Rodaan Al Galidi

VSB Prize Jury’s report about ‘Koelkastlicht’ (Fridge Light’), Rodaan Al Galidi (published by Jurgen Maas, 2016)

It is cold in these poems. Rodaan Al Galidi’s collection ‘Koelkastlicht’ is the quiet cry of despair of a human being who, against his better judgement, bravely tries to do the most difficult thing of all: to live. There rises a solitary voice, trying to smile beyond the grimace of loneliness and wanting to keep alive a belief in peaceful coexistence with one’s self. And then there is humanity, which really needs to be rescued and which never stops bothering the human being. We may well believe that we can laugh about these verses and the poet will not gainsay us. But these delicate poems have frozen the most naked feelings in language as clear and sharp as icicles. ‘Koelkastlicht’ is brave in its subject matter and honesty.

Bibliography

Poetry
De herfst van Zorro, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2006
De laatste slaaf, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2008
Digitale hemelvaart, J.M. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 2009
De Autist en de postduif, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2009
De maat van de eenzaahmeid, De Bezige Bij, Antwerp, 2012
Liever niet', antwoordt de liefde, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2013
Bloesemtocht, De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, 2014
Koelkastlicht, Jurgen Maas, Amsterdam, 2016
Neem de titel serieus, Jurgen Maas, Amsterdam, 2018 

Prose
Dorstige Rivier, Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 2008
Hoe ik talent voor het leven kreeg, Vrije Uitgevers, 2016
Duizend-en-een nachtmerries, Jurgen Maas, Amsterdam, 2017
Holland, Vrije Uitgevers, Amersfoort, 2020