Maria Barnas

The question ''which language am I at home in?'' lies at the heart of Diamant zonder r. Is it in the one you speak best, or the one you would like to learn? Can you be at home between languages? Barnas started learning Polish in order to be able to approach her Polish grandmother more directly - beyond death. In Diamant zonder r, a connection with the past emerges along the line of mothers and the mothers of mothers are given a voice. The collection is an ode to a woman who came to the Netherlands with nothing and developed a completely individual view of the world, in which the boundaries between truth and fiction dissolve - an important source of inspiration for the poet that Barnas has become. Claiming a voice, if necessary in a new language, gives this collection its power.