It is nice to have a wall full of books. Being signallers of great intellectual virtue, bookshelves are enjoying their moment in the sun, choicely lit in the background of a thousand Zoom interviews on TV. The sight of my shelves gives me limited pleasure, as I am reproached by the spines of so many books I have never actually, you know, read. It’s cheating, that’s what it is. You should only be allowed to display books you have finished, or at least got more than halfway through. Watching some opining clever dick on a news channel, with hundreds upon hundreds of weighty tomes displayed behind them, I find it impossible to concentrate on anything this intellectual fraud is saying.… Lês fierder

Once upon a time Frisian and English were kin languages.
They were spoken along the coasts of the North Sea. Roman historians used to call the latter the Frisian Sea at the time.
In the last five centuries, however, the Frisian language has been under siege by other languages, especially French and Dutch. The influence of those two languages is plain to see.

Lês fierder by Jaap Slager… Lês fierder

tt iennichste dat net sa hiele goed giet yn Fryslân is de skriuwerij fan Fryske skriuwers. Dat sei de literatueradviseur snein foar de radio. Se moatte op les!

No wol ik net eigenwiis oerkomme mar ik ha bêst wol in pear skriuwers meimakke en doe is my net echt opfallen dat se net skriuwe kinne. Fansels leit de iene jo better as de oare mar om no te sizzen dat se net skriuwe kinne?

Lês fierder by Daam de Vries… Lês fierder

Ik hie mei in oar ûnderwerp komme wollen, mar dat wurdt him net. As der Frysk nijs ynkomt, dan kin en wol ik dêr net omhinne. En dat Fryske nijs is der. De fjirde taalatlas is ferskynd en dêr steane nijsgjirrige dingen yn. De taalatlas fan 2019/2020, dy’t no krekt beskikber kommen is, dat is de fjirde op rige. Om de fjouwer jier wurdt sa’n taalatlas gearstald en útjûn. Wy ha it dus oer de jierren: 2007, 2011, 2015 en 2019/2020. Wat der ek mei it Frysk bart, de folgjende taalatlas komt grif yn 2023 út. Wy ha no dus fjouwer taalatlassen, rapporten dy’t oer it generaal aardich posityf binne.… Lês fierder

De grûnfêster

It wie ynmoed,
doe’t er feech nei feech
mei wisse kontoeren
syn grûnspoaren
yn de ferve striek.

It wie kriich,
doe’t er laach nei laach
beploege ierdetoanen
as oergroede
op it doek oanbrocht.

Lês fierder by Wobbe Atsma… Lês fierder

We meie no ek net mear sjonge.” seit se mei in tryst gesicht. “Wat bedoele jo?” freegje ik. Ik moat er noch efkes ynkomme, de moarn is noch ier.

We sitte yn de grutte seal kofje te drinken, op paste wize in eintsje fan elkoar ôf. En omdat it grutste part hurdhearrich is falt de kommunikaasje op grutte ôfstân net mei. “Wat sizze jo?” is dan ek net fan de loft.

Lês fierder by Tiden hawwe tiden… Lês fierder

4 September 1970: Auden discusses his new commonplace book, A Certain World, and the relation between politics and art

WH Auden believes A Certain World is the nearest to an autobiography that he will ever write. It has just been published in New York and is due out here in spring. “Biographies of writers are always superfluous and usually in bad taste.

Lês fierder by The Guardian… Lês fierder