One of Belgium’s most up-and-coming young writers, Ruth Lasters admits to having a crush on words and on the mechanics of language. Her Radio Books story tells an unusual tale of a young man with a unique compulsion.

Ruth Lasters - The Connector: a modern fairy tale

“I’ve been a compulsive worrier since childhood,” Lasters explains. “But writing isn’t a remedy. On the contrary, for me writing is the most delightfully divine form of worrying.”

Ruth Lasters’ first novel 'Poolijs' (Polar Ice) was praised for its stylistic daring and originality. It won her the prestigious Debut Prize in 2005. Her most recent collection of poetry won the 2009 Debut Prize.

Alphabet soup

She was born in Antwerp on a cold Monday evening in February 1979, according to her website. Her love-affair with words began at an early age. Her mother would read stories to her by Annie M.G. Schmidt and Raold Dahl. She couldn’t believe an alphabet of just twenty-six letters could create such a dizzying array of possibilities.

Lasters went on to study Romance languages at university. She teaches French, writes in Dutch and has now been translated into English for Radio Books.

“We should be able to see, every evening, all the words we’ve used that day fluttering down next to us on the street. We should only be entitled to sleep once we’ve sorted all our words: when we’ve put all our reproaches with the reproaches, when we have thrown our curses onto the curse heap, our lies on top of the lies.”

Genuine connections

'The Connector: a modern fairy tale' is actually a story within a story. The primary tale concerns a young man called Tony who has an uncanny ability to form attachments to the people he meets.

“A few minutes were sufficient for him to feel a genuine connection with someone. He so loved other people’s presence that it was a real pleasure for him to invite someone into his home, but at the same time it was torture because as soon as his visitor had left he experienced a terrible sense of loss.”

‘The Connector: a modern fairy tale’ by Ruth Lasters was translated by John Nieuwenhuizen. The story is read by Jacky Spears.

The series Radio Books is an initiative of Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.