On 5 June 2026, Rozalie Hirs’s tenth poetry collection vragen naar het begin (2026) will be published by Uitgeverij Querido|Singeluitgeverijen, Amsterdam.

contents

-> read

-> tethys
-> spelling
-> how not what

-> events

-> flyer

-> notes

 

poems

tethys

if presence is a mix-up
between being and longing –
then we are the mix-up
that repeats itself
until it reaches self-recognition

a stone glides –
into an ocean
without echo or catch –
in the mirror of another
bearing all the dreams of the world –

plankton enfolds it –
slowly building limestone –
chalk-covered tongue
in the language of time
still living between our ribs

 

(English translation: Michele Hutchison)

 

spelling

if the origin was wrong –
neither tragic nor sublime – just wrong –
an overlooked typo –

if our entire existence is therefore based
on this misspelled start –
how do you appear?

if the centre of an old peony
contains a genetic error – how do you vanish
into the DNA that doesn’t die but remains?

how often does a beginning shape itself
into the path that breathes
precisely because it deviates!

what name should you give
to whatever hides within a mistake
actually making everything possible?

then I shall write the book
that forgets itself
so that you may read it

 

(English translation: Michele Hutchison)

 

how not what

the structure of simple signs
mirrors the world
which the poem touches –
the name in the poem
is a gateway to another order –

it is no coincidence that the idea takes place there
and we can speak of things –
to contain them – that is another matter –
a poem shows how –
not what – things are

 

(English translation: Michele Hutchison)

 

events

*
Sunday 7 June 2026 – 15:00 CET
vragen naar het begin
book launch, interview, reading, signing
with Julius Roelants (bookseller); Piet Gerbrandy (interview);
Tsead Bruinja, Annelie David, Vicky Francken, Piet Gerbrandy, Joep Stapel, Rozalie Hirs (poetry, readings)
Bookshop Roelants
Van Broeckhuysenstraat 34, Nijmegen, Gelderland

*
Wednesday 10 June 2026 – 17:00 CET
vragen naar het begin
book launch, reading, signing, reception
with Thijs Joores (editor);
Joost Baars, Simone Atangana Bekono, Hannah van Binsbergen, Edwin Fagel, Yasmin Namavar, Rozalie Hirs (poetry, readings)
Athenaeum Bookshop
Spui 14, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland
RSVP

*
Friday 12 June 2026 – 11:00 CET
vragen naar het begin
book launch, reading, signing, coffee and cake
with Ike Bekking (bookseller), Geert Buelens (interview), Rozalie Hirs (poetry, readings)
Bilthoven Bookshop
Vinkenlaan 2, Bilthoven, Utrecht

*
Saturday 13 June 2026 – 18:30 CET
vragen naar het begin
book launch, reading, signing
with G.W. Sok / Jos Kleij (host), Rutger Zuydervelt (live electronics), Rozalie Hirs (poetry, readings)
Bookshop Praamstra
Zondvloed Festival, Deventer, Overijssel

*
***THE FOLLOWING EVENT HAD TO BE CANCELED DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS/HEAT WAVE***
Sunday 28 June 2026 – 15:00 CET
vragen naar het begin
boekpresentatie, voordracht, signeren
book launch, reading, signing
with Lies Van Gasse, Arno Van Vlierberghe, Tom Van de Voorde, Sandrine Verstraete, Rozalie Hirs (poetry, readings)
Bookshop Paard van Troje
Ghent, Belgium
***THE EVENT HAD TO BE CANCELED DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS/HEAT WAVE***

 

flyer

Poetry / €22.99 / June 2026
Paperback / 17 × 24 cm / 120 pages / ISBN 9789025321673 / Cover design: Michaël Snitker

notes

Poems in this collection were written on commission and/or for Doorgeef Gedicht, Lira News (no. 70, #6), 2024; Ode to Guido Gezelle, International Poetry Festival, Roeselare, Belgium, 2024; Amsterdam 3hoog achter, a monograph by visual artist Jet Nijkamp accompanying her exhibition at WG Kunst, Amsterdam, 2025; Bombing of Poems, Poetry International, Rotterdam, 2025; Dichter van de week, Zondag Katern, De Volkskrant, Amsterdam, 7 June 2025; the architectural journal Forum, vol. LVIII, no. 10, Architectura et Amicitia, Amsterdam, 2025; De ondergang (eds. Johan Sonnenschein, Jacob Groot), Gorter Organisation, 2026. Poems from this collection have also appeared in Poëziekrant 2025/6 (Poëziecentrum, Ghent, Belgium, 2025) and DW B 2026/1 (Brussels, Belgium, 2026). For more information, see Rozalie Hirs’s bibliography.

With thanks to the Wolkerstuin for a writing residency in the summer of 2025. With special thanks to Literaturhaus Wien for the Friederike Mayröcker Stipend and the associated residency in the winter of 2025. Warm thanks to Thijs Joores, Jan Kuijper, and Johan Sonnenschein for their editorial contributions.

Integral book design: Michaël Snitker
Editorial support: Vincent Schmitz
Publishers: Patricia de Groot, Josje Kraamer