Sasja Janssen

Sasja Janssen (b. 1968) is a poet and a teacher of creative writing based in Amsterdam. Her first publications were two novels but since her father's death she has mainly written poetry. Her poetry has been very well received, her most recent collction Virgula (2021) was nominated for five Dutch prizes and awarded the prestigious Awater Poetry Prize.

Putting On My Species (2014) has been translated into English (Shearsman, 2020). English and Spanish translations of Virgula will appear this year. Janssen has performed nationally and internationally, including at festivals in Nicaragua, Medellín, Mexico and Buenos Aires.

The poet and critic Piet Gerbrandy wrote of her work, 'The poet tries desperately to grasp something of the insane world we find ourselves in and in which we have to simply make do, with totally inadequate means.' The poet herself says that the philosophical question "How should we live?" forms the central theme of her work.