Recently, the Amarte Fund awarded the Amarte Literature Prize 2026 to Jolanda Kooijmans for her novel Addertje. In addition to a cash prize of €15,000 to support her further literary development, Kooijmans received a unique trophy custom-designed for this edition by visual artist Mickey Yang. Editor and writer Steffie Van Neste also wrote a literary essay about the winning book specifically for the prize.To write this essay, Steffie was selected by Amarte in collaboration with de lage landen, the prestigious cultural magazine that provides context and interpretation for literature, art, language, and history from Flanders and the Netherlands. She was chosen as one of the promising young literary critics who have previously participated in the writing residency at deBuren, the leading Flemish-Dutch house for culture and debate, which is committed to developing Dutch and Flemish writing talent. She will receive feedback on her writing from de lage landen, where the essay is available both online and in print.Steffie studied language and literature and earned her doctorate in 19th-century French literature from Ghent University in 2022. She teaches French and cannot stop talking about books: she serves as an editor at De Reactor, leads a reading group at Bibliotheek De Krook, and regularly writes and speaks about literature. In 2017, she was selected for the Paris writing residency at deBuren, and in 2018 for Eenzame Avonturen, a talent development program for literary non-fiction by De Gids and deBuren. With Therapy with Bovary (Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, 2025), she made her debut as an author.Curious about the essay? You can read it now on the de lage landen website via the link below:https://www.de-lage-landen.com/article/amarteliteratuurprijs2026/