Background
Gilliams was the son of printer Frans Gilliams, and he learned to be a typographer. He worked for the company of his father and he lectured on typography at the Vakschool voor Kunstambachten of Roger Avermaete in Antwerp.
Gilliams was the son of printer Frans Gilliams, and he learned to be a typographer. He worked for the company of his father and he lectured on typography at the Vakschool voor Kunstambachten of Roger Avermaete in Antwerp.
In September 1955, he started working as scientific librarian of the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp. From 1960 until 1975, he was secretary of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Taalen Letterkunde in Ghent. His breakthrough as writer came with his autobiographical novel Elias of het gevecht met de nachtegalen (East: Elias or the fighting with the nightingales) at the age of 35.
He wrote both to poems and prose.
After his death the Maurice Gilliamsprijs was established. In the garden of the Elzenveld in Antwerp stands a statue of him by Rik Poot.
Bibliography (English transl)
Maurice Gilliams: Elias, or the struggle with the nightingales. Translated by André Lefevere.
Los Angeles, Sun & Moon Press, 1995.
Maurice Gilliams: The bottle at sea. The complete poems. Translation & introd. by Marian de Vooght. København, Green Integer, 2006.
In 1947, he became a member of the Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taalen Letterkunde of which he became director in 1954.