Ramsey Nasr

Ramsey Nasr was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 1974, into a Palestinian-Dutch family. In addition to being a prize-winning author of poetry, essays, dramas, librettos, newspaper articles and opinion pieces, he is a gifted film and theatre actor, having graduated in 1995 from the Antwerp drama school Studio Herman Teirlinck. This year he has returned to acting with a 12-part television drama series to be broadcast in 2011.

In 2009, Ramsey Nasr was voted Poet Laureate of the Netherlands, after having also been a very popular City Poet of Antwerp in 2005.His debut poetry collection, 27 gedichten & geen lied [27 Poems & No Song, nomination C. Buddingh Prize], 2000, was followed by Onhandig bloesemend [Blossoming Awkwardly, winner of the Hugues C. Pernath Prize], 2003, and Onze-lieve-vrouwe-zeppelin [Our Dear Lady of the Zeppelin], 2006. These were published together in 2009 as tussen lelie en waterstofbom: The Early Years (thousand lilies and hydrogen bomb).

In 2006 Ramsey Nasr was awarded the honorary prize ‘Journalist for Peace’ by the Humanistisch Vredesberaad (Humanistic Peace Council) and an honorary doctorate from the University of Antwerp. That year he also published Van de vijand en de muzikant (Of the enemy and the musician), a collection of his articles on art and politics, including his literary tours to Palestine and the Dutch Antilles.

An inveterate traveller, Ramsey Nasr records his travels in diaries. After a trip to Tanzania with 35 medical students came Homo safaricus (2009) and a documentary series Wildcard: Tanzania. His journey to Myanmar/Burma with medical students on a humanitarian mission has resulted in a new 5-part television documentary entitled Wildcard: Myanmar, and the publication of his latest book In de gouden buik van Boeddha (In Buddha’s golden belly). Ramsey Nasr is a regular performer of his works in the Netherlands and many other countries, including Georgia, Turkey, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Palestine, the United Kingdom and the Dutch Antilles, all of these travels contributing enormously to the scope of his works and his outlook on national identity.

More information on his works and activities can be found on his website www.ramseynasr.nl.