Nachoem M. Wijnberg - Biography

Nachoem M. Wijnberg, Ph.D., is a Dutch Economist, Poet and Novelist. He was born in 1961 in Amsterdam. Nachoem M. Wijnberg studied Law and Economics at the University of Amsterdam where he graduated in 1982 and 1984. Nachoem M. Wijnberg received his Ph.D at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 1990, his dissertation title was Innovation, competition and small enterprises. He continued to work at the Rotterdam School of Management as an associate professor until he was appointed Professor of Industrial Economics and Organization at Groningen University in 2001.

Since 2005 he has worked at the University of Amsterdam. His primary research program at Amsterdam Business School is Strategy and Marketing while his research interests lie in cultural industries, strategic management and entrepreneurship & innovation. Wijnberg has been a professor of poetry at the European Graduate School since 2011, teaching alongside Judith Balso. Wijnberg is a truly unique scholar who is both an accomplished poet and novelist while being an innovative and world renowned business scholar.

Wijnberg has many international scholarly ties including being a Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at the Cass School of Business from 1999 to 2003. Wijnberg was also a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Innovation at Hitotshibashi University in 2003.

To compare the world of Nachoem M. Wijnberg's academic work as a business scholar and his poetic and literary works can be a complex process. Nachoem has acknowledged the difficulty in finding time to write as a busy teacher and researcher, yet this quote can help shine some more significant light on the relationship between scientific work and poetry,

A poem must say something that is true, in the same way as a scientific article makes true assertions. And, similarly, these assertions must not be trivial, they should appeal to the emotions of the reader. I expect people to get agitated about matters such as employment, banks and poverty, just like I do.

Nachoem M. Wijnberg's poetic debut De simulatie van de schepping (The Simulation of Creation, 1989) was nominated for the Buddingh’ Prize, the most important prize for Dutch-language debut collections. Nachoem's success as a poet has been recognized with several awards including, in 2009, for his collection Het leven van (The Life of), the VSB Poetry Prize, an incredible honor reserved for Dutch-language poets. In 2008 Nachoem received the Ida Gerhardt award for poetry. He has also received the Jan Campert Prize.

Nachoem M. Wijnberg is regarded as one of the most important and influential poets of the Dutch language. He is an incredible inspiration to younger poets across the world. Wijnberg has received critical acclaim from the Dutch press. Rob Schouten of the Dutch Weekly publication VRIJ Nederland writes, "You will not readily take his work as belonging to anyone else in the Netherlands or anyone else from his generation." Piet Gerbrandy of the Dutch daily De Volkskrant writes, "What Wijnberg writes does genuinely hurt. For that reason he is a great poet." Erik Lindner of the Dutch weekly publication, De Groene Amsterdammer writes, "Wijnberg is such a unique author that you always recognize his voice in extremely diverse collections. And that is the characteristic feature of a significant poet."

Nachoem M. Wijnberg's poetry is praised for it's clarity and simplicity. Literary critics debate the meaning of Wijnberg's evocative poetry. Attempts to pin down a definitive meaning lead critics in multiple directions, some disregard the search itself claiming that directness seen from the surface is the beauty in itself. One can look to Nachoem's Jewish origins for meaning. Some see references to the tragedies of World War 2 in his texts. Some praise Nachoem Wijnberg as a classical poet. Other's use a post-modern lens to see the critique that may lie within his words, questioning boundaries and rules of language, ambiguity and objectivity.

The poetry collection Liedjes by Nachoem M. Wijnberg includes a website that explores the lyrical nature of the poetry. The project is a collection of poems that embrace melody and rhythm. The poetry moves with large and slow words to speak of morning and evening, sunrise and sunset, pain and solace. Nachoem says that the starting point for this collectivity was that he wanted to, "write something that was a bit closer to music, partly because I thought that would make it easier to work with more explicit, major emotions and with powerful small words...without appearing ironic or exaggeratedly pathetic." Peter Gielssen and Niels van't Hoff made a documentary about Liedjes (Songs). In the film Nachoem M. Wijnberg reads 25 of the 88 poems.

Nachoem M. Wijnberg has worked as a reviewer for the following publications: British Journal of Management, Organization Studies, Journal of Cultural Economics, Organization Science, Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Management Studies, De Economist, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Journal of Institutional Economics, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Group and Organization Management.

Wijnberg's work Geschenken has been awarded the Herman Gorterprijs in 1997. His work Vogels was awarded the Paul Snoek Prijs in 2004. Nachoem M. Wijnberg's book Eerst dit dan dat was awarded the Jan Campertprijs in 2005. Nachoem M. Wijnberg's publication Liedjes was awarded the Ida Gerhardtprijs in 2008 and his work Het leven van was given the VSBPoezieprijs in 2009. His work, Divan van Ghalib was awarded the Gedichtendagprijs in 2010.

Nachoem M. Wijnberg's poetry publications include: De Simulatie van de Schepping (Holland, 1989), De Voorstelling in de Nachtclub (Holland, 1990), De Expeditie naar Cathay (De Bezige Bij, 1991), Langzaam en Zacht (De Bezige Bij, 1993), Is het dan goed (De Bezige Bij, 1994), Geschenken (De Bezige Bij, 1996), Alvast (De Bezige Bij, 1998), Vogels (Contact, 2001), Uit7 (Contact, 2003), Eerst dit dan dat (Contact, 2004), Liedjes (Contact, 2006), Uit Tien (Contact (2007), Het leven van (Contact, 2008) and Divan van Ghalib (Contact, 2009).

Nachoem Wijnberg's published novels include: Landschapsseks (De Bezige Bij, 1997), De Joden (De Bezige Bij, 1999), Politiek en Liefde (Contact, 2002), De Opvolging (Contact, 2005) – all of these were republished as ebooks in 2008.