Michaël Vandebril

Michaël Vandebril has quietly built a small but distinctive body of poetry, including the award-winning collection Het vertrek van Maeterlinck, as well as New Romantics and Op de weg van Appia. With Naar Constantinopel, he has created a new journey through words and images together with illustrator Bart Pluym. Alongside his work as a writer, Vandebril is a curator (Kunstenfestival Watou) and a literary entrepreneur, behind projects including Dichter van België, Partij voor de Poëzie and Poëziebordeel.

Naar Constantinopel follows two souls travelling along the ancient Via Egnatia, a road that once formed the lifeline of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. Their journey leads to the enigmatic city of Istanbul. From the rugged mountain passes of Albania, past hidden churches and the slender minarets of North Macedonia, through the sun-drenched landscapes of Greece and Türkiye, reality and imagination gradually blur into one another. In this poetic road trip, impressions, encounters and insights unfold with the rhythm of the road. With every line, the reader moves closer to a destination that is at once timeless and elusive.