Confrontations

Simone Atangana Bekono studied Creative Writing at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem. In 2017 her poetry collection How the First Sparks Became Visible came out and was awarded the Poëziedebuutprijs Aan Zee for best first collection in 2018. The collection was published in the UK by Emma Press in January 2021. The major Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant listed her as one of the 3 literary talents twice, for the year 2020 and 2021. Confrontations is her first novel.Suzanne Heukensfeldt Jansen's wide-ranging translation career began with comic strips for Marvel Comics whilst at college. Over the past decade or so, her focus has been on literary fiction and non-fiction. Her most recent translation is Colonial Congo - A History in Questions, a major survey of the Belgian colonial past.

Confrontations unpicks the stitches of a young life prematurely defined by violence. Crime, punishment, privilege and racism are explored with the unsentimental, stark precision of a poet's pen. Simone Atangana Bekono is one to watch.