Dr Alfred Schaffer, a senior lecturer in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch at Stellenbosch University (SU), has been awarded the prestigious Van Ewijk Foundation Achievement Award for his contribution to promoting cultural relations between South Africa and the Netherlands. The prize, valued at R100 000, recognises individuals whose work has had a sustained and meaningful impact on cultural exchange between the two countries.

For Schaffer, who is widely regarded as one of the most prominent contemporary Dutch poets, the award represents an opportunity for reflection. “For me it feels like a moment to look back – something I don’t usually do,” he said. “I think back to how I ended up here, in 1996, to people I got to know, people who supported me and guided me. I think about people I fell in love with, people I lost.”

Schaffer has lived in South Africa for more than two decades, with a period spent in Amsterdam in between. Born in the Netherlands to an Aruban mother and a Dutch father, he studied Dutch language and literature as well as film and theatre sciences in Leiden before moving to Cape Town in the mid-1990s to continue his postgraduate studies at the University of Cape Town, where he later completed his doctorate. After working in publishing in the Netherlands, he returned permanently to South Africa in 2011 and joined SU, where he teaches Afrikaans and Dutch literature. He is also a guest lecturer in Dutch at the University of the Western Cape.

His academic career runs in parallel with an internationally acclaimed literary oeuvre. In 2021, Schaffer became the youngest recipient of the PC Hooft Prize, generally regarded as the highest honour for a Dutch writer, awarded for his entire body of work. He has also received several other major Dutch literary awards, and his poetry has been translated into multiple languages, including Afrikaans. At the same time, he has translated the work of leading Afrikaans poets such as Antjie Krog, Ronelda Kamfer and Marlene van Niekerk into Dutch, helping to introduce South African poetry to readers in the Netherlands and Belgium.

In recent years, Schaffer has also played a key role in facilitating literary exchange through public events and collaborations, inviting Dutch and Flemish writers to South Africa and supporting the translation of their work into Afrikaans. Writers such as Leonard Nolens, Stefan Hertmans, Tommy Wieringa and Saskia de Coster have participated in local festivals and conversations, often reaching new audiences as a result.

Asked what winning the Van Ewijk Foundation prize means to him, Schaffer said the honour is still sinking in. “Time went by quickly, but I never really had a big plan, or dreams, or a strategy. I just fell into it and was incredibly lucky,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like I made a big contribution to anything at all – you just do your thing and hopefully, if you’re lucky, it’s something you enjoy doing. You can’t really ask for more.”

The award also acknowledges Schaffer’s engagement with the wider Dutch-speaking world, including the Caribbean and Suriname. He describes this broader linguistic and cultural landscape as crucial to understanding the Netherlands today, while also pointing to persistent misunderstandings and inequalities rooted in colonial history. “There is great cultural richness when it comes to the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba, and the country of Suriname,” he said, noting that many people from these regions now live in the Netherlands.

At the same time, he emphasised the uneven realities that are often absent in discourse. “Many Dutch people who live there live a good life, while the local population often struggles – my own Aruban mother grew up in enormous poverty, and there is still such poverty many decades later,” he said, referring to the enduring struggles of many communities in the Caribbean. 

He also highlighted the importance of mother-tongue education, particularly in languages such as Papiamento, and described lingering colonial ties as “completely anachronistic”, even as similar dynamics appear to be re-emerging elsewhere in the world.

Despite the prestige of the Van Ewijk Foundation prize, Schaffer is cautious about framing it as a turning point. “I’ve never been consciously looking for doors that I can open next,” he said. “At the moment I’m not sure if and how the prize will be meaningful in that respect. Hopefully, in whatever way, I can continue with what I’m doing now.”

As for the prize money, he said it was too early to say how it might be used. “I don’t have any plans yet, the news is still very fresh. Ik moet er nog van bijkomen!” (“I must still come to terms with it!”)