Winner of the 2020 Great Poetry Award (€25.000)

‘I would love to write about something other than death, and I was doing so, but then my partner fell ill and passed away. Now that he has passed, more than ever, there is no other subject to write about. In Annuities I write about the love that lasted until – and even after – death did us part. The physical intimacy, increasingly overshadowed by care and ultimately by grief. The phase of life which so many of us, including myself, have envisioned ourselves entering into much later in life.’ – Vrouwkje Tuinman

Annuities is a direct logbook of the first year after this loss. Tuinman writes about grief presenting itself in new forms over and over again. About what remains after someone passes away. And about the attempts to cherish the memory of a late loved one while trying to keep living yourself. By writing poetry as vulnerable as its subjects, Tuinman keeps the memory of her partner alive.