Biography

Paul Berkenman was born on May 13, 1926 in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium. He was a director and writer, known for Une demoiselle sans bagages (1963), Amours d'automne (1962) and Want allen hebben gezondigd (1961). He died on August 17, 2002 in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

He also made a number of films with Raymond Cohen and Marcel De Backer. First in Dutch ("Prelude to the dawn" and "For all have sinned" afterwards (because there was not enough sales for Flemish films) in French ("Amour en automne" and "Une fille sans baggage").

In 1989 he actually won a competition in Tokyo with his haiku collection "Een kinkhoorn gelijk".

Berkenman wrote a number of plays for the Arca Theater, most notably "Flowers on Concrete" and "The Song of the Other People".

He is known as an editor (e.g. "Karel ende Elegast" for Theater Taptoe) or as a translator (much work of Molière).

He made his debut as a poet in the magazine "Klaverdrie" by Johan Daisne. This is also where the origin of his pseudonym can be found: since he was in love with one Paula, he called himself 'Paul' and 'Berkenman' after seeing the play "Tine en Berken".