Welcome
Thanks for taking an interest in my work. Please click on the book covers below for more information and reviews. The central column features my latest blogs and recent updates, mostly in English and sometimes in Dutch. If you’d like a daily dose of my cerebral flatulence, feel free to follow me on Twitter. For contact details and my biography (in English and Dutch) please visit the About page. You'll find an overview of upcoming appearances and other fun stuff under Gigs & Stuff.
Books
Latest
#Lekstraat #MurderedNeighbours
Overlooking the Steel Delta | Lekstraat 3 – 1st floor
28/9/21
Our quest to reconstruct the lives of all the Jewish families deported from Lekstraat in Amsterdam begins with the Cartoef-van Stratums, who lived in the 1st-floor apartment at No. 3. They are among more than 230 Jewish neighbours who were deported from Lekstreet and murdered in concentration camps during the Second World War.
More...#Lekstraat | #MurderedNeighbours
The Restless Hatter | Lekstraat 12 - ground floor | Amsterdam
21/9/21
Here’s a story set in the summer of 1942. The fact that you’re looking at this intimate snapshot of six teenagers, basking on a flat roof in Amsterdam, means at least one of them survived the war and saved the picture.
More...kort verhaal | essay
Intussen lees ik ook romans | 100 jaar boekhandel Blankevoort
24/9/21
Ter viering van het 100-jarig bestaan van boekhandel Blankevoort mocht ik een bijdrage leveren aan hun jubileumbundel, waarin diverse collega's vertellen over het belang van boekhandels, boeken en lezen. Hieronder mijn bijdrage.
More...Letters
Preemptive Letters of Rejection
19/5/21
A series of letters to McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Paris Review, Playgirl, The New Yorker, Granta Magazine, Oprah Winfrey, the Nobel Prize and the Prime Minister of Canada, pre-emptively rejecting their offers to exploit my literary assets.
More...blog
Drie generaties meelopers
19/5/21
‘Het is makkelijk praten vanuit de helikopter,’ tweette ik gisteren aan een vriendin, toen ze haar bezorgdheid uitsprak over het protest op de Dam, waar mijn jongste dochter aan meedeed. Ze is negentien maar gaat inmiddels al aardig wat jaartjes haar eigen gang in Amsterdam.
More...kort verhaal
Allemaal onzin natuurlijk
19/5/21
Dit verhaal verscheen eerder in een bundel ter viering van Guus Bauers 60ste verjaardag, waarin schrijvers op uitnodiging van David de Poel vertelden over hun meest miserabele bijbaantjes.
More...Poem
Things I Have Said About Rain
19/5/21
A poem about love composed of selected #walk tweets about rain.
More...News
Unbearable Joy – a Slovenian translation from my latest novel
10/12/17
Neznosna radost – Unbearable Joy – is the beautiful Slovenian title of a story from my latest novel Van Kleine Helden (All The Little Heroes), which was recently published in the leading Slovenian literary magazine Literatura.
More...On writing
Compendium of Useless Writing Tips
31/8/17
This compendium of #UselessWritingTips will be regularly updated. Or not. They have been posted in reverse order to save you having to scroll down. You should be writing, not reading tips.
More...