchem performance contest and in 1994 the Rotterdam Award. The poem 'For Sevim' is a first step in getting away from the jozzonet. This poem wins him the 1997 Dunya Poetry Prize. In 1998 his 3rd volume of jozzonets appeared under the title Limit Reaching Zero (Limiet nadert nul), in which a large, pungent flower – Amorphophallus Titanum – takes centre stage. Everything Turns (Alles draait) is the first product of Jozoon productions, his very own publishing house. In May 2000 he was also chosen as poet of the year by the audience of the Iamb Foundation (Stichting Jambe) in Delft.

Concerning the events preceding his birth: "I was born on 30th December 1957 at half past seven in the morning. In the days previous the doctor would drop by every day because of a flu epidemic, which had struck everyone but mother, who was heavily pregnant. This could well have spelt disaster for me. My mother related that the baker and two children in a street further up had died of this flu strain and was a major cause of death in the country overall. 'It was cold', my father said, 'no, it was humid, clammy', my mother corrected, 'how did you know when you never went out', my father retorted. 'So you do?', mother again. In short, I don't know."

Please browse www.google.com for more information about Joz Knoop.

Romance? - gedichten, met illustraties van Margaret van Polanen Petel, Uitgeverij RUPS, Rotterdam, 1992
Spiegels, Joz Knoop, jozzonetten en René van Meer, Motions, Between producties, Rotterdam, 1994

Vingerafdrukken, voordrachtsverzen, Innocenti, Utrecht, 1995

Alle hoeken van een cirkel, jozzonetten met tekeningen van Janny Veninga, Between producties, Rotterdam, 1997
Limiet nadert nul, jozzonetten en tekeningen, Between producties, Rotterdam, 1998
Alles draait, poëzie, Jozoon producties, Rotterdam, 2000 

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© translation Willem Groenewegen / Rottend Staal Online 2003. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.