Foreign Rights Frankfurt 2011 by De Bezige Bij

De Bezige Bij Publishers • Thomas Rap Publishers • Cargo Publishers Van Miereveldstraat 1 • nl-1071 dw Amsterdam • Postbus 75184 • nl-1070 ad Amsterdam The Netherlands • tel +31 20 305 9810 • fax +31 (0)20 305 9824 Foreign rights contact: Hayo Deinum via h.deinum@debezigebij.nl

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translation rights frankfurt 2011 content fiction A.F.Th. van der Heijden Rik Launspach Erwin Mortier Peter Buwalda Jessica Durlacher Bert Natter Charlotte Mutsaers Harry Mulisch Yves Petry Margriet de Moor Remco Campert Alma Mathijsen Maartje Wortel Anil Ramdas PB Gronda Philip Huff Milou van der Will Marieke Groen non-fiction David van Reybrouck Roel Janssen Bernice Notenboom Ingmar Vriesema Tom Egbers oog&blik Typex Judith Vanistendael Milan Hulsing Erik Kriek

Tonio Man Maiden Death A Stammered Songbook Bonita Avenue Hero How’s love treating you? Coachman Fall Time Itself The Virgin Marino The Painter and the Girl Life is Extra-licious Everything is Carmen Half-human Badal Among Friends No one in the City Crowbar Love is an Agreement

Congo. A History Wellink Speaks Poles Apart The Famous Brother and Sister Book Rory Storm

Rembrandt When David Lost His Voice City of Clay From Beyond and Other Tales by H.P. Lovecraft

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

A.F.Th.van der Heijden

Tonio

Tonio Een requiemroman

a.f.th. van der heijden tonio * A heartrending story that will leave no one untouched 50,000 copies sold • Sold to Suhrkamp (Germany) • English sample translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 633 pages At Pentecost 2010, Tonio – only son of writer A.F.Th. van der Heijden – is hit by a car. He succumbs to his injuries that same day. Tonio is only 21. After that fateful day his parents are faced with the monstrous task of forging ahead with their lives in the knowledge that their only child will never come home again, never again stop by just to watch a dvd, never go out on the street again with his mother in search of the ugliest pair of male calves, never again ask his father: “Did you work well today?” Never again. Never. A.F.Th. van der Heijden is driven by two compelling questions: what happened to Tonio during the final days and hours before the catastrophe, and how could this accident happen? This search takes him past various eyewitnesses, friends, police officers, doctors and the mysterious Jenny, who turns out to have played a crucial role in Tonio’s life during those final weeks.

a.f.th. van der heijden (b. 1951) is one of the great living Dutch authors. His oeuvre consists mainly of two sagas: The Toothless Time and Homo Duplex. Besides he wrote four other requiems, one of which about his father’s death: His Father’s Ashes.

‘This requiem for his son Tonio brings out the best in A.F.Th. van der Heijden as a writer.’ – trouw ‘Astonishing. Van der Heijden has produced a moving, virtuoso memorial to his son.’ – het parool ‘Overwhelming.’ – vrij nederland ‘Tonio is a magnificent book.’ – hp/de tijd ‘The paragraphs in which Van der Heijden follows Tonio on his last bike ride with love and concern rank among the finest a human being is capable of...’ – de groene amsterdammer

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

rik launspach man maiden death

(Man meisje dood)

* Once again, best-selling author Launspach has written a book too exciting to put down 15,000 copies sold • English sample translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 520 pages At the start of the final decade of the last century, Amadeus Dynkhirst – university student of linguistics and drug dealer – becomes convinced that Dutch is a useless language. It is chock full of superfluities and misunderstandings, and therefore a perfect reflection of human nature. Amadeus goes in search of a more direct form of communication, and becomes enchanted by Tatja, a fellow student who fled Afghanistan at the age of eight from the civil war raging in that country. Seventeen years later, as the inventor of a revolutionary computer-translation program, he is recruited by the nato. Against his will, he becomes involved in a number of shady operations in Afghanistan and stumbles upon evidence of an age-old struggle between East and West – starting with the siege of Troy which is still unsettled. Man Maiden Death is a whirlwind novel about a woman, a senseless war and an ingenious Computer program.

rik launspach (b. 1958) is a writer, actor and dramaturge. In 1993 he won the Golden Calf Award for his role in the film Oeroeg. His novelistic debut, 1953, about the disastrous flooding in the southern Netherlands more than half a century ago, appeared in 2009. More than 100,000 copies of that book have been sold and it has been made into a successful movie by Ben Sombogaart. ‘With its pace and its frequent changes of location, Man Maiden Dead is a modern and sparkling adventure novel.’ – Het Parool ‘You never used to read anything like this. Partly because of the masculine writing style, his universe will have you staring in wonderment. Safely, without once setting foot in Afghanistan.’ – De Volkskrant ‘The women are breathtaking, the central character brilliant – Rik Launspach is not a man given to understatement. His new novel is one great climax.’ – hp/de tijd

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

erwin mortier a stammered songbook (Gestameld liedboek)

* The relentless chronicle of an illness Novel, 192 pages • 25,000 copies sold • World rights: De Bezige Bij When his novel Sleep of the Gods appeared in 2008, Erwin Mortier was praised as a supreme and sublime author. His latest novel, a Stammered Songbook, is a reconfirmation of his enormous talent. It is the portrait of Mortier’s mother, who has Alzheimer’s. Without having arranged things beforehand, she is gradually overpowered by the illness. Her husband and children can only view her anguish and see how the woman they knew slowly slips away. Mortier describes that cruel process in loose fragments: “Today my mother dusted me, she thought I was a piece of furniture. Maybe a chest of drawers or an old stove. She ran a bright yellow cloth over the buttons on my shirt, up to my neck, flapped it around my ears, dusted my chin. Then she gestured to me to open my mouth – and stuffed the dust cloth into that and forgot all about us.” A Stammered Songbook is a heartbreaking story, written by a son graced with the gift of being able to transform this account into a literary and universal masterpiece.

erwin mortier (b. 1965) made his literary debut in 1999 with the novel Marcel (awarded, among other things, with the Gerard Walschap Literature Prize). His novel Sleep of the Gods appeared in 2008, signaling his breakthrough to a broader reading public, winning him the 2009 ako Literature Prize and selling over 120,000 copies.

‘Erwin Mortier surpasses himself. This is more than an immense gripping literary confession on the Alzheimer disease. It’s an essential book. Impressive. Mortier digs at least one diamond each page.’ – de standaard ‘A Stammered Songbook is less predictable and more surprising than most books in this genre.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘Erwin Mortier catches his mother’s dementia in sensitive and refined prose.’ – trouw

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

peter buwalda bonita avenue * An impressive, hefty debut novel about the downfall of an ambitious family 45,000 copies sold • Sold to Rowohlt (Germany), Actes Sud (France), Mondadori (Italy) Odeon (Czech Republic) and Salamandra (Spain). • Shortlisted for the Libris Literature Prize 2011 and the Dutch Gold Dagger Award • Winner of the Academica Debut Prize 2011 • English sample translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 544 pages Joni Sigerius, stepdaughter of the rector of a University, and her boyfriend Aaron, run a little business that she prefers to keep secret from her dynamic and brilliant father. It is in the year that a fireworks catastrophe vanishes a complete residential quarter in the city, that the explosion takes place within the family as well. Not only do Joni and Aaron find themselves in dire straits, but it is also in this same summer that Sigerius Sr.’s only real son is released from prison. Only eight years later – by which time Joni is running a million-dollar business in Los Angeles – does Aaron find out what was really going on in 2000.

peter buwalda (b. 1971) worked as a journalist and editor for the literary pop music magazine Wahwah. His stories have been published in Hollands Maandblad and De Gids.

‘Already in the first chapter Buwalda portrays the convincing character of a cad with a turn for mathematics and an obsession for judo… Buwalda has an easy going style, clear and precise, and completely unpretentious.’ – de groene amsterdammer ‘Outstanding read. Bold language and content. Bonita Avenue is a book which deserves a large audience.’ – hp/de tijd 'Buwalda is one of those rare authors who absolutely hit the mark with their very first novel. Its stylistic virtuosity is at the service of a moving family tragedy and a wealth of penetrating observations and insights. Astounding.' – de volkskrant

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

jessica durlacher hero

(De held)

* A modern-day novel about violence and revenge. Thrilling, filmic and full of momentum Over 40,000 copies sold • Sold to Diogenes Verlag (Germany) and Turbine Forlaget (Denmark) • Winner of the Opzij Literature Prize 2010 • English sample translation and synopsis available • Great reviews in the Dutch press and praised as Durlacher’s “best book so far” (de Volkskrant) • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 384 pages While out jogging, the driver of a car knocks protagonist Sara to the ground. This violence takes her back to the mysterious monologues which her father held in German right before his death. Monologues about his own mother, who was murdered during the war and about whom she knows almost nothing. The past is a venomous thing; when Sara’s son, who is attending college in America, announces his plans to join the Marines and go to Afghanistan, she tries to stop him cost what may. But then she is confronted, along with her husband and their daughter, with a follow-up to the violence. Revenge seems to be the only possible answer, and Sara decides to take the law into her own hands. Her grandmother’s secrets suddenly seem very timely indeed.

jessica durlacher (b. 1961) is the author of such bestsellers as: The Conscience, The Daughter and Emoticon. She has published three novellas during the last three years: Arthuro d’Alberti, Writers! and What Happened to Cathy M.?

‘It’s actually a marvel and certainly a virtue of Durlacher’s writing that all the complicated storylines come together neatly at the end. Hero is no ordinary, unambiguous novel. It’s a war book, a family saga and a thriller rolled into one.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘As they should in any thriller, all the pieces of the puzzle come together right at the end, but Durlacher lifts her novel to a higher plane by subtly asking what the maximum longevity of the good is – in today’s world too.’ – hp/de tijd

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

bert natter how ’ s love treating you? (Hoe staat het met de liefde?)

* An idiosyncratic, funny and touching story about a young woman struggling with the love of her life, and pursued by the sorrow of the past. Novel, 368 pages • First print run 10,000 copies • World rights: De Bezige Bij • January 2012 Maria Hinckelbein is already past thirty, and a bit of an odd woman out. Almost all her girl friends have a husband, children and a freestanding cooker. Not Maria. After an unsuccessful college career in neuropsychology, she became a bookseller. From the looks of things, her life is destined to take place within the four walls of the bookshop. But things take a surprising turn when she runs into a famous writer. He convinces her to accompany him to the premiere of the film based on his latest novel. Confusing weeks follow, during which she makes the acquaintance of one of the writer’s mysterious friends. Thanks to him, Maria recovers what she lost long ago, on the island of her youth.

bert natter (b. 1968) is a former publisher and journalist. His novelistic debut Touched by Desire received the 2009 Selexyz Debut Award and the 2010 Lucy B. and C.W. van der Hoogt Prize. More than 30,000 copies of that book have been sold to date. The film rights to the novel have also been sold, and a theater adaptation by Theu Boermans will go on stage fall 2011.

About Touched by Desire: ‘Humorous, warm, exciting and tragic. Touched by Desire is technically masterful. Impressive.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘This novel has a style that makes one feel that Natter has already been around for years as an established author.’ – het financieele dagblad

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

charlotte mutsaers coachman fall (Koetsier herfst)

* Surprising and exciting novel, and one in which the big questions about morality, life, death, art and the art of living are dealt with in an ingenious fashion. Novel, 464 pages • Sold to Germany (Hanser) and sol Publishing (Korea) • 40,000 copies sold • English sample chapter available • Great critical acclaim in major Dutch newspapers and weeklies • World rights: De Bezige Bij Fifty-year-old Maurice Maillot, wary of both play and the bombastic, turns his back at last on the intellectual life and starts in on a new future. His burdensome, lonely journey first drives him into the arms of a member of the Lobster Liberation Front, then into those of a genius at the art of embroidery. The story takes place at two locations: Amsterdam and Ostend. All the players cross the finish before the qualifying limit has expired. Charlotte Mutsaers has dedicated her new novel to all ‘prisoners of compassion’, past, present and future. A glorious book, and one that can definitely be seen as her magnum opus.

charlotte mutsaers has written twelve books. Her literary work has been awarded the Jan Greshoff Prize, the Busken Huet Prize and the Constantijn Huygens Prize. For her joint literary and graphics oeuvre she received the Jacobus van Looy Prize. Her books have been nominated for both the ako Literature Prize and The Golden Owl.

‘Is this her Magnum Opus? Coachman Fall fits Charlotte Mutsaers’ oeuvre perfectly. It is, yet again, an original, provoking and completely headstrong book. But if a Magnum Opus means the end of her career, then it will be better to reserve this term for later. Because any author who knows how to touch her readers like this, we must hope that the high point can be postponed a long while.’ – de standaard ‘Coachman Fall is a book that warms you. A happy, refreshing novel that will do well in these dark months during winter time. Cheaper than Prozac and probably just as effective.’ – het parool

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

harry mulisch time itself

(De tijd zelf )

* Mulisch’s last, unfinished novel, published on the occasion of the first anniversary of his death Novel, 176 pages • first print run 15,000 copies • World rights: De Bezige Bij On Harry Mulisch’s desk the day he died was a series of notes, computer print-outs, clippings and books. These piles of paper were meant to be used in a novel with the title Time Itself. In varying degrees, three storylines hit their stride within the narrative. The notes show the writer as he feels his away along. Which themes, dreams, thoughts and autobiographical events are to be given a place within the coercive context of this novel? We will never know. The impressive passages, sentences and storylines – they will never receive a fixed place in Mulisch’s universe, but in their unfinishedness form a perfect whole with his oeuvre.

harry mulisch (1927 – 2010) died on October 31, 2010 at the age of eighty-three. He received countless literary prizes and awards. The literary universe he left behind has been translated in part into more than 36 languages. marita mathijsen and arnold heumakers tied together the loose ends and supplemented them with excerpts from the writer’s diary. Time Itself could have been Mulisch’s last novel – but in what way? The reader is left with a riddle. 'Mulisch has always known how to tell a story.' – J.M. Coetzee 'Harry Mulisch is an important writer who stands at the heart of European history and thought, remaking tradition and inviting a rethinking of conventional judgements.' – times literary supplement

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

yves petry the virgin marino

(De maagd Marino)

* We are so heavily endowed with brains that nonsense becomes inevitable Over 20,000 copies sold • Winner of the Libris Literature Prize 2011 • English sample translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 304 pages A man anaesthetizes another man, amputates his penis, slashes his throat and keeps the body in the freezer, using it to abate his hunger in the weeks to come. And then to think that the victim had given his permission for all this beforehand. When Yves Petry heard about this real-life story, he decided to write a book about it. Not so much to reconstruct the facts, but to find out why this news report shocked him so deeply. The result of his research is found in The virgin Marino. In his inimitable style, Petry lets us penetrate into the mind of the killer through the posthumous vision of the victim, and we discover things we have never read or heard anywhere else.

yves petry (b. 1967) studied mathematics and philosophy and is the author of four wellreceived novels. His previous work, The Lagger, won the bng New Literature Prize and the Flemish Brabant Prize. ‘One of the most striking voices in the new generation of Flemish writers.’ – de morgen ‘The virgin Marino is an extraordinary novel, both intelligent and bewildering.’ – knack ‘Crocodile jaws that take hold of the reader without warning and never let go.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘A cast-iron and highly intriguing novel that ranges across many registers and displays countless strokes of stylistic bravura. The Virgin Marino introduces philosophical asides at will and provides food for thought that, it’s no exaggeration to say, will keep you going for several weeks.’ – De Morgen ‘Simply a masterpiece.’ – Jeroen Brouwers

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

margriet de moor the painter and the girl (De schilder en het meisje)

* On an unfortunate girl and a man unable to express his true feelings, the brilliant painter Rembrandt Over 30,000 copies sold • Sold to Hanser Verlag (Germany), Maren Sell (France), Neri Pozza (Italy) Pistorius (Czech Republic), Folio (Ukraine), Turbine Forlaget (Denmark) and Beletrina (Slovenia) • Nominated for the Opzij Literature Prize 2010 • Longlisted for the Libris Literature Prize 2011 • Full German translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 254 pages It is May 3, 1664, the day that an eighteen-year old girl from Denmark is publicly garrotted on the Dam in Amsterdam. Half the city has turned out to see the execution. The painter of the novel’s title has no desire to attend. His thoughts are occupied by his recently deceased wife and an important canvas which he has set up and for which he has bought the materials that same morning: red and golden pigments. Later that day he hears from his son the grisly details of the girl’s last moments, and he rows to the place where she has been hung.

margriet de moor (b. 1941) is one the most important Dutch female authors. First Grey, then White, then Blue won the AKO Literature Prize in 1992. Her work has been translated into 24 languages. The Painter and the Girl is her most recent novel. Other successful novels are The Virtuoso, Drowned, The Kreutzer Sonata, and Duke of Egypt.

‘She writes lyrical prose, and her stories about life are quiet and full of beauty.’ – Marcel Reich-Ranicki ‘Margriet de Moor sketches the philosophical ferment lightly but effectively, giving just the right amount of political and historical detail.’ – new york times ‘Here a storyteller succeeds in bringing across the unsayable in a mild and melancholy fashion.’ – die zeit On The Painter and the Girl ‘An extremely rich novel on death, imagination and eternity.’ – nrc handelsblad

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

remco campert life is extra-licious (Het leven is vurrukkulluk)

* “Life is extra-liscious,” Panda said. ‘Oh, yeah,’ Mees agreed with a sigh.” Book for the Dutch One-Book-One-City campaign in a print run of 800,000 copies • English sample translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Contemporary classic novel, 160 pages Life is Extra-licious is the irresistible, almost nonchalant and at the same time gracefully written story of two friends, Mees and Boeli, who meet up with the sixteen-year-old girl Panda. Marijuana is smoked, free love is in the air and the friends wander aimlessly and without a care through the park. Remco Campert can, like no one else, capture in words the carefree and the joyful. This, his novelistic debut from 1961, was an immediate success that went through more than twenty-five editions and became a Dutch literary classic.

remco campert (b. 1929) is a poet and a writer of stories and novels. He was part of the literary movement known in Holland as the “Vijftigers”. In 1976, Remco Campert received the P.C. Hooftprijs for his poetry. He made his novelistic debut in 1961 with Life is Extra-Licious. The book immediately met with great success. Other successful works appeared afterwards, including A Love in Paris in 2004, The Satin Heart in 2006 and New Recollections in 2007. About Life is Extra-Licious: ‘To write so light-heartedly about love, that’s no longer within my reach.’ – Remco Campert ‘Exquisitely written and constructed, perfect in its mood and descriptions, spot-on in its sometimes startling humor.’ – het parool

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

alma mathijsen in everything, carmen (Alles is Carmen)

* Sparkling novelistic debut by a playful narrative talent English sample translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 240 pages Like her mother and aunts, Carmen loves life. When she meets Kees, the heavens open, “I’m floating in a swimming pool full of strawberries that taste more and more like apple pie with every bite.” When Kees’s love dies, he takes with him all things good, and the final rainbows, the dip dabs and moonstars fall from her mouth. “Sometimes I’m afraid to remember. Recent studies show that brain cells in which certain moments are stored soften when you think back on them. Soft. When something softens, it can become distorted. That’s how it works with science. That’s why I don’t want to look over my shoulder too often. Everything needs to stay the way it is.” After a few confusing days, however, she makes a decision. She’s not exactly sure why, not quite yet, but she has decided that Kees must be punished. That is the only thing that will calm her down. Alma Mathijsen follows Carmen as she carries out her plan, and thanks to her flowing style and rich imagination she keeps the reader riveted to her moving story all the way to the end.

alma mathijsen (b. 1984) is a writer and visual artist. At the age of eighteen she began writing for the young people’s website “Spunk.nl”. She formed part of the columnists’ duo Fanny & Alma in the Dutch daily Het Parool. She has written two plays and a collection of short stories. She studied creative writing for a semester at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 2011 she graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy with a degree in Image & Language.

‘Remarkable debut about an all-consuming love.’ – Esta ‘Brilliantly written debut.’ – Flair

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

maartje wortel half-human

(Half mens)

* Novelistic debut by the winner of the 2010 Anton Wachter Prize World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 192 pages A Mexican living in Los Angeles becomes involved in a serious traffic accident. The victim, an 18-year-old girl, has to have her leg amputated. This serves as starting point for a series of events both dramatic and hilarious, as the Mexican and the girl are driven into each other’s arms by the forces of fate. But what seems at first to be the start of a beautiful romance, leads to a startling and sinister conclusion. Half-human is the story of two young people forced to survive in a cold-hearted metropolis. With a striking mixture of distance and empathy, Maartje Wortel describes these wandering souls, at the mercy of their own and each other’s obsessions.

maartje wortel (b. 1982) studied Image & Language at Amsterdam’s Rietveld Academy. In 2007 she won the Write Now! story contest, and her collection of short stories This is Your House received the Anton Wachter Prize for best literary debut.

About Half-human: ‘A remarkable novel by a talent we’re undoubtedly going to hear more from.’ – trouw ‘Wortel writes short, audible sentences; a truly unique style.’ – hp/de tijd About This is Your House: ‘Mildly absurd, comic and sometimes caustic and un ashamedly cruel: Wortel’s style of storytelling is reminiscent of Arnon Grunberg.’ – de volkskrant ‘A tone all her own, a voice unlike anything else in contemporary prose.’ – Maarten ’t Hart

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

anil ramdas badal * The first political novel of the 21st century on how ‘Dutch tolerance’ died a silent death. In a catchy narration Ramdas describes what happened Synopsis available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 416 pages Harry Badal is of Suriname origin. In 1989 he takes in a prominent part in the Rushdie affair. His opinion is highly respected, because of his non-western origin. But what is more important: his sudden popularity amongst Dutch intellectuals or his political integrity? This places him in an impossible position: does his defence of Rushdie’s freedom to write a novel equal the recognition of the western superiority in the world? Badal can hardly handle the tough part of the ‘black intellectual’; he starts using alcohol, drugs and women as an escape and because of that he loses his family. Twenty years later he sees a chance to set everything straight. The political developments in his country are heading towards an extreme right climate and the tangible intolerance becomes the subject of a decisive essay. With this essay Badal hopes to achieve his professional comeback and simultaneously win back his family.

anil ramdas (b. 1958) is a journalist and has written short stories and a novella. He has spent a great deal of time in India and Paramaribo. Concerning those stays he wrote When Love is Gone, Life Goes On, Letters from India and Paramaribo. The happiest town in the jungle. Badal is his novelistic debut.

‘His prose is stylish and smooth, his choice of words is rich and to the point, often witty with beautiful anecdotes.’ – het parool What the press has to say about Ramdas’ essays: ‘A keen-witted writer. Devilishly well-formulated, stimulating and intelligent.’ – trouw ‘Takes a shot at the impossible. A true balancing act.’ – vrij nederland ‘Utterly fascinating.’ – hp/de tijd

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

pb gronda among friends

(Onder vrienden)

* The novel for thirty-somethings – for those who have yet to be one, for those who have been one once. Novel, 128 pages • World rights: De Bezige Bij To celebrate his thirtieth birthday, a writer puts together a tasty meal with plenty of wine. Because that’s how thirty-somethings do things. Nothing big, nothing exuberant, just a meal among friends around the kitchen table. It was going to be a small-scale, cozy event, they had agreed on that beforehand. And convivial it becomes. The company of wild Romeos and young parents, artists and romantics, successful entrepreneurs and the eternally unemployed is a motley crew par excellence, and everyone can take as many photos as they like, to publish with a funny caption on Facebook. With no beating around the bush, P.B. Gronda exposes the foundations of a group of friends: the lies, the fears, the loves left lying dormant and the nightly traumas, all gathered around the table. With humor and venom, he presents us with a pound of his own flesh, and that of his contemporaries. In Among Friends, a so-called free and ambitious generation is exposed layer-by-layer. The result is a painfully familiar and sharp-witted novella about friendship and the betrayal of one’s ideals.

pb gronda (b. 1981) divides his time between Leuven (B), Borgosesia (It) and New York. His 2008 novelistic debut, Together We Say Farewell to Love was nominated for the Academica Prize for Debuts. His novel Kentucky, My Country appeared in 2009. Gronda writes columns for the magazine Knack and works for the Flemish Woestijnvis production company.

About Together We Say Farewell to Love: ‘The best debut since Erwin Mortier’s Marcel.’ – de morgen ‘Above all, what this book has going for it is a tone in which rage, indignation, obnoxiousness and love flow together credibly.’ – knack About Kentucky, My Country: ‘Raw and absurd. A very entertaining book.’ – nrc handelsblad

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

philip huff no one in the city

(Niemand in de stad)

* What if your new friends turn out not to be who you hoped they were? Novel, 304 pages • World rights: De Bezige Bij • January 2012 When eighteen-year-old Philip Hoffman goes off to study in the big city, he moves into a room in The Orphanage, a stately house along an Amsterdam canal. There, on Prinsengracht, twelve students have created a safe haven for themselves, beyond the prying eyes of their parents, of the university and society at large. The Orphanage is their world within the world, their “hidden pasture”. Philip develops a warm friendship with housemates Matthias and Jacob, the first an impulsive skirt-chaser, the second an enigmatic intellectual. Urged on by his new friends, Philip – out on his own for the first time – loses himself more and more in the shadowy world of student life. Then he meets the breathtakingly beautiful Karen. She sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately bring down the carefully constructed illusion of The Orphanage, with disastrous consequences for its inhabitants. Niemand in de stad is a gripping Bildungsroman about friendship, love, sleeping around, fathers and sons and the price paid for wrong expectations.

philip huff (b. 1984) studied philosophy and history in Amsterdam. His debut Days of Grass was warmly received by the national press, nominated for the Academica Debutants Prize, the National Young People’s Literature Prize, and has been translated and filmed. He is the winner of the Hollands Maandblad Prize for 2011 for his short stories.

About Days of Grass: ‘Huff dishes up a healthy serving of atmosphere and adds a rock-solid character to Dutch literature. Days of Gras has spunk.’ – het parool ‘This story hits hard. A good debut. And more.’ – vrij nederland

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

milou van der will crowbar

(Breekijzer)

* A book about love and longing, and the sometimes fatal decisions made on their behalf. Thriller, 336 pages • Previous novel Red Light sold over 10,000 copies • World rights: De Bezige Bij A blast shakes sixteen-year-old Sam out of a deep sleep. Along with his younger brother, Lucas, he witnesses an unthinkable family drama. His father commits a crime of passion and shoots his wife before killing himself: a lifelong trauma for the two brothers. Two years later Sam has finally succeeded in securing a rosy-colored future for himself and Sophie, the love of his life. But when his money runs out and he takes on a ‘chore’ for a friend, fate rounds on him once more and he slowly becomes entangled in the tentacles of an international criminal network. Sophie happens upon the diaries left by Sam’s mother and uncovers one mystery after another. She goes in search of the truth behind the family drama and is confronted with a painful and dangerous history of which the police reports make no mention. When Lucas shows up in Sam and Sophie’s life, disaster strikes. And Sam and Sophie have to fight side-by-side for their future.

milou van der will (b. 1985, Naarden) began her writing career as a magazine journalist. Today she works for the daily paper Metro, where she specializes primarily in social and societal issues. Her novelistic debut, Red Light, was warmly received and nominated for the best thriller by a female author in the year 2010. More than 10,000 copies of that book were sold.

About Red Light: ‘No tried-and-true formula, no dime-a-dozen thriller, but a book solid in every way, one which could teach the established writers a thing or two. A praiseworthy debut, the power of which lies in the unexpected.’ ***** – vrouwenthrillers.nl

Translation rights De Bezige Bij Frankfurt 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

marieke groen liefde is een afspraak (Love’s an Agreement)

* A fascinating novel about love and the fear of losing it. About letting go of what you never really owned. Novel, 224 pages • World rights: De Bezige Bij “Love isn’t ownership, it’s an agreement,” Fee reads in a book by her mother, a successful authoress. According to her boyfriend Melle, the loves of one’s life are the result of overpowering coincidence. Trains missed, appointments forgotten and peculiar accidents. Fee doesn’t believe in coincidence. An appointment is an appointment, she never misses her train and accidents happen only to those who don’t pay attention. But despite her complaisance, one day fate strikes. Melle falls in love with someone else. It’s bigger than he is, he says, it’s a pure case of force majeure. Fee refuses to go along with this and intervenes, heedless of the consequences.

marieke groen (b. 1966) is the authoress of the collection of short stories Just like Barbapappa and the novels Seven Meters Under Water and Fever Glow. ‘A well-written psychological novel.’ – de Volks krant ‘In her latest book Love is an Arrangement she implacably lays bare the bankruptcy of a relationship.’ – Esta ‘Without excuses, Groen fillets human relations and uses an intrigue very well ... Groen mercilessly picks holes in human relationships and makes good use of the plot. She is a gifted storyteller and never loses sight of the importance of language. Her style is polished, apparently straightforward but with the occasional twist that enjoyably wrongfoots the reader. A real craftswoman is at work here.’ – **** NU.nl

david van reybrouck congo. a history (Congo. Een geschiedenis)

* The fate of one of the world’s most devastated countries Over 200,000 copies sold • Sold to Ecco/ Harper Collins (us), 4th Estate (uk), Font Forlag (Norway), Suhrkamp (Germany), Natur och Kultur (Sweden) and Actes Sud (France) • Winner of the ako Literature Prize, the Libris History Prize and the Jan Greshof Prize • English proposal and sample chapter available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction, 550 pages David Van Reybrouck begins his gripping account of hope and madness in the 1870s and chronicles the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial era up to 2010, the fiftieth anniversary of Congo’s independence. His vivid narrative zooms in on the impact of the slave trade and the latenineteenthcentury rubber boom, presents lively portraits of Belgian colonization, the struggle for independence, Lumumba’s tragic life and Mobutu’s dictatorship, and details the causes of the war that has raged between 1996 and the present, the deadliest conflict since the Second World War. Congo. A History is based on little-known archival sources and extensive travelling in Central-Africa. The hundreds of interviews which Van Reybrouck conducted both in the slums of Kinshasa and in the villages of the

interior, as well as in the African diaspora of Europe and China, lend a unique dimension to a rich and convoluted history. david van reybrouck (b. 1971) is a journalist, a literary non-fiction writer, a novelist, a poet and a playwright. Many of his books were nominated and have won literary prizes. His work has been translated into French (Actes Sud), Afrikaans (Protea) and Hungarian (Gondolat). He lives in Brussels. ‘Sublime… monumental… virtuoso. This literary nonfiction is more thrilling than a novel can be.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘Accurate, renewing, well balanced. This book gives a lot of room to the Congolese experience of the past… It makes it an excellent read.’ – de standaard ‘It’s raining Congo books. But this one outclasses all competition in a spectacular way: it’s more important, more intelligent, written better, yes, even thicker than all others… An incredible tour de force.’ – humo

roel janssen wellink speaks

(Wellink aan het woord)

* Central Bank president Nout Wellink’s personal account of the ABN Amro scandal, the Euro-crisis, Icesave and the DSB Bank Non-fiction, 288 pages • 10,000 copies sold • World rights: De Bezige Bij On July 1, 2011, Nout Wellink stepped down as president of the central bank of the Netherlands. Internationally, Wellink is one of the most respected and experienced central bankers in the world. In the past four years, he witnessed the most turbulent period in modern Dutch financial history. When he began in 1997, Holland was on the verge of adopting the euro; at the time of his departure, the Euro-zone is in the midst of a serious crisis. As board member of the European Central Bank, Wellink played a key role in controlling the financial crisis, and as chairman of the Bank Supervisory Committee in Basel he was responsible for drawing up rules to avoid such a crisis in the future. In seven extensive interviews with financial-economic journalist Roel Janssen, Wellink discusses all this and more. He openly airs his opinions, talks about what went on behind the scenes and explains the policy measures taken.

roel janssen (b. 1947) is a freelance financialeconomic journalist. Until mid-2010, he was a member of the editorial board of the NRC Handelsblad daily newspaper. During the last thirty years, in a host of capacities, he has reported on major economic events and financial crises. His book Dirty Money, the chronicle of seven centuries of financial scandals and speculation in the Netherlands, appeared in early 2011. Roel Janssen also writes thrillers. Those include The Tenth Wife, which was awarded the Dutch Golden Dagger in 2007. ‘Laudable that Wellink has recorded his memories. The book is certainly no cheap attempt to polish up his image. His arguments are too subtle for that, too carefully constructed and sometimes simply too convincing.’ – de volkskrant ‘Wellink’s powerful analyses make this book well worth reading. Janssen asks the right questions.’ – elsevier

bernice notenboom poles apart

(Tegenpolen)

* An ice cold adventure, including beautiful landscapes, love and the condition of the human mind, when taken back to basics English synopsis and chapters available • Shortlisted for the Bob den Uyl Literature Prize • World rights (except for North America): De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction, 303 pages Bernice Notenboom is driven by an untameable force to let go of the familiar and seek adventure. ‘What are you running from?’ asked a befriended psychologist once. ‘Where are you heading at, you mean’ Bernice answered. Due to an almost fatal accident in Siberia Bernice develops the need to take on another view on life. While travelling the North Pole she experiences the brittle beauty of the landscape and in Greenland she is deeply touched by the connectedness of the population with the ecosystem. Then she meets Walter, an eccentric guide with whom she, against her own conscience, starts a relationship. Her life is turned up side down and during a rough expedition to the South Pole, Bernice tries to find a balance between her desire for Walter and the groups’ extreme focus on survival.

bernice notenboom (b. 1962) is climate journalist and polar traveller. In 2009 she was the first Dutch woman to reach the top of the Mount Everest. Notenboom was part of the Dutch delegation at the climate conference in Copenhagen. She gives lectures and has written for the American National Geographic, the Washington Post, and many other well-known publications. ‘Bernice’s writing on the power that suffering gives her, is so driven and inspiring, it makes you want to experience such a rough expedition yourself.’ – quest

ingmar vriesema the famous brother and sister book (Het beroemde broer en zus boek) * About Paula Hitler, Henny Cruijff and many other great unknowns

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction, 240 pages What’s it like to go through life as the sister of Adolf Hitler? Or to argue with your brother, Fidel Castro? And what would it be like not to be able to play soccer as well as your brother, Wesley Sneijder? nrc Handelsblad journalist Ingmar Vriesema introduces us to people like Paula Hitler, Chris Jagger, Albert Göring, Juanita Castro, Paul Wilders, Maja Einstein, Henny Cruijff and Jeffrey Sneijder. Names that sound like bad parodies… yet the people who bear them are real. Without their famous brother or sister they would never have become who they are today, and of course the same goes the other way round as well. And it is precisely that which makes the lives of those unknown brothers and sisters so interesting. Ingmar Vriesma has written a fascinating and entertaining book full of surprising life-stories.

ingmar vriesema (b. 1980) is a journalist at the nrc Handelsblad daily newspaper. He has written about squatters, millionaires, the teenaged members of informal drinking clubs and a magnificent series about brothers and sisters.

tom egbers rory storm. king of liverpool, dethroned by the beatles * The fateful story of a man destined to become famous Published fourty years after Rory Storm’s death • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Biography, 224 pages • August 2012 Rory Storm becomes frontman of a rock ’n’ roll band, Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. The Beatles, who play together with The Hurricanes in Hamburg alternating sets, are friends of Rory’s and they admire him. They are regular visitors at Rory’s home on Broad Green Road. Iris Caldwell, Rory’s sister, is Paul McCartney’s girl-friend. In 1962, John Lennon and Paul McCartney ask Ringo Starr, who is Rory’s drummer, to join The Beatles. Ringo agrees, and that’s the the end for Rory and his Hurricanes. Rory flees from Liverpool where he is constantly reminded of what might have been, but never was. He spends some time in Benidorm as a waterski-instructor, before he drives his white Chevrolet Impala up to Amsterdam to start a new life as a deejay. While in Holland he receives a telegram, the contents of which are dramatic. He returns to Liverpool. This will eventually lead to his mysterious death, a few months later.

Rory Storm. King of Liverpool, Dethroned by The Beatles describes the rise of a local legend who had everything to become a big star. However, he remains practically unknown outside Liverpool. By the people of Merseyside he is never forgotten. tom egbers is a journalist and writer from Amsterdam. He has been a presenter for Dutch television over the past twenty years. His book The Black Meteor (De Zwarte Meteoor), about the first black football player in Holland, was succesfully adapted for the screen.

typex, gerrit de jager and gert jan pos rembrandt * A uniquely vivid portrait of Rembrandt’s life, in cooperation with the Rijksmuseum Rembrandt portrays the painter’s life and follows the whole sweep of his painting career. It is about one man’s artistic vocation and the work it demands, about life and death, love and bereavement, fame and loss. A graphic novel with the imaginative power to bring Rembrandt van Rijn, one of the greatest painters of all time, to life. His love life is an important part of the story. His wife Saskia was his greatest passion. She came from a prosperous family and the couple was comfortably off. After Saskia’s death, Rembrandt didn’t remarry, since that would have meant forfeiting his inheritance. He did have other relationships, with Geertje Dircx and especially Hendrickje Stoffels. Rembrandt’s lifestyle had long been extravagant, and he eventually faced personal bankruptcy.

typex (b. 1962) is an Amsterdam College for the Arts graduate. His work appears in many nation wide newspapers and magazines. He illustrated numerous children’s books and published some of his own. gerrit de jager and gert jan pos wrote the concept for Rembrandt. Gert Jan Pos (b. 1967) is a journalist and a translator. Gerrit de Jager (b. 1954) is a famous Dutch cartoonist. He writes for newspapers, magazines and made several comic books. This unique collaborative enterprise between the author, Typex, The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, Oog & Blik|De Bezige Bij Publishers and the Rijksmuseum, home of the world’s largest and most important Rembrandt collection, guarantees a spectacular result – a stunning and surprising graphic novel on Rembrandt’s life.

judith vanistendael when david lost his voice (Toen David zijn stem verloor) * A heart-rending tale of illness and the family. By the author of Dancing by the Light of the Moon

World rights: Oog & Blik/De Bezige Bij • Graphic novel, 280 pages David has cancer, a devastating disease, not only for him, but for his family too. The story begins at the interface of life and death: Miriam gives birth to her first child and immediately afterwards hears that her father has cancer. Tamar, David’s youngest daughter, searches for the precise meaning of death and for a way of keeping a soul alive. Paula cannot stand the thought of her husband deserting her. David’s main wish is to go on one last wonderful trip. Everyone reacts in their own way to David’s inexorable death. In When David Lost His Voice Vanistendael tries to answer the question of how it feels when life pulls the rug from under your feet. When David Lost His Voice is a story that gets under your skin, while fully recognising the elusiveness of existence.

judith vanistendael (Leuven, 1974) is a Flemish strip artist and illustrator. Her first album, the diptych Dancing by the Light of the Moon, based on a short story by her father Geert Van Istendael, appeared between 2007 and 2009. Both parts of Dancing by the Light of the Moon were nominated for the prestigious Grand Prix d’Angoulême. Her début was translated into seven languages. Dancing by the Light of the Moon sold over 10,000 copies. ‘Judith Vanistendael is unmistakably a major talent, among the the leading contemporary strip artists in the Low Countires.’ – vrij nederland On Dancing by the Light of the Moon: ‘The power of Dancing by the Light of the Moon resides in Vanistendael’s knack of transposing social problems onto a personal level, sometimes with great tenderness.’ – de groene amsterdammer

milan hulsing city of clay

(Stad van klei)

* Graphic Novel by Hulsing exposes ferment in Egypt World rights: Oog & Blik/De Bezige Bij • Graphic novel, 134 pages City of Clay is a brilliant graphic novel about corruption, loneliness and madness in Cairo, the capital of a country in ferment. Salim, a corrupt civil servant, has conceived the plan of pocketing the salaries and bonuses of the police force of an imaginary city – since so much money is devoted to the police no one will notice anyway. His bank balance grows steadily, but Salim loses his grip on reality. His imaginary city plays on his mind and the fictitious police chief, whose salary he is now receiving, appears to be hard on his heels. A wonderfully drawn story that conveys a powerful sense of sand, dust and heat.

milan hulsing has been living in Cairo for years, waiting for an opportunity to condense his gathered experiences into a story. With the graphic novelisation of Egyptian avant garde writer Mohamed el Bisaties novel Al-Khaldiya, he has found the perfect outlet to canalise his exposure to the Egyptian way of living.

‘A virtuoso graphic novel’ – de volskrant ‘Stunning visionary graphic novel on Egypt’ – nrc handelsblad ‘Alarming beautifully drawn story’ – algemeen dagblad ‘So this what an adult graphic novel looks like!’ – stripschap

erik kriek from beyond and other tales by h.p. lovecraft (Het onzienbare en andere vertellingen van Lovecraft)

* The tales of Lovecraft were never so beautifully drawn World rights: Oog & Blik/De Bezige Bij • Graphic novel, 128 pages The dark tales of H.P. Lovecraft have been an immense influence on genre fiction, comics, cinema and popular culture since the author’s untimely death in 1937. That being said, for Erik Kriek, this comic-book adaptation of a small selection of tales is a culmination of a year-long coveted wish coming to fruition. Ever since his late teens, Kriek has been fascinated by Lovecraft and has nurtured a love for the macabre in general. Only now has he reached enough maturity as a graphic storyteller to feel secure enough to engage such a daunting undertaking. In this graphic compilation the darkly gothic and nihilistic visions of H.P. Lovecraft and the stark, graphic black and white style of Erik Kriek are merged together. It by no means claims to be THE definite comicbook version of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, but it hopes to introduce new readers to the 20th century’s dark prince of horror as well as pleasing the large community of fans worldwide.

‘Think Love and Rockets of the superhero world mixed with Quentin Tarantino and you'll have Gutsman by Dutch creator Erik Kriek. Word less, stylish, and sexy, this graphic novel playfully uses the imagery of mainstream comics to turn the spotlight on love affairs, despair, temptation and loss. A unique approach to comics.’ – top shelf comics ‘Gutsman Comics is nothing what I was expecting, but everything I was hoping for. Highly recommended.’ – readaboutcomics.com ‘Subtle humour and self mockery make Erik Kriek’s work irresistible’ – stripster Winner of the most important Dutch comics award De Stripschapsprijs