Pig Data - Anne Vegter, Astrid Alben (trans.)

Winner of the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize

A ground-breaking work of contemporary Dutch poetry, following the acclaimed Island mountain glacier (2022), Anne Vegter’s 'Pig Data' exposes the raw nerves of power and desire.

The collection orchestrates a mythic and historical collision between three formidable figures – the South African poet Ingrid Jonker, the mythical witch Medea, and a provocative poetic ‘I’ (evoking the trope of the ‘scorned woman’) – to interrogate the male gaze and the transformative potential of female rage.

Vegter’s poems tease language to its limit, with a restless energy that is dynamic, vicious and vulgar, infused with humour and absurdist overtones, brought to life through Astrid Alben’s virtuosic translation.

'Pig Data' fearlessly rebuffs the comforts of traditional form, revelling in contradictions, moving between luminous vulnerability and a fractured, explosive urgency.

Prototype, 2026
English
Softcover, 164 pages
178mm x 112mm