Dutch poet and philosopher Lieke Marsman died June 3. She was 35. DutchNews reported that Marsman was diagnosed with cartilage cancer in 2018, and in 2025 reflected on her illness in Op een andere planeet kunnen ze me redden, a collection of diary entries and philosophical analyses about illness, death and alien life. An English translation is expected in September.
Marsman was the Dutch national poet from 2021 to 2023. Her poetry debut, Wat ik mijzelf graag voorhoudt (2010), was widely praised, DutchNews noted. Her novel Het tegenovergestelde van de mens (2017) combined poetry, prose and essays around climate change, and was labelled by the NRC as "one of the best books of the 21st century." That same year she published the poetry compilation Man met hoed.
She was awarded the prestigious Constantijn Huygens literary prize for her oeuvre. Her last work, De dichter en de duivel, about a storage room that is the gateway to an underground world peopled by "influencers, politicians, opinion makers, and columnists--and the devil," was published yesterday, June 9, DutchNews noted.
In 2019, Liverpool Press published The Following Scan Will Last Five Minutes, translated into English by Sophie Collins, the Bookseller reported, adding that in 2023, Daunt Originals published her novel Het tegenovergestelde van een mens, also translated by Collins, as The Opposite of a Person.
Lisette Verhagen, her agent, said: "Lieke was one of the most original and brilliant Dutch writers of her generation, and it was such a privilege to work with her. She was a remarkable thinker: endlessly curious, fearless in her ideas and just a joy to work with.
"Lieke had greatly hoped to see the English translation of On Another Planet They Can Save Me published in the U.S. and the U.K., and although she remained involved until the very last moment, it is heartbreaking that she will not be here to celebrate its publication. It meant so much to her to reach English-language readers, and she felt deeply honored to be translated by the brilliant Sophie Collins. She leaves behind an extraordinary body of work and a legacy that will continue to inspire readers for many years to come. She will be deeply missed."
Marigold Atkey, her publisher at Daunt Originals, commented: "We are all devastated at this news. Words--in Lieke's hands, so powerful, so playful, so elastic--prove clunky, inadequate. We are so proud to be her English-language home and count ourselves so lucky to have worked with her. She was a singular, blazing talent, but she was also just so fun, always such a delight. I was never in any doubt that here was a truly serious intellect; yet she and her translator Sophie wrote lines that shone with vivacity."