Erik Menkveld Biography

Erik Menkveld ( Eindhoven , April 25, 1959 - Amsterdam , March 30, 2014) was closer, romancer and critic.
Erik Menkveld was born in Eindhoven but continued his lower secondary school in Tanzania and Ghana. On returning to the Netherlands, the family moved to Driebergen-Rijsenburg . In the neighboring Doorn he visited the Revius lyceum. He then studied Dutch at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. After his studies, he worked as editor of the Bezige Bij publishing house, where he managed (among others 1987-1998) the poetry fund. From 1998 to 2002 he was an organizer and program maker at Poetry International in Rotterdam. After that he was mainly active as an independent writer. From 2000 to 2007 he was editor of the literary magazine Tirade. In 2003 and in 2012 he was a member of the PC Hooft Prize, and in 2003 also from the VSB Poetry Prize. Since 2009 he was active as a poetry reader for the Volkskrant . Erik Menkveld died of a cardiac arrest, he was married to literary journalist Maria Vlaar and had three children. He was buried at Zorgvlied (cemetery) in Amsterdam.