Is language what sets humans apart from other animals, as many have argued? Or do animals speak in their own languages, to each other and to us? In Animal Languages, Eva Meijer explores the latter possibility.

Meijer tells us about Alex, the gray parrot who knew more than one hundred words, and Chaser, the border collie who had a talent for grammar. She introduces us to Washoe, the chimpanzee who grew up with humans and learned sign language; Kosik, the elephant who spoke to humans in human language and to his female elephant companion in elephant language; and Noc, the beluga whale who mimicked human speech. She tells us that dogs are able to interpret the meaning of other dogs' growls; that prairie dogs have alarm calls that offer informative details about intruders (specifying, among other things, size, color, and speed of approach); and that marmosets take turns in conversations and teach this skill to their offspring.

Eva Meijer is an artist, writer, philosopher and singer-songwriter.

Meijer wrote eleven books and her work has been translated into eighteen languages. Her first novel Het schuwste dier (Prometheus) was published in 2011 and was nominated for the Academica Literatuurprijs, the Gouden Boekenuil and the Vrouw&Proza DebuutPrijs. Short stories and poems have been published in Dutch and Belgian literary magazines, such as De Revisor, Tirade and De Brakke Hond. 

Her second novel Dagpauwoog was published in November 2013, to critical acclaim. In 2016 the book Dierentalen (Animal Languages), a popular philosophical book about nonhuman animal languages and the question what language actually is, was published. Her third novel Het vogelhuis (Bird Cottage), was published in September 2016 and chosen as one of the books of the month by DWDD book panel on national television. 

It won the readers' prize of the BNG Bank Literatuurprijs and has been nominated for the Libris Literatuurprijs, the ECI Literatuurprijs, the Vondel translation prize and the International Dublin Literary Award. Dierentalen and Het vogelhuis are translated into Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Swedish and Turkish. Dierentalen will also be translated into Finnish, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Spanish, Taiwanese en Czech; Het vogelhuis into Croatian. In 2017 De soldaat was een dolfijn was published, an essay about political animals, which will be translated into German and won the 2018 Hypatia prize. In 2018 Meijer won the Halewijnprijs for all her books. 

In 2019, De grenzen van mijn taal was published, a philosophical essay about depression, which is forthcoming in translation in English, Norwegian, Polish, Turkish, Spanish and German, and is nominated for the Bookspot Literatuurprijs and the Socratesbeker. Voorwaarts, a novel, was also published that year (forthcoming translation: German). When animals speak: Towards an interspecies democracy, her first academic book, came out in November 2019 (New York University Press). It was awarded the ASCA Book Award in 2020. 

In 2020 her novel De nieuwe rivier was published, a magical-realist murder mystery (upcoming translations: German, Italian; nominated for the Confituur Boekhandelsprijs and BNG Bank Literatuurprijs). In 2021 she wrote the essay for the Dutch Month of Philosophy: Vuurduin. Aantekeningen bij een wereld die verdwijnt. In the same year, the novella Haar vertrouwde gedaante was published.

Meijer's philosophical work mostly focuses on language and social justice. She successfully defended her PhD thesis in philosophy, titled 'Political Animal Voices' (University of Amsterdam) in September 2017 (cum laude). It was awarded the Praemium Erasmianum Dissertation Prize in 2018. She currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam, supported by a VENI-grant from the NWO (Dutch Science Council), on the research project ‘The politics of (not) eating animals’ (2021-2025). Meijer writes philosophical columns for Dutch newspaper Trouw. She is chair of the Dutch study group for animal ethics.

As a visual artist, Meijer works in different media, ranging from performance art, music theatre, installation, video, drawing and photography to toys for pigs. She currently works on new drawings.

As singer-songwriter she released four albums and two EP's, and she played concerts in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, England and the USA. More information and music can be found here.

Source: evameijer.nl