Willem Roggeman

Willem Maurits Roggeman (born 9 July 1935) is a Belgian poet, novelist and art critic.

Career Brussels-born Willem Roggeman attended the Etterbeek Royal Atheneum and then studied economics at Ghent University. His journalistic career began in 1959 when he became cultural editor of Het Laatste Nieuws, where he published articles on literature, visual arts and jazz. Between 1981 and 1993 he was deputy director and acting director of the Flemish Cultural Centre De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam, where he organized exhibitions of important Flemish artists and literary evenings with Flemish and Dutch authors. From 1982 to 1989, and again from 2006, he served as president of the Louis Paul Boon Society. He has also worked on the editorial boards of the literary magazines Diagram (1963–1964), Kentering (1966–1976), De Vlaamse Gids (1970–1992), Atlantis (2001–2002) and Boelvaar Poef (since 2006). In 1988 he was awarded the Order of Leopold II for his cultural work.

Roggeman received his first poetry award when he was 21 and a number of others have followed. His poetry up to 1985 was collected in Memoires and a further comprehensive selection appeared in De tijd hapert in de spiegel (2000). His poetry has been widely translated and he is a regular guest at international poetry festivals. He has also published two novels as well as several collections of articles on artists and highly regarded interviews with writers.