Ellen Deckwitz wins Italian Poetry Prize Premio Ciampi

Poet, columnist and theatre maker Ellen Deckwitz (1982) first made her name, when she was crowned Dutch Slam Poetry Champion 2009. In 2011, she published her debut, De steen vreest mij (The Stone Fears Me), a surreal and darkly humorous look at family relationships and childhood fears, that won her the C. Buddingh’ prize. She also published a bestselling handbook for emerging poets, a series of essays about poetry, published as Olijven moet je leren lezen (You Must Learn to Read Olives, 2016), De blanke gave (The White Gift, 2015) and Game of Poems, a collection inspired by the HBO series written together with fellow poets Ingmar Heytze and Thomas Möhlmann.

The poems in the outstanding collection Hogere Natuurkunde (Higher Physics) focus on Deckwitz’s grand-mother, who survived a Japanese internment camp in Indonesia during World War II, and the enduring influence of this experience on her family. The poet’s grandmother constantly reminded her that life was full of danger, and the importance of being prepared: ‘Keep yourself clean, little one / do not boast / about extra food, consume it in silence / above the latrine.’ In Hogere natuurkunde, history materialises in one long, galloping poem, a form that suggests momentum, as though the past is nipping at the poet’s heels. At pace, Deckwitz deftly reveals how stories, silences, and habits pass through generations and perpetuate themselves.

Ellen Deckwitz's crowning achievement coincides with La Scoperta dell'Olanda (The Discovery of Holland) a new initiative of the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Embassy and Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Italy to bring established and emerging voices of Dutch literature in Italy. From September 2024 to September 2025 fiction, non-fiction, poetry and graphic novels will be at the centre of a tour of presentations, workshops, artistic residencies, panels and more throughout Italy. 

The Premio Ciampi has been awarded annualy since 2010. The prize is named after Italian singer-songwriter and poet Piero Ciampi (1934-1980). The Premio Ciampi is divided into a domestic and foreign section. Deckwitz wins the foreign prize with Hogere natuurkunde, and this year's Italian winner is Vincenzo Frungillo. The prize will be awarded at a grand two-day event, on November 20th and 21st at the Goldoni Theatre in Livorno.