Double Dutch magazine (regular) nr. 4 is out!

Jul 1

Whoot! Double Dutch magazine issue nr. 4 has officially gone live! Our July 2026 volume is one more utter page turner and filled with, for example,

a DUTCH TREAT

which consists entirely of the brilliant Dutch EP ‘Giswerk’ by Martijn van Dijk! (with translations/re-writes in English by Benne van der Velde),

POETRY like

The First Poem of the New Year Has a Sore Throat, by Charles Seth Venable

Cowtown Elegy, by June Chua

Modern Text, by Elizabeth Dick Howell

A Father’s Lament, by David M Stern

Day of Small Things, by Jason O’Toole

Bouncy House, by Edward Johnson

A Bit Of A Prick, by Mark Wyatt

Polyembolokoilamania, by Tammy Smith

Harm Reduction, by Kaycee Painter

Two Glasses of Wine, by Aaron D. Wiegert,

(VISUAL) ART by

Two poetry book covers, by Frans de Winter

Standing Up in Power, by Gordon Massman

David Hockney, by Nicole Montagne

Untitled, by an old French love interest

Eurekia Think Twice, by Erwin Adema

The Snake Is A River, by Emily Kocken

A, by Nathaniel Horowitz

Earth Bound, by Mahmoud Ahmed Abdelgader Elmardi

Skylight and Lamp, by Christopher Woods

and MUSIC from

I know, you're not mine (Jag vet, du är inte min), by Team Jacub

Streets of Minneapolis, by Bruce Springsteen

I’m not racist, by Joyner Lucas

Erika (auf der Heide), by Herms Niel

Run for your life, by The Beatles

Smack My Bitch Up, by The Prodigy

Rumble, by Link Wray.

Hi Ren, by Ren

Is This Country Song Racist?, by Key & Peele

Dancing In The Street, by David Bowie and Mick Jagger

Please enjoy :) We sure did putting it together. Thanks so, so much to our contributors! Click here for our equally impressive previous issues? The submission window for our July 2026 issue is still open! Cheers.

Back

Benne van der Velde

After thoroughly enjoying the Dutch slam poetry scene in the early and mid 2000s (with wins in 7 cities and eventually a place in the Nationals of 2012) and performances at the Lowlands-, Uitmarkt- and Parade festivals a/o, Benne successfully made the transition from the stage to paper by signing his first publishing deal in 2005. Since then 4 publishing houses (kleine Uil, Douane, Nadorst and Stanza) released volumes of his poetry. For a 5th (Passage) he co-edited an anthology of satirical/pamphlet poetry with fellow poets Daniel Dee and Alexis de Roode.

As a member of the artist movement ‘Het Ongeboren Idee’ he helped to organize (and was part of/presented) cultural lo-fi festivals, exhibitions, making a movie, monthly poetry stages in his hometown of Vlaardingen (Poezie in De Steeg), Rotterdam (De Poetsclub) and Nijmegen (Late Letteren Live) + a talent show for bands.

In 2002 and 2003 he studied ‘writing for performance’ at the vocational university of the Arts in the city of Utrecht (HKU) and as a result saw 3 of his theater plays make it to a stage. Writer Hiekelien van den Herik and he co-wrote a knight spectacle play complete with real choreographed sword fights, men in heavy plate armor and more great stuff like that. Theater-/enactment group Ridderspoor performed said play in 2004 and 2005 at Het Archeon, during De Kasteeldagen and at an Elfia-fantasy fair. He also gave numerous poetry and rap workshops at schools and other institutions. There were a lot of collabs too, for example voice-over work for a Rock Opera, a monumental art project for which he partnered up with the artist Erwin Adema and thrice alongside the R.J.S.O (The Rotterdam Youth Symphony Orchestra).

Benne has been an editor for several literary magazines (Krakatau, Renaissance and Op Ruwe Planken), at one time he and his wife owned a secondhand bookstore, he’s been the official poet laureate for his hometown of Vlaardingen and released his first and only Dutch rap-EP in 2011. In 2012 he rapped his way into the finals of Art Rocks. An EP with songs in English followed in 2021. A year later he started translating Dutch musical and lyrical classics from Dutch into English, and vice versa. Some of his short sci-fi and fantasy stories have found their way to medium related websites, magazines and anthology’s.

According to the poet himself rewriting his own poetry, lyrics and prose in English somehow feels like the next logical step in his career, a way to open up to the world at large. Which is both exhilarating and terrifying. So far several of these translations have been published in Bebarbar, Hare’s paw, Festivalforpoetry, Punt Volat, The Dewdrop, The Dillydoun Review and Months to Years a/o.

In everyday (some claim real) life he worked as an industrial tank cleaner, in pest control, on a garbage truck, driving a forklift, in a chemical waste facility, on a Ferry and 10 years as a bartender in a cannabis bar. At the time of writing this resume he can be found at home or in the hospital battling throat cancer. He’s been off the Herb since 2008, has a wife, 2 dogs, mild anxiety issues and likes to read every sci-fi and fantasy classic he can find.

www.linkedin.com/in/benne-van-der-velde-8b17a7296

The poet/lyricist and author Rob Chrispijn: ‘Benne writes sentences that stick; clean, dark and intense. This way a poem lasts!’

The poet Philip Hoorne on the website Poetry rapport: ‘There’s a genius hiding in Benne van der Velde, those are the Good Tidings of today. Amen.’

https://www.doubledutchmagazine.com