Moroccan Poets Nisrine Mbarki, Mustafa Stitou Nominated for Prestigious Herman de Koninckprijs

FEBRUARY 21, 2023 — Nisrine Mbarki and Mustafa Stitou have made the six-book shortlist of the prestigious Herman de Koninckprijs, a literary prize for the best poetry collection written in Dutch or Flemish.

This year, four of the six shortlistees are of African descent.

“I think it is the first time a poet from the Moroccan diaspora is being nominated for this prize,” Mbarki said over email, “and this year there are two of us, which is very special.”

ArabLit Quarterly contributor Nisrine Mbarki is nominated for her debut collection, oeverloos, while Stitou has been shortlisted for his fifth collection, Waar is het lam?

Mustafa Stitou was born in Tetouan, Morocco, in 1974, and grew up in Lelystad in the Netherlands.A collection of his poems was translated by David Colmer and published by Deep Vellum as two half faces.

Nisrine Mbarki is a writer, poet, columnist, and literary translator. Michele Hutchison has translated a selection of the poems in oeverloos, and “Flood” is set to appear in the RAIN issue of ArabLit Quarterly.