Virgula

Synopsis

Virgula is an award-winning collection by acclaimed Dutch poet Sasja Janssen, and her second collection to be published in English. Taking as its title the latin word for ’comma’, the poems in Virgula reveal the stories hidden in the spaces in-between: the unending and the unresolved; memories that refuse to be contained. In Janssen’s poetry, the comma becomes much more than a punctuation mark, and is invoked as a muse and companion; she calls on her in every poem, as if she were a goddess, a friend or lover, someone who offers space when the emptiness becomes too heavy.

In Janssen’s poetry, painful stories often unfold, events that never came to pass, but which leave traces and scars. Virgula strikes a balance between mystery and razor-sharp intent, through constant shifts and contrasts in perspective. The comma stops the stillness, and allows thoughts and language to move forward.

Virgula was awarded the Awater Poetry Prize and was nominated for the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize and the Herman de Coninck Prize and De Grote Poëzieprijs (Grand Poetry Prize) for best poetry collection of the year.