Simone Atangana Bekono (1991) is a writer of prose and poetry. She has written columns and essays for various newspapers and magazines and is an editor at the literary magazine De Revisor. In 2016, she graduated from Creative Writing ArtEZ with a collection of poems and letters titled hoe de eerste vonken zichtbaar waren (how the first sparks became visible), which was reissued by Wintertuin Publishers in collaboration with Lebowski Publishers. In 2018, hoe de eerste vonken zichtbaar waren was awarded the Poëziedebuutprijs Aan Zee (Poetry Debut Prize By the Sea). In 2019, she received the Charlotte Köhler Grant for her poetry. The collection has been translated into English, French, Spanish, and Turkish, among other languages.

In 2020, her debut novel Confrontaties (Confrontations) was published, receiving high praise and winning the Hebban Debut Prize, the Anton Wachter Prize, and the Best Book for Young Adults award. The novel was shortlisted for both the 2021 Libris Literature Prize and the Bronze Owl. In March 2022, it was announced that Confrontations would be published in the UK by Serpent’s Tail in January 2024. The Bookseller reported on the deal, which was arranged by Lisette Verhagen of Peters Fraser + Dunlop. A deal was also made with Bloomsbury USA. The German translation was released in January 2023 by Beck Verlag (via PF+D).

In 2022, Simone wrote the Brabants Boek Present in collaboration with Literary Production House Tilt. The novella Zo hoog de zon stond (As High as the Sun Stood) was released in a limited edition, available only through bookstores in Brabant. A public edition was published in December by De Arbeiderspers and received critical acclaim. Zo hoog de zon stond made the longlist for the 2023 Libris Literature Prize. That same year, she also worked with Tilt and publisher Chaos on a triptych of short stories with Daphne Huisden and Yael van der Wouden, titled Vlucht/Dans/Vondst (Flight/Dance/Discovery), which stemmed from a residency at the Red Cross Building in Tilburg.

Her long-awaited second poetry collection, Marshmallow, was recently published by De Arbeiderspers. In Marshmallow, we meet a dog, a woman, and a bedroom in “a very normal apartment.” Everything is called into question in this collection, in which the poetry continually interrogates, contradicts, and undermines itself. Using a variety of registers, Atangana Bekono brings together grotesque images, eroticism, everyday life, and violence in the clashing memories of two voices that must once have sounded sweet together—resulting in toxic, humorous, and poignant poetry.