Jan Lauwereyns (1969) has been active on the poetic front for a relatively short time, yet already he has made quite a name for himself. This is due in large part to the rather unusual combination of his poetry and his professional occupation. Lauwereyns works as a neurobiologist at the University of Wellington in New Zealand. In 1999 his first collection of poetry, Nagelaten sonnetten (Posthumous sonnets), was received as the 'best and most interesting debut in recent years' in the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. Traces of Lauwereyns' scientific work can be found in his poems. One could even read them as lyrical essays. Take, for instance, the cycle 'Biology of the poetic soul' in his second collection Blanke verzen (Blank Verse, 2001) in which he tries to uncover the anatomy of the poetic soul. Lauwereyns' analytical approach of poetic subjects produces a remarkable effect: funny, incisive and unsettling all at once. It is a poetry of crackling brain cells. The subsequent collection Buigzaamheden (Flexibilities, 2002) was awarded the prestigious Hugues C. Pernath-prize and established him as one of the most important young poets in the Dutch language. His first novel, Monkey business (2003) has attracted a lot of media attention.
Jan Lauwereyns (1969) has been active on the poetic front for a relatively short time, yet already he has made quite a name for himself. This is due in large part to the rather unusual combination of his poetry and his professional occupation. Lauwereyns works as a neurobiologist at the University of Wellington in New Zealand. In 1999 his first collection of poetry, Nagelaten sonnetten (Posthumous sonnets), was received as the 'best and most interesting debut in recent years' in the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. Traces of Lauwereyns' scientific work can be found in his poems. One could even read them as lyrical essays. Take, for instance, the cycle 'Biology of the poetic soul' in his second collection Blanke verzen (Blank Verse, 2001) in which he tries to uncover the anatomy of the poetic soul. Lauwereyns' analytical approach of poetic subjects produces a remarkable effect: funny, incisive and unsettling all at once. It is a poetry of crackling brain cells. The subsequent collection Buigzaamheden (Flexibilities, 2002) was awarded the prestigious Hugues C. Pernath-prize and established him as one of the most important young poets in the Dutch language. His first novel, Monkey business (2003) has attracted a lot of media attention.