KU Leuven presents Koen Peeters as the fifth writer in residence

For the fifth year in a row, KU Leuven cultivates the love for literature by appointing a writer in residence. Next academic year, this opportunity goes to author Koen Peeters. As writer in residence at the university, he will teach a ‘creative writing’ course, host guest lectures, write texts for special occasions, and reflect on writing as an embodied, physical activity. In the spring of 2025, there will be an exhibition in which he shows his research, sources and methods, incorporating irony and aesthetics at the same time, in combination with a live writer’s room in BAC ART LAB.

Koen Peeters studied communication sciences and anthropology at KU Leuven. In 1988, he made his literary debut with the novel Conversaties met K. (Conversations with K.), for which he received the New Yang Award. This debut was followed by twelve other novels, novellas, a collection of poems, and various nominations and awards. He received the F. Borderwijk Award for his novel De bloemen (The Flowers), the E. du Perron Award for Duizend heuvels (A Thousand Hills), and the ECI Literature Award and the ECI Readers’ Award for De mensengenezer (The People Healer). His work has been translated to German, Italian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Slovenian. Peeters enjoys collaborating often with fellow writers or modern artists, which results in distinct publications (e.g. about Stijn Streuvels, Jef Geys, as curator for the DW B literary journal, ...). 

‘With Koen Peeters, we opt for a writer whose literary work originates on the crossroads between great and small histories. His love for knowledge shows in the different topics - art, anthropology, astronomy, ...- that he incorporates in his novels,’ says Liesbet Heyvaert, Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Peeters's most recent novel, Georges, for instance, is about fictional encounters, with the name ‘Georges’ as the common thread between these encounters. Peeters takes you to Ostend, where a post office worker meets the writer James Joyce; to the municipal park in Leuven, where young Paula strikes up a conversation with the Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître; all the way to Georgia.

The versatile curiosity in Koen’s work is a good match with our university, and we can’t think of a better guest writer for the upcoming KU Leuven anniversary year.

^{Liesbet Heyvaert, Dean of the Faculty of Arts}

‘With the appointment of Koen Peeters as a writer in residence, KU Leuven clearly continues to focus on the link between art and science,’ adds Bart Raymaekers, Adviser to the Rector for Culture, Art and Heritage. ‘With art and literature, our university is a place where all types of knowledge come together. Koen Peeter’s original voice and writing bring a unique sound.’ 

Creative writing

Koen Peeters follows in the footsteps of previous writers in residence Maud Vanhauwaert, Bart Moeyaert, Annelies Verbeke and Saskia De Coster. In the following academic year, he will teach the ‘creative writing’ course at the Faculty of Arts. The course is part of various master’s programmes at the faculty, but is also open to other students. Based on a cover letter, twenty students are selected. These students will work on various topics with the author during one semester.

 Especially in the 600 years KU Leuven anniversary year, I’m fascinated by the living and historical universe of lecture halls, lab rooms, desks and libraries in Leuven. What kind of room does a writer need? What does the Wunderkammer of a writer look like?

^{Koen Peeters}

Peeters will search for answers to these questions in the following academic year and will finish his project in April 2025. You will then be able to see the author working live in his own Wunderkammer in BAC ART LAB, KU Leuven’s workspace for contemporary art.

More information about the writer in residence project