Queer Places:
Algemene Begraafplaats Hofwijk, Delftweg 230, 3046 ND Rotterdam, Netherlands

Anna Blaman (31 January 1905 – 13 July 1960) was a Dutch author of novels, stories and poems. Her pseudonym is short for "Ben Prefer To Be A MAN". [1] Before dedicating herself to her writing career, Blaman studied and taught French.

She established her name in 1941 with the novel Woman and Friend. A few years later, in November 1948, Lonely Adventureappeared , a compositionally layered novel that was described by Simon Vestdijk as a masterpiece, but caused great sing in the reformatory and Catholic press because of the (homo-) erotic passages. This uproar culminated in 1949 in the Book Tribunal, a sham trial in the Rotterdam stock exchange building where Blaman was sued by fellow literators on the grounds of literary defects. Albert Helman fulfilled the role of prosecutor. The writer failed to do so. Although she (in fact her novel) was eventually acquitted, Blaman felt damaged by the affair for quite some time. The commentary on the erotic aspect at Blaman has now been completely silenced. Opinions on literary content remain divided to some extent, although her work regains meaning. Recurring criticism that focuses on stylistic and compositional shortcomings is now considered too easy. On the other hand, she was widely praised. Thus she received the P.C. Hooft Prize 1956. Blaman was the first author to receive this award for her entire oeuvre. For her third major novel, On Life and Death,she was awarded the Prose Prize of the Municipality of Amsterdam in 1956. Blaman's oeuvre is of relatively modest size, also due to her early death. In recent years, her stories have been praised, but the reassessment for her novels is growing. Blaman's literature, which betrays influence of French existentialism, is, in addition to her idiosyncratic language, a psychological analysis of (erotic) relationships, which she believes are by definition inadequate. At the heart of her work lies in measuring human loneliness. Imbued with this, Blaman describes her characters with compassion, with intense intensity and profound understanding, although at the same time she has an eye for the tragicomic aspect of human struggle.

Blaman made himself deserving on many fronts. She was an employee of De Groene Amsterdammer and Het Vrije Volk,wrote texts for the cabaret of Wim Sonneveld, worked as a dramaturg and theatre teacher and was committed to the Rotterdam reconstruction. Although she is known as a courageous and groundbreaking lesbian- she did not champion a movement. Her merits first apply to her self-awareness and the overt experience of her homosexuality- making her an example to others, especially in the 1950s. The archive and library in leeuwarden, founded in 1983 in the field of homosexuality that bore the name Anna Blaman Huis (merged into IHLIA LGBT heritage in 1992 and dissolved due to budget cuts in 2013), emphasized this important facet of Blaman. She also founded the Rotterdam Circle of Authors and was involved in the creation of theatre de Lantaren.

The writer died on July 13, 1960 from the effects of a cerebral embolism. She was buried at Hofwijk in Rotterdam-Overschie. Her grave was quietly cleared in the 1990s, at a time when attention to her work and person was greatly reduced. The renewed attention for Blaman started during the celebration of her 100th year of birth in 2005. In November-December 2005, the Anna Blaman Festival took place in Rotterdam, which ended with De Nacht Van Blaman. During a biographer debate, the forthcoming biography of Blaman was discussed here.