Tsjêbbe Hettinga (1949-2013) is probably Fryslân’s most famous present-day poet. His sonorous performances as a reader have attracted numerous audiences abroad, even those with no knowledge of the Frisian language, reminding them of Dylan Thomas. Hettinga, since his debut in 1970 as a romantic poet of love and death, creates wide-spun metaphors from seas and winds and coastlands—the coasts of Fryslân, but also those of Wales, Greece, the Caribbean and America. A performance at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1993 and his fifth volume of poetry marked his international breakthrough, assuring him of Dutch and English translations which included CD-recordings of his readings. In 2001 he was awarded the Gysbert Japicxpriis for Fan oer see en fierder.