GIVEAWAY!! Win tickets to Recital and Signing at The Poetry Cafe

On Wednesday 20th October Dutch novelist, columnist and poet Arnold Jansen op de Haar will make his first official appearance in the UK at The Poetry Cafe, in London. On this very special occasion the author of King of Tuzla will be reading from his anthology Yugoslav Requiem, a beautifully constructed dedication to the Bosnian Conflict.

Arnold was born in The Netherlands, in 1962.  He served as a Captain in the Dutch army, and was commanding officer of the unit that secured Tuzla Airbase in Bosnia for incoming UN aid in 1994, one year before the overthrow of the enclave Srebrenica in the former Yugoslavia.

After surviving this war he began writing full time and in 1999 his debut novel De koning van Tuzla was published by De Arbeiderspers. He followed this in 2002 with his poetry collection Soldatenlaarzen published by JM Meulenhoff. Arnold has published other works in Dutch and has been a successful columnist for many years. He is now turning his attention toward the English market, working with Holland Park Press and the acclaimed translator Paul Vincent. His anthology Soldatenlaarzen, now renamed Joegoslavisch requiem, was translated into English with the title Yugoslav Requiem, and his debut novel De koning van Tuzla is also available in English as King of Tuzla. The sequel to King of Tuzla, Angel, is soon to be published.

The event will begin at 7:30pm and forms part of Poets of Today - Poetry in translation, a series of readings organised by Sebastian Hayes of Brimstone Press Ltd. During the event Arnold will explain how the collection came about and discussing the tranlsation process for his works. He will also be signing copies of his books for his fans.

Thanks to Holland Park Press, I have two pairs of tickets to give away to two lucky winners. For a chance to win you simply need to leave me a 'pick me' comment below telling me why you would like to attend this event. Entries must be received by 10pm on Tuesday 19th October 2010 and winners will be announced on Tuesday 19th October.

For more information regarding the event and the venue, and to reserve additional tickets click here and to read my review of King of Tuzla click here 


Good luck peeps!