De Bezige Bij Foreign Rights Guide Frankfurt 2017 by De Bezige Bij

Foreign Rights Guide Frankfurt Book Fair 2017

De Bezige Bij The Busy Bee You’ll find us at Hall .  (part of the collective Dutch stand)

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FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR 2017 NEW LITERARY FICTION

Tommy Wieringa Jan Siebelink Stefan Hertmans Alma Mathijsen Arjen van Veelen Sanneke van Hassel Thomas Heerma van Voss

The Blessed Rita............................................................................2 The Boy Next Door......................................................................4 Antigone in Molenbeek...............................................................6 Forget the Girls..............................................................................8 Notes on the Relocation of Obelisks.....................................10 Common Ground........................................................................12 Replacements...............................................................................14 MODERN CLASSICS

Margriet de Moor Sleepless Night............................................................................16 Willem Frederik Hermans The Safe House...........................................................................18

LITERARY NON-FICTION

Anaïs Van Ertvelde & Heleen Debruyne Jan Drost Ignaas Devisch Ernest van der Kwast Carien Westerveld Matthijs de Ridder Hans Schnitzler Mark Vangheluwe

Dirty Sheets..................................................................................20 When Love is Over.....................................................................22 The Excess of Empathy.............................................................24 Your Future is My Future.........................................................26 The African Dream.....................................................................28 The Age of Charlie Chaplin.....................................................30 A Little Philosophy of Digital Abstinence...........................32 A Letter to the Pope....................................................................34

CRIME FICTION

Boris O. Dittrich Corine Hartman

Capital Offence............................................................................36 Bloodline.......................................................................................38 FOR CHILDREN AND OTHER PHILOSOPHERS

Awee Prins & Thé Tjong-Khing

The Day the Sea Went Away..................................................40

SUCCESSFUL TITLES FICTION

Nhung Dam Stefan Hertmans Sytske van Koeveringe Jeroen Olyslaegers Tommy Wieringa

A Thousand Fathers....................................................................42 The Convert..................................................................................43 It’s Monday Today.....................................................................44 Will.................................................................................................45 The Death of Murat Idrissi.......................................................46 SUCCESSFUL TITLES NON-FICTION

Jan Caeyers David Van Reybrouck & Mohamed El Bachiri

Beethoven: A Biography...........................................................47 A Jihad for Love..........................................................................48 1

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Press on previous work: ‘The only ones to have achieved the

holy grail of the Total Novel in recent years are W.G. Sebald with Austerlitz, J.M. Coetzee with Disgrace and Philip Roth with Everyman. We could add the name Tommy Wieringa to this list.’ LE FIGARO ‘Highly

intelligent. Wieringa will make you think and keep you reading eagerly to the final page.’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

‘You know you’re in

the presence of properly great fiction writing when you forget to question a single word of it.’ THE GUARDIAN TOMMY WIERINGA (b. 1967) is the author of

books including Joe Speedboat (F. Bordewijk Prize), Caesarion (shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), These Are the Names (Gouden Boekenuil Readers’ Prize and Libris Literature Prize) and The Death of Murat Idrissi. Translations of his books have been published in more than twenty countries.

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Tommy Wieringa

The Blessed Rita 00

‘Not only was Rita the patron saint of hopeless causes, but also of infertile women and women in bad marriages, butchers and meat traders.’ His whole life, Paul Krüzen has lived with his father in an old, haunted farmhouse, not far from the German border. Where once his father took care of him, now he takes care of his father. In those fifty years, they have seen their village change drastically. The world is on the move: the Chinese now run the bars and restaurants in Mariënveen, while Russians, Bulgarians and Poles have become a familiar presence. .

The great change began with a Russian pilot who escaped the Soviet Union in a crop duster and crashed in a cornfield behind their house at the height of the Cold War. This triggered a chain of events from which Paul Krüzen and his father have never fully recovered. .

The Blessed Rita is an enchanting memento for those left behind and an ode to those wanting to transcend themselves. Translation rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: Scribe (UK & ANZ), many option publishers – Novel – 286 pages – October 2017 – English sample translation available – Featured by the Dutch Foundation for Literature 3

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Press on In My Father’s Garden: ‘Nobody

has written so penetratingly about how a

person can become lost because of religion.’ SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG .

‘I have never read a Dutch novel that is so

pure and so

well written. He deserves all the prizes we have this year.’ VRIJ NEDERLAND .

‘A truly majestic novel … Anyone

who reads this book without a lump in his throat cannot be human.’ ELSEVIER JAN SIEBELINK (b. 1938) won himself

an unprecedentedly large and diverse readership of more than half a million with his novel In My Father’s Garden. Published in several languages, it won him the AKO Literature Prize and was made into a successful Dutch film in 2016. In 2010 he published another bestseller, Clara’s Body, and in 2015 the novel Margje, the sequel to In My Father’s Garden.

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Jan Siebelink

The Boy Next Door An entire life in a magnificent portrait Next door to the Sievez family lives Henk Wielheesen, a boy who has never found speaking easy and who has become friends with the Sievez boy, Ruben. Henk is still young when his mother dies and he is left at the mercy of his stepmother’s whims. .

‘He looked at his son. “And now this: she wants a room for herself upstairs. To get dressed, put on her makeup. A place of her own where she can leave her stuff, packets of lotion, lipstick. I’ve already suggested the junk room up there. It could be made into something nice. She says that won’t do. She’s decided to pick your room.” It was deathly quiet. Only the privet hedge shuddered, sighed.’ .

Helped by the family next door, Henk finds safety. When the stepmother dies a horrible death, he comes to work in Mr Sievez’s greenhouse. .

Jan Siebelink traces Henk’s simple life, which is played out mainly in and around his house. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Novel – 293 pages – September 2017 5

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Press on The Convert: ‘Hertmans has created a heroine

for the ages.’ ***** KNACK

Press on War and Turpentine: ‘Not since reading W.G. Sebald’s “The Rings of Saturn” have I been so taken with a demonstration of the storytelling confluence of fiction and nonfiction. I say “confluence” because Stefan Hertmans, like Sebald, is interested in the places where narrative authority, invention and speculation flow together…a

masterly book about memory, art, love and war…In a world of novels with overdetermined, linear plotlines – their chapters like so many boxcars on a freight train – War and Turpentine delivers a

blast of

narrative fresh air.’ NEW YORK TIMES ‘The novel is wonderful, full of astonishingly vivid moments of powerful imagery. (…) War and Turpentine has a quietly resonant

personal epic quality that dwarfs all around it.’

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SUNDAY TIMES STEFAN HERTMANS (b. 1951) is the author of

novels, story collections, essays and poetry. His work has won him many awards, including the Multatuli Prize, the F. Bordewijk Prize, the AKO Literature Prize and the E. du Perron Prize. His novel War and Turpentine was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize 2017. War and Turpentine sold 250,000 copies and has been published in twenty-four languages. His most recent novel, The Convert, which garnered praise from all sides, was published in 2016. 6

Stefan Hertmans

Antigone in Molenbeek This story of a suicide bomber’s sister grabs you by the throat Antigone in Molenbeek is the highly charged account of a young woman who goes in search of her dead brother. She wants most of all to be able to bury him, but that proves impossible. ..

‘We still don’t know for sure where your brother... Enfin, where your brother’s remains...enfin, I mean: we still don’t know whether the material will actually be released. ..

The MATERIAL...sir?! But sir, it’s now taken weeks that I... ..

Quiet Nouria, quiet, just let me, er, have –my say. Ahem. Smoker’s cough. A sip of coffee. Like some water, Nouria? ..

No sir, tell me, where is he... where is my brother?’ ..

Drawing upon the famous tragedy of Sophocles, Stefan Hertmans has written an extremely topical, haunting and poetic book. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Many option publishers – Paperback – 88 pages October 2017 – German and French translations available 7

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From the book: ‘Those women did all the work, and they earned a lot – I mean, an awful lot. They went diving every day, sometimes for up to eight hours. Wearing just goggles and flippers, they didn’t use oxygen cylinders or anything. They took a gulp of air and remained under for minutes, in search of cockles. Each time they brought up handfuls. You could barely keep up with them. You tried, of course, but let’s face it, you couldn’t do it at all. Sometimes you just bobbed on the surface, to watch. Those women were like animals, coming up for air, very quickly, before diving back down again. They used a special word for the water – something to do with the surface always being permeable – and you could hear the appreciation in their language.’ ‘What’s miraculous about this story is that it’s

as wacky as

it is effective. Iris Kouwenaar is a believable extinguished star, a fragile genius. Just before the end, she demonstrates genuine mastery in a twelve-page prose poem detailing her exceptional bond with Kay. This piece of art in particular, this almost swan song by Iris, is Alma Mathijsen’s breakthrough

as a mature author. It furthermore offers readers of both sexes food for thought.’ **** DE VOLKSKRANT (1984) studied Image & Language at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Creative Writing in New York. She is the author of six plays, a collection of short stories and two novels. Mathijsen writes essays for the NRC Handelsblad. ALMA

MATHIJSEN

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Alma Mathijsen

Forget the Girls Iris and Kay’s friendship outweighs everything and creates a world enough for two An American journalist named Fields travels with some reluctance to a small Dutch village to interview the famous writer Iris Kouwenaar. Once there, he is soon overwhelmed by a fascination for the mysterious relationship between Iris and her housemate, Kay. He forces himself into their life and observes the total devotion with which Kay cares for her deteriorating friend. In their own little world, between the four walls of a bedroom in West Friesland, the two women have surrendered themselves to one another. Forget the Girls shines a new light on friendship, which is at least as intense and complex as a romantic relationship. In this novel Alma Mathijsen explores the thresholds between devotion and obsession, between self-sacrifice and egoism.

World rights: De Bezige Bij – Novel – 216 pages – September 2017 – English sample translation and synopsis available 9

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From the book: ‘There's a moment of silence during a flight, right after the climb, when all the wing flaps have neatly folded back and the engines switch to much lower power. Compared to the earlier roar and vibration the soft growl feels for a brief moment like gliding; the thrust in your back suddenly drops away. The first time I flew I thought the engines had failed: stall, the plummet to earth was about to begin. I squeezed my hands white.’

ARJEN VAN VEELEN (b.

1980) writes essays, travel stories and features for dailies including NRC Handelsblad and De Correspondent. His previous books include On Restlessness (longlisted for the AKO Literature Prize) and And Here a Picture of a Cat (winner of the Jan Hanlo Essay Prize). He studied classical languages and journalism before working as a foreign correspondent in the United States and as a teacher of Greek and Latin.

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Arjen van Veelen

Notes on the Relocation of Obelisks A debut novel about Alexander the Great, modern loneliness and the loss of a friend A young writer travels to Alexandria with his deceased friend Tomas’s books in his suitcase. He wants to immortalize the books by putting them on the shelves of the famous Ancient Library of Alexandria. At the same time he goes in search of the tomb of Alexander Great, whose biography he has wanted to write for some time. During his wanderings through the city, all kinds of memories come to him of Tomas, whose ghost walks its streets. .. In this essayistic novel Arjen van Veelen looks for ways to give meaning to life and death. Against the background of an ancient city, the Flemish countryside and the poor neighbourhoods of America he creates a personal monument to a lost friendship.

World rights: De Bezige Bij – Novel – 249 pages – October 2017 – English sample translation available 11

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‘A current,

self-assured novel about loneliness and life in a rapidly changing city. To read in one sitting.’ ALGEMEEN DAGBLAD

‘Sanneke van Hassel places

her finger with startling accuracy on the sore spot of the current era.’ TZUM Press on previous work: ‘There is a true

talent and tireless perspicacity required to make it all sound so natural.’ JURY RAPPORT, ANNA BLAMAN PRIZE 2013 SANNEKE VAN HASSEL (b. Rotterdam,

1971) was awarded the BNG New Literature Prize in 2008 for her first two story collections, Ice Rain (2005) and White Feather (2007). Her novel Nest appeared in 2010, followed by the collections Donkey (2012) and Here I Stay (2014). Ten years after her debut, Jan van Mersbergen made a selection of her stories that was published as The Mornings. In 2013 she won the Anna Blaman Prize for her oeuvre and recently the Times Literary Supplement praised her story ‘Indian Time’ in The Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories. . .

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Sanneke van Hassel

Common Ground An urban novel on good intentions and fear of the unknown Johannes has worked for years in the heart of the city with homeless people and drug addicts. He has started a garden in the grounds of their crisis centre, secretly nostalgic for the meadows of his childhood. From her apartment opposite, Landa, with a baby in her arms, looks out on the messy complex. She dreams of a park with swings and wants the crisis centre removed. Having failed to convince the neighbourhood, she forges a plan. ‘When the door slides open, she runs into the corridor. The apartment building is a complex of cells, the residents shutting themselves off from the city behind their front doors. She needs a junkie in order to get into her house.’

World rights: De Bezige Bij – Novel – 220 pages – August 2017 – English sample translation available 13

THOMAS RAP …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

‘Heerma van Voss writes with such

an infectious style

that you’re only too happy to put on a LP, pardon, CD after putting this book down.’ ELESEVIER ‘And those who don’t readily blast Dr. Dre or 50 Cent on their speakers will

find solace here too. All the more because these exceptionally well documented pieces go broad: from the intimate, via the keyboard, to the function of literature.’ DE MORGEN ‘And damn: he writes about his heroes in Replacements with such a compelling style that, even if the genre barely interests you, you

breathlessly read further.’ VPRO GIDS

Press on previous work: ‘Some of Heerma van Voss’s stories are good, others are very good. A

real achievement.’ **** NRC HANDELSBLAD THOMAS HEERMA VAN VOSS (b. 1990) is the

author of The Everything Table (2009) and of the much praised novel Stern (2013), soon to be published by Schöffling Verlag in Germany. His stories, essays and articles have appeared in NRC.next, Vrij Nederland, Trouw, De Gids, Tirade, Das Magazin and Passionate. .

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Thomas Heerma van Voss

Replacements About musicians who can do something he can’t do and dare to do something he daren’t do; who live the way he doesn’t live Thomas Heerma van Voss is seven years old when he goes to a pop concert for the first time and stands eye to eye with his idols. He is enchanted. It’s the start of a musical journey of discovery that by means of his own hip-hop collective Old-South Gangsters takes him to the poor districts of New Orleans. In a book full of telling details and personal reflections, Thomas Heerma van Voss writes about music. ‘My legs and hands are shaking. I've never been to a concert before. Okay, I went to the Spice Girls in the GerleDome. But I was so sick with excitement that I left again after a few minutes. In the car park I vomited all over my mother's car and then, feeling dizzy, I went and stood right at the back, so far from the stage that I only saw tiny dolls, barely recognizable even on the video screens, and I wanted to go home almost straight away.’

World rights: Thomas Rap – Short stories – 238 pages – August 2017 15

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‘A delicately

unfolded, cleverly constructed and, through their psychological finesse, fascinating story.’ FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU

‘No doubt,

the impression made by Sleepless Night is inversely proportional to its length : unforgettable.’’ JEAN MATTERN, EDITIONS GRASSET Press on other work: ‘Musicality and a feel for passion. There is life,

love

and pain on every page.’ THE NEW YORK TIMES ‘Margriet de Moor is the “European

expert on the

abysses of love”’ MICHAEL KRÜGER, KÖLNER STADTANZEIGER

MARGRIET DE MOOR (b. 1941) made

her debut in 1988 with the short story collection Seen from Behind. It was followed by successful novels including First Grey, Then White, Then Blue, which won her the AKO Literature Prize in 1992, The Virtuoso, The Kreuzer Sonata, The Storm, The Painter and the Girl, Mélodie d’amour and Of Birds and People. Her work has been translated into twenty-four languages. .

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Margriet de Moor

Sleepless Night Why did her young husband commit suicide? And why does she bake cake at night? Everyone thought she would move house after the shameful incident. An accident, she called it, the shot in the chicory greenhouse. She remained, renounced her widow’s existence and started meeting men through personal ads. The encounters always followed the same pattern: getting to know one another, stories, a shared night. But the memory of her deceased husband still has her in its grasp. During a sleepless winter’s night she thinks over the years past and tries to fathom her young husband. Why did he do it? And what is her part in the story? With her powerful voice, Margriet de Moor tells a gripping love story, about departure and death, rage and jealousy and the possibility of a new beginning. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: Carl Hanser Verlag (Germany), Editions Grasset (France) – Novel – 126 pages – February 2017 – Featured by the Dutch Foundation for Literature – Full German translation and English sample available 17

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‘A literary

tour de force that contains the quintessence of Hermans’s work. Inhabitants of a sadistic universe full of malice and misunderstanding, a place that allows no escape, at least not in this disturbing book.’ FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG ‘Unsurpassed

in its stylistic precision, unsettling in its language, dialogue, atmosphere, humour.’ HARRY MULISCH, AUTHOR (1921-1995) was one of the greatest of post-war Dutch authors. He left a huge and varied body of work. Before devoting his life to writing, Hermans taught physical geography at the University of Groningen for many years. He started writing and publishing in magazines at an early age. His polemical and provocative style led to a court case in 1952. In addition to novels he published short stories, essays, poetry, plays and translations. His work has been translated into many languages. A stage version of The Darkroom of Damocles was first performed in 2015 and in February 2016 the film of the novel Beyond Sleep, a Dutch-Norwegian co-production, was launched in Dutch cinemas to great acclaim (the producer is Key Film, the director Boudewijn Koole). WILLEM FREDERIK HERMANS

MODERN CLASSICS ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. . .

Willem Frederik Hermans

The Safe House A canonical war novella that dissects the destructive force of human nature A Dutch soldier in a muddy no man’s land moves into a luxurious villa. Before long a German officer turns up at the door. He has come to requisition the house and assumes that his enemy is its rightful owner. A bizarre situation results, with a disturbing ending. .

The Safe House, which with its cynical tone encountered a great deal of hostility when it was first published, has become a classic of Dutch literature from the period after the Second World War. .

‘Sometimes I didn’t even understand the orders. Not that the officers cared. Three days before, our platoon had been shelled by our own side. A special Russian detachment had also arrived, selected five men and taken them behind the barn we were bivouacked in to shoot them. One tried to run away. The next morning he was lying face-up on the road. Nobody dared move him out of the way. We marched over him, putting our feet down on top of him to keep in step. I was bringing up the rear of the column. By the time I reached him his head was already cracked and unrecognizable. I couldn’t tell who it was. I must have seen him every day for three months. But I wouldn’t have known his name.’ World rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: Afbau Verlag (Germany), Archipelago Press (US); Pushkin Press (UK); RCS Libri (Italy) other translations published years ago – Novella – 78 pages –1952 – Featured by the Dutch Foundation for Literature – Full English translation available 19

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From the book:

‘Slide shows of infected sexual organs under magnification, endless films of painful childbirth and condoms that we were told to pull over the end of a broom handle. Stammering biology teachers who described all contraceptives apart from the pill and the male condom as hopelessly outdated. When they came to the subject of consent it was interpreted clumsily: girls, you must only have sex with a boy who loves you and with whom you’ve already been in a relationship for a long time. Only then will you be safe and respected. None of what we were taught made us well informed or resilient in our sexuality.’

(b. 1988) is a historian at the University of Leiden, where she researches the history of social movements where they relate to the body, disability and gender. ANAÏS VAN ERTVELDE

HELEEN DEBRUYNE (b. 1988)

works for Radio Klara and writes for De Morgen and Humo. Her debut De plantrekkers was published to critical acclaim.

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Anaïs Van Ertvelde & Heleen Debruyne

Dirty Sheets A new, audacious vision of sexuality Sex is everywhere. On television, on the streets, on social media – there’s no escaping it. Entwined bodies, suggestive half-open mouths and sex games flash past all the time. We Westerners must therefore be liberated, truly free to do as we like with our bodies. .

For a long time Anaïs Van Ertvelde and Heleen Debruyne agreed, but then they increasingly started to notice that their desires clashed with established norms, well hidden but all the more persistent for that. .

In this book they show that our supposed sexual freedom is an illusion. They explore history, culture and science, and their own experiences, to discover the things that restrict our bodies, in the hope of finally moving on from unnecessary embarrassment. These adventurous essays tackle such questions as: .

Why porn turns us on but we still insist on erasing our search history Why women hide their tampons Why we never learned how a clitoris actually worked during Sex Ed. Why people think virgins have a hymen & more... World rights: De Bezige Bij – Essays – 224 pages – October 2017 English sample available 21

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Press on Thinking Helps: ‘The Dutch

Alain de Botton est arrivé.’

PSYCHOLOGIE MAGAZINE

‘Thinking Helps is refreshing. After reading Drost’s book I felt a lot better than before.’ TROUW Press on The Romantic Fallacy: ‘An illuminating, erudite

yet hopeful book. With his clear-sighted view, Jan Drost does love a great service.’ **** DE TELEGRAAF JAN DROST (b. 1975) is a writer,

philosopher and musician. He specializes in the philosophy of culture, and particularly the philosophy of love. He is a performer in the musical-theatre lecture Plato Was A Spice Girl and teaches at The School of Life. He writes for various media, including NRC Handelsblad, Trouw, de Volkskrant and Filosofie Magazine. Drost’s previous books include The Romantic Misunderstanding (2011) and Thinking Helps (2015).

Jan Drost

When Love is Over A philosopher of love on the pain of love: a book that consoles and helps us understand What if the person you love suddenly leaves you, even though you wanted them to stay? It happens to many of us. Jan Drost is no exception. After a relationship that lasted ten years he was left on his own with his memories and a question: what now? Raw and unsparingly honest, Jan Drost takes us through all the stages of his grief and tries to interpret them with the help of philosophy, music, films and literature. Why does disappointment in love cause such all-consuming pain? Why is it so difficult to carry on? And how do you carry on? And in what sense might it be better not to? Jan Drost gets us through it all like a comforting friend. When Love is Over is a personal and a universal story about love, parting and starting again. But above all it’s a plea for a way of life in which loving, learning to love and continuing to love are central, a life in which we’re not alone and, if at all possible, don’t leave anyone alone. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Philosophy/sociology – 272 pages October 2017 – English sample translation available 23

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Press on Restlessness: ‘Devisch makes a stand for passion, creativity and dreams; positive concerns that are the result of that ever-persistent push forward. Restlessness is neither a fiction nor a self-help book, but rather a startlingly and stunningly written essay on how we can relate to that hectic changing world.’ FROM THE JURY REPORT, BEST SPIRITUAL BOOK AWARD 2016 ‘Restlessness is an exceptionally accessible and multidimensional book about a theme that nevertheless remains a main feature of Western culture. Devisch wishes to describe rather than moralise, though in his plea for a restless, creative and passionate existence the moral peeks at us from around the corner. But then that’s also the charm of this book.’**** TROUW ‘An extremely worthwhile read. As well as a philosophical and historical exploration of troubling feelings, Devisch extends to us something

we can grasp in order to pull ourselves out of the morass.’ KNACK IGNAAS DEVISCH (b. 1970) is professor of ethics,

philosophy and medical philosophy at the University of Ghent and the Artevelde College. He publishes in the fields of social, medical and political philosophy. His critical essay about medicalization, Sick of Health, was published by De Bezige Bij in 2013. His book Restlessness, which critically examined today’s obsession with finding balance in our lives, won the best Spiritual Book Award in 2016. 24

Ignaas Devisch

The Excess of Empathy .

Is empathy always good? Can we have too much of it? What is that, empathy? Empathy is the power to imagine and feel what you believe to be another person’s experience. In a time in which social contrasts and social inequality are coming to the fore, there are loud calls for more empathy. From Barack Obama and Angela Merkel to Jesse Klaver, many regard the human ability to put ourselves in another person’s place as a driving force behind morality and a tried and tested remedy for indifference. But is empathy always good? At the level of personal relationships it is, but empathy is not a miracle cure that will solve all social problems. A degree of indifference is desirable, sometimes even a dire necessity. In this book Ignaas Devisch guides the reader through the history of thinking about empathy, taking examples from current debates about society as his starting point. He challenges us to think about our view of humanity: deep down, aren’t we all not just friends but scoundrels as well? World rights: De Bezige Bij – Philosophy – 192 pages – October 2017 25

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Press on The Ice-Cream Makers: ‘Van der Kwast is simply

magnificent when he describes the voluptuousness of pretty girls: you can feel the curves under your fingers. I want to sleep with all of these paper women. There are some truly

moving scenes

in The Ice-Cream Makers.’ HUMO Press on Mama Tandoori: ‘This is already the

funniest and most moving book that I have read this year. Whoever was wondering where the Dutch Salman Rushdie was hiding, or even the Dutch Aravind Adiga, is given the answer with Mama Tandoori.’ HERMAN KOCH, AUTHOR OF THE DINNER ERNEST VAN DER KWAST (b. 1981) was born in

Mumbai, India. He made his breakthrough with the novel Mama Tandoori (2010), which became a bestseller in the Netherlands and Italy, with more than 100,000 copies sold. In 2012 he published the novella Giovanna’s Navel, which also appeared in German. In 2015 it was followed by the novel The Ice Cream Makers, for which translation rights were sold in seven countries. It won him the Dioraphte Youth Literature Prize. In 2016 he published The Miracle that Doesn’t Fall Down. From early 2016 to early 2017 Van der Kwast was ‘Free Writer’ at the VU University in Amsterdam. In that capacity he interviewed refugee students about their motives, plans and dreams for their lives in the Netherlands. 26

Ernest van der Kwast

Your Future Is My Future ......

The son of a woman with a refugee past writes down the stories of four refugees Omar, Mohamad, Heba and Pouya all carry with them perfect memories of the places where they were born. ‘The most beautiful marbles’ bought by grandfather in a small shop, ‘a room of my own’, ‘broad streets and hot, sunny days’ and a country ‘where there were apple trees’ in which a small boy planted olives. The stories start out from these beautiful fragments of past time, the opening lines of lives in which inescapable tragedy revealed itself only later. With great empathy and eye for detail, Ernest van der Kwast gives a voice to four young people who fled to the Netherlands from different back-grounds. The result is a moving book of courageous stories that offer us a different perspective on people who have made the crossing to Europe.

World rights: De Bezige Bij – Literary non-fiction – 80 pages – October 2017 27

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‘One of Africa’s most exciting countries, through the eyes of

a discerning observer. Read it!’ KEES BROERE, FORMER AFRICA CORRESPONDENT

‘A beautifully written book for anyone who wants to understand modern Kenya better.’ BERT KOENDERS, DUTCH MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

‘Her book is truly

captivating and creates a clear image of Kenya at the intersection between modernity and tradition. The lives she describes make a lasting impression, the people she brings to life remain with you, bringing into sharp focus both the practical and the existential obstacles and challenges of this worldwide transformation.’ ATHENAEUM CARIEN WESTERVELD graduated in inter-

national relations. She has worked for the Clingendael Institute and for several publishing houses. In 2010 she moved to Kenya, where she wrote a blog for De Groene Amsterdammer about her attempts to solve the riddle of her new home nation.

Carien Westerveld

The African Dream On the Rising Middle Class Discerning and personal portrait of a generation that symbolizes the possibilities and opportunities of a new Africa Anyone who thinks of Africa thinks of opportunities and modernization. A new type of city-dweller is emerging who embraces new lifestyles and is seen as the driving force behind economic progress. Businesspeople, journalists, policymakers and other who take an interest in Africa talk continually about this emerging middle class, regarded by public opinion as a gamechanger that has transformed Africa from a lost continent into a place of hope and growth. But who are the young people who form the new middle class and what motivates them? Carien Westerveld visited them in megachurches, on a course about how to become rich, at work and in bars. She spent many hours talking to people in their twenties and thirties whom she has been following for years, and here she writes about their ideas on love, money, politics and the future. This is a fascinating and topical book about a generation that in its quest for a prosperous and successful life is steering a course between tradition and modernity. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Literary non-fiction – 284 pages – August 2017 29

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‘Matthijs de Ridder takes the place of Chaplin’s camera and in doing so bridges his personal story with the larger, collective history. Masterfully

written and documented. A immense pleasure to read.’ PHILIPP BLOM, AUTHOR ‘Charlie Chaplin constantly laid connections to the political world in his comedies. Matthijs de Ridder exposes

the

wickerwork.’**** DE STANDAARD ‘De Ridder pushes the reader into the cinema with determination and explains image after image how the films expressed their maker’s ideas and intentions with the utmost care. A

fascinating tale. A revelation.’ DE MORGEN MATTHIJS DE RIDDER (1979) is a writer

and critic. He edited the work of Louis Paul Boon, Paul van Ostaijen and Gaston Bursens. He also wrote the acclaimed works To Borms: Willem Elsschot, a political writer (2007), Rebellious Rhythms: How Jazz and Literature Found One Another (2012) and Maintain the Desire: A Literary History 1984-2014 (2014).

LITERARY NON-FICTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Matthijs de Ridder

The Age of Charlie Chaplin The story of a turbulent era, beheld through the lens of a film icon From the moment Charlie Chaplin appeared on the silver screen in 1914, his rise was meteoric. Within a year, he had become the most famous man on the planet and his tramp the icon of the art form of the twentieth century: the cinema. The popularity of Chaplin’s small tramp was so overwhelming that he had an enormous influence outside of the cinemas as well. Allied soldiers in both world wars considered him a brother in arms, avant-garde artists him a muse, in the eyes of the Russian revolutionaries he lead the resistance against big industry and for many Americans he was the symbol par excellence of the American dream. Chaplin was, for better or for worse, dragged into the heated social debate of his time and always played his part. In The Age of Charlie Chaplin, Matthijs de Ridder dazzlingly writes about an artist who managed to embody all of the important themes of the twentieth century. This book is a phenomenal cultural history of a troubled age that determines our view of the world to this day. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Biography – 592 pages – May 2017 31

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Press on The Digital Proleteriat: ‘This is an

alarming book about the fate of humanity in

a world where digital technology and ‘the net’ have fundamentally altered our existence. Schnitzler successfully articulates the potential drawbacks in an erudite,

intelligent, enthralling and eloquent manner.’ AD VERBRUGGE, PHILOSOPHER

‘Schnitzler is a born

philosopher, as can clearly be seen

from his Marxism-tinted analysis of the consequences of the digital revolution. With great clarity he cites many philosophers of today and yesterday, such as Marcuse, Kant, Marx and Sloterdijk.’ **** NRC HANDELSBLAD

(b. 1968) is a philosopher, commentator and former columnist for de Volkskrant. His essays and opinion pieces have appeared in publications including NRC Handelsblad, nrc.next, Trouw, De Standaard, De Morgen and Hard Gras. He writes columns for the journalistic platform Follow The Money and teaches at the Bildung Academie. 2015 saw the publication of his work The Digital Proletariat. HANS

SCHNITZLER

LITERARY NON-FICTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Hans Schnitlzer

A Little Philosophy of Digital Abstinence A thought provoking book that will make you consider your digital existence Is a virtual experience the same as a physical experience? Do Facebook friends exist? Is boredom a problem? Is there a difference between your online and offline identities? When do you become an addict? More and more people are struggling to deal with the onscreen world. Schools and businesses are experimenting with screen-free days, resorts and training courses are springing up to offer digital detox and there is a widespread desire to ‘disconnect’. Philosopher Hans Schnitzler talks to millennials who have tried a period of digital abstinence. Is it still possible to find your way? When you put aside your phone, what takes its place? Do you still have friends? Do you still exist? And perhaps the most interesting philosophical question of all: is it possible simply to pick up your digital life again later? This book shows what happens if you suddenly go offline in a world that is always online. Schnitzler uses his interviews to paint a recognizable picture of the problems of modern humanity. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Philosophy – 176 pages – October 2017 33

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From the book: ‘I was forced to do things that were against my nature. Therefore I’ve grown differently, developed differently, become someone different. That’s how I feel. Misshapen. I have been forced to do much. Far too much.’ ‘A Letter to the Pope is more than your typical victim’s book, more than a painful account of the injustice that was done to him. Vangheluwe’s story stands out for its depth, its nuance and for the wealth of its language. The idiom is Catholic through and through. It shows that Vangheluwe was not just betrayed by his uncle bishop, but by his entire world, which was dictated by the Church and God.’**** DE VOLKSKRANT

‘It is an especially gripping book, not only because of the powerlessness of the young victim against his criminal abuser, but also because of the book’s extraordinary and exceptional literary construction….And its style is universal: more than a translation, it deserves the

broadest possible readership across the Catholic world.’ KRANT VAN WEST-VLAANDEREN ‘A book that leaves

you gasping for air.’ DE LIMBURGER

MARK VANGHELUWE (1968) is a sculptor and photographer. He lives and works in Flanders. 34

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Mark Vangheluwe

A Letter to the Pope ‘Time and again he sought me out, creating those opportunities himself—just as God created day and night. On holy days and also on ordinary days, without exception, he violated and harassed me with desires I could not fulfill.’ After suffering years of sexual abuse at the hands of his ‘Uncle Bishop’, Mark Vangheluwe decided to take a stand and break the silence. In 2010 he exposed one of the largest scandals within the Roman Catholic Church to date, unleashing a media storm that grabbed headlines around the world. In the meantime he and his family lead a quiet life in a remote corner of Flanders, though shame and fear continue to torment him. Until the moment he comes to the realization that he can determine the course of his life and finds the words and form to do so: a letter to the Pope. ‘He had me in a lethal stranglehold, to the point that I nearly suffocated. He took possession of my body and spirit. I could not breathe, slowly but surely I suffocated under his stinking, hairy, greasy body. I simply endured it, and shut myself off from the outside world.’

World rights: De Bezige Bij – Memoir – 230 pages – 2017 – English sample translation available 35

CARGO …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Press on W.O.L.F.: ‘An intense

and interesting book with well-developed

characters and fascinating storylines that continually keeps the reader enthralled.’ **** HEBBAN ‘Dittrich is following in

the footsteps of great

writers.’ DE VOLKSKRANT ‘Topical,

urgent, thrilling. Qualified as Book of the

Month’ ZIN ‘A fine plot and wonderful characters make W.O.L.F. a

delicious thriller.’ **** ALGEMEEN DAGBLAD BORIS O. DITTRICH (b. 1955) worked as a

lawyer in Amsterdam and as a judge in Alkmaar. He was for many years a member of parliament and leader of the political party D66. Since 2007 he has worked for Human Rights Watch, first in New York and since 2013 in Berlin. He is the author of the thrillers Murder and Fire, Lying the Truth, and W.O.L.F., all of which met with an enthusiastic reception.

CRIME FICTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Boris O. Dittrich

Capital Offence Dittrich excels with this modern Amsterdam detective novel, based on real events In front of a jeweller’s in the fashionable P.C. Hooftstraat in Amsterdam, the police arrest a tramp on suspicion of theft. He resists fiercely and one of the police officers uses a choke hold, as a result of which the man falls into a coma. Detective Maya Oliphant interrogates the police. Their account contrasts markedly with a video that turns up on the internet. When the tramp is murdered in his hospital bed, Maya suddenly finds herself in charge of a murder investigation. Under great pressure, she tries to determine the tramp’s identity, a search that takes her back thirty years to a time when the man was an important judge in Alkmaar and issued several extremely controversial verdicts. He then disappeared without trace. Was the murderer seeking revenge for a supposed injustice done to him thirty years before?

World rights: Cargo – Literary Thriller – 358 pages – September 2017 37

CARGO …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

‘Bold,

raw and hard, written in a breath-taking

tempo and with a character we seldom meet in Dutch thrillers.’ JURY REPORT, THE GOLDEN NOOSE AWARD 2013

‘A hard

thriller from the Dutch Karin Slaughter.’

ELSEVIER

‘Written in that signature Corine Hartman style: beautiful,

intelligent, evocative, without frills and distracting details.’ ***** AD MAGAZINE ‘Strong

characters, blood curdling action, an exciting plot and unexpected twists turn this psychological thriller into an ***** CRIMEZONE MAGAZINE

irresistibly riveting story.’

THE JESSICA HAIDER SERIES: 80,000 COPIES SOLD

BLOODLINE

HARD AS GLASS

SOULLESS

ICE COLD

SHROUD

CORINE HARTMAN (b. 1964) worked as a scriptwriter for

many years and has fifteen thrillers to her name. Her books are famed for their tough action sequences and fascinating characters. She has been nominated for the Gouden Strop a number of times and has won several Crimezone Awards.

CRIME FICTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Corine Hartman

Bloodline Bold, raw and hard: a woman who won’t rest until she avenges the murder of her son After the death of her son, police detective Jessica Haider experiences intense periods of sadness and mourning, but also powerless rage. Nick was murdered by a psychopath she had locked up years before, and this man seems to have but one goal since his escape: to ruin her life. Having been forced to take leave, Jessy may now prove that she can once again handle her work. The sixteen year old daughter of a family of horticulturists seems to have committed suicide. It’s quickly apparent that the girl had every reason to live and the detective doesn’t believe the story. Jessica plunges into the life of the family, but has a hidden agenda: she seizes the opportunity to hunt down the tormentor who murdered her son. It’s the start of cat-and-mouse game of life and death. Bloodline is part one in a series of blood-chilling psychological thrillers written by Corine Hartman. For this series she crafted the character of Jessica Haider—a beautiful, but unconventional detective, not all that different from Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter: aside from solving murders and violent crimes, she also leaves a trail of unsolved murder cases. The killer who’s after Jessica had better count on a very decisive reckoning... World rights: Cargo – Psychological thriller – Five part series – 280 pages 2014, E-book 2017 – English sample material available 39

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AWEE PRINS (1957) is a philosopher and professor of phenomenology,

hermeneutics and the philosophy of art at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He founded the Centre for Philosophy and Art there in 1991. In 2006, he received the prestigious Education Prize. That same year he published the philosophical bestseller Out of Boredom: a case for accepting the impermanence of things and for revaluing the everyday. Over the last few years Awee has championed a ‘philosophy of the everyday’. THÉ TJONG-KHING (1933) is an illustrator, predominantly of children’s

books by authors such as Guus Keuijer and Dolf Verroen. He has received the Golden Pencil Award three times and in 2005 won both the Woutertje Pieterse Prize and the Silver Pencil for his book Where Is the Cake? In 2010 he received the Max Velthuijs Prize for his entire oeuvre. He is currently shortlisted for the German Youth Literature Prize in the Bilderbuch category.

FOR CHILDREN AND OTHER PHILOSOPHERS …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Awee Prins & Thé Tjong-Khing

The Day the Sea Went Away Five heart-warming stories for children and other philosophers One fine—or rather not so fine—day, the sea appears to have vanished. All of the fish are in uproar. A tiny shrimp is determined to find the cause and moves heaven and earth to get the empty sea filled up again. The Day the Sea Went Away contains funny, slightly absurd and loving children’s stories with more than a few winks at the adult world. They are the stories philosopher and writer Awee Prins invented for his two children Dylan and Duider. He describes a rabbit who wants to become an elephant, reveals how a pig kicks his mud addiction and how bears manage to keep their sheets clean during hibernation. These extraordinary stories have been brought to life with some 30 wonderful drawings by the acclaimed illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing.

World rights: De Bezige Bij – Children’s book – 64 pages, coloured illustrations September 2017 – English sample translation available 41

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Nhung Dam A Thousand Fathers The imaginary world of a young Vietnamese girl hides a raw reality. ‘I had to have this book for our list. Situated on the threshold between magical worlds and a harsh reality, this wonderful novel pulls you right in from the very first page. A brilliant and absolutely captivating debut.’ HEIDE KLOTH, SENIOR EDITOR AT ULLSTEIN VERLAG ‘With her debut novel A Thousand Fathers, Nhung Dam (1984) has written a book that surprises, confuses and enthrals. A book of “un-Dutch” allure.’ HAARLEMS DAGBLAD

In an ice-cold village on the edge of the world a Vietnamese family tries to survive. As refugees they were fished out of the water by a northern cargo ship and placed in a country they knew nothing of. The father departs one day leaving no message. The rest of the family is abandoned to the whims of the Chinese mafia. The eleven-year-old daughter becomes trapped between her mother’s complete despair and the insanity of her unfamiliar surroundings. She finds herself looking at a world in which an excess of imagination is punished. Residents meet every week in the Bald Billiards café to decide who the village belongs to, the sea takes fierce bites out of the land and snow falls endlessly from the heavens. She finds a glimmer of friendship with a man who lives on a dilapidated little boat and asks her a thousand questions. Her only weapon for finding her father in a world full of whores, toothpaste salesmen and gambling addicts is her rich imagination. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: Ullstein (Germany) – 368 pages – January 2017 – English sample available 42

SUCCESSFUL TITLES FICTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Stefan Hertmans The Convert ‘It was if they could hear the loneliness of time itself.’ ‘The Convert is a crucial book that will stir hearts and minds. […] Once again a testament to his outstanding authorship.’ **** DE STANDAARD .

‘From out of a small history Hertmans spins an immense story with impressive imagination…[he] evokes the era as a snickering character hiding from just us around the corner.’ **** DE VOLKSKRANT .

‘The Convert is a portrait of an iron-willed woman. Hertmans has created a heroine for the ages.’ ***** KNACK .

‘The book is terrifyingly current. The intolerance, the religious fanaticism, the search for identity, the refugee issue. One thousand years on and it seems as though barely anything has changed.’ DE TIJD .

In a small town in Provence, France, the people have spoken of a pogrom and a hidden chest since time immemorial. At the end of nineteenth century a startling collection of Jewish documents was found in a synagogue in Cairo. It is here that Stefan Hertmans discovers the traces of a distinguished Christian noblewoman of the eleventh century who abandons her life for the love of a Jewish boy. He follows in the footsteps of this woman as she flees with her forbidden love and undertakes a dizzying journey full of hardships, hunted by everyone and everything. Hertmans based the story of The Convert on historical facts, including a letter of recommendation written by a rabbi on parchment, and he brings the Middle Ages to life with immense imagination and stylistic ingenuity. It is a story that draws him into a chaotic world of passion, hate, love and death, and one that in the end carries him from Cairo back to the small village in Provence where he has made his home for decades. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: Hanser Berlin (Germany), Marginesy (Poland), Harvill Secker (UK), Text (ANZ), Pantheon (USA, Canada), Gallimard (France), Marsilio (Italy), ArtPeople (Denmark), Norstedts (Sweden), Europa (Hungary), Fraktura (Croatia) – Novel – 314 pages – October 2016 – English sample, full German translation available 43

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Sytske van Koeveringe It’s Monday Today The marvelous adventures of a young cleaning lady ‘Without wanting to generalise, you could say that the Rietveld writer’s program also produces a certain kind of writer’s voice, that of a sensitive, self-searching, individualistic, lightlyphilosophical type, a type of Mrs Dalloway: one roaming with subtle antennae in a sometimes threatening world…It’s Monday Today depicts a modern type of crisis, a disjunction between one’s individual desires and the social obligation to interact with others.’ TROUW ‘What makes Van Koeveringe’s debut so extraordinary is how the boundaries between Julia and her employers blur: she lives through them. Gradually, the line separating reality from fantasy begins to fade as well. But that’s how Julia gets what she wants: to vanish, to lose herself in someone else.’ DE VOLKSKRANT Julia, a young woman approaching thirty, fills her days with cleaning other people’s homes. Little by little she takes possession of the houses: the roof garden of number 25, the bedroom of number 6, the kitchen of number 122-D, the bed of number 27. .

Once there was the promise of a literary debut, now there is pressure from others to have some social significance. Her boyfriend has left her because she wrote a book about their relationship but she still fantasises about him. She drinks too much, sleeps badly and wanders through the city’s empty streets at night. By day she observes others who appear to have their lives in order. Her father wants her to show more ambition. Yogaman is after her but she doesn’t really want him. Sytske van Koeveringe humorously reveals the complex world in which everyone must find their own path. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: Luchterhand Verlag (Germany) – Novel 288 pages – April 2017 – English sample translation available 44

Jeroen Olyslaegers Will A brutal war novel where nobody’s innocent ‘An important and confrontational book in which the past continues to resonate with the present, in a style sharp as a razor.’ ***** NRC HANDELSBLAD

‘Will introduces an original, fresh perspective on a period that seems to have been written to death.’ **** KNACK ‘A book like a slap in the face.’ ****

DE MORGEN

‘Jeroen Olyslaegers has done it: his Big Book. He has written his Sorrow of Belgium, his Chapel Road and above all his very own Will.’ ***** DE STANDAARD It is wartime. Antwerp is in the grip of violence and distrust. Wilfried Wils regards himself as a poet in the making but at the same time he has to get by as an auxiliary policeman. The beautiful Yvette falls in love with him; her brother is a daredevil who sticks his neck out to help the Jews. Wilfried’s artistic mentor Nijdig Baardje (‘Angry Beard’) is keen to see all the Jews annihilated. Wavering uneasily between two worlds, Wilfried tries to survive as the persuit of the Jews continues relentlessly. Years later he tells his story to his greatgrandson. Olyslaegers disputes the widely accepted boudaries between good and evil and makes the book resonate ingeniously with the twenty-first century. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: DuMont (Germany), Euromedia Group (Czech Republic), Pushkin Press (United Kingdom), Éditions Stock (France), Seix Barrel (Spain), Edizioni E/O (Italy) – Novel – pages 333 – August 2016 – Winner Fintro Literature Prize, The Ultima Prize, shortlisted for the Libris Literature Prize English sample translation available 45

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Tommy Wieringa The Death of Murat Idrissi A tale of longing and opportunism, recklessness and death

. ‘Wieringa drives up the tension of a thriller in light, smoothly rolling sentences which seem to play no part in the atrocities they describe.’ **** DE VOLKSKRANT

‘The new Tommy Wieringa soon changes from a road trip novel into a nightmare.’**** DE STANDAARD

. The ferry from Tangier to Algeciras, a fierce wind blows through the Gibraltar Strait. In the hold of the ship, hidden in a car boot, a young man dies. Soon afterwards, two young Moroccan-Dutch women enter Spain with the dead stowaway in their car. The land stretches out before them, vast and empty. On either side of the asphalt lies the desert. What started as a lighthearted adventure has now become their fate. In 2004 Tommy Wieringa attended a court case where he took down the account which forms the basis for The Death of Murat Idrissi. Hundreds of anonymous corpses are found every year along the Spanish motorways, belonging to those who have failed to survive the journey over. The Death of Murat Idrissi describes the fate of one of them, as well as that of two daughters of migrants, who feel like foreigners, both in their parents’ home country and in the Netherlands.

Translation rights: De Bezige Bij; Publisher: Hollands Diep – Rights sold: Scribe (UK & ANZ) – Novella – 126 pages – March 2017 .

SUCCESSFUL TITLES NON-FICTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Jan Caeyers

Beethoven A Biography A modern classic and bestseller in Germany, revised in cooperation with the BeethovenHaus in Bonn to mark the Beethoven Year in 2020 ‘A monumental Beethoven biography. A tremendous book that proved an exceptional pleasure to read. (...) A formidable achievement.’ VRIJ NEDERLAND ..

‘Here the biography of a musician, written by a musician, itself grows to become music. It begins, as it were, to sing. The connoisseur enjoys and moves along with it effortlessly.’ FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG ..

Ludwig van Beethoven is regarded as the greatest composer of all time and his popularity remains undimmed to this day. Jan Caeyers’ biography is the definitive book about Beethoven, covering the composer’s entire life and work. It is the story of an artistic career, describing Beethoven’s development as a composer and the musical world of his time. In beautiful, compelling prose, Jan Caeyers portrays Beethoven as a brilliant composer but also examines his extremely complicated and tormented personality. The facts of Beethoven’s life – his sombre childhood, his fluctuating moods, his desires, his relationships and conflicts with family and friends, his passion for the ‘immortal beloved’, the tragedy of his deafness – are explored in connection with his work. Jan Caeyers also pays plenty of attention to the historical context, including political developments in the Europe of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and he examines with admirable lucidity Beethoven’s music, which became more complex and extraordinary as the years went on. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: C.H. Beck Verlag (Germany), Typex (Hungary), Sphinx (Egypt), Ghil (South Korea) – Biography 672 pages – 2011, revised 2017 47

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Mohamed El Bachiri & David Van Reybrouck A Jihad for Love ‘I am a jihadist for love. Do not ask me to hate, I would rather die!’ ‘Everyone should have to read, own and love this book, as reference work for in times of doubt, envy and anger.’ NEDERLANDS DAGBLAD

‘This magnanimous appeal from a widower deserves many readers: both the young and the old, and those wishing to drive out immigrants from our country.’ DE VOLKSKRANT Mohamed El Bachiri is a Belgian of Moroccan origin, a Muslim and a native of Molenbeek, the Brussels district regularly referred to as the breeding grounds for the recent attacks in Paris and the Belgian capital. He is also the husband of Loubna Lafquiri, the love of his life and the mother of his children, who died on 22 March 2016 in the Brussels bombings. In late December of 2016, his loving speech on the television show De Afspraak stirred millions of viewers and went on to become the most frequently viewed video ever on Flemish television. In A Jihad for Love—written down and arranged by best-selling Flemish author David Van Reybrouck—Mohamed speaks about his growing-up years in Molenbeek, his love for his wife and his life after the attacks. As an homage to Loubna, Mohamed channels the pain he suffered with resilience and bravery into a message of love and humanity, in which he appeals to western Muslims for a more humanist approach to Islam. The result is a sober text of astonishing wisdom. A Jihad for Love is the answer to the hatred of those who wish to divide us, of those who propagate violence and terrorism. World rights: De Bezige Bij – Rights sold: Head of Zeus (UK), Fischer Verlag (Germany), J.C. Lattès (France) – Paperback – 96 pages – March 2017 – Full English, French and German translations available 48

      

Johan de Koning Director De Bezige Bij; A.W. Bruna

Francien Schuursma Publisher De Bezige Bij

Suzanne Holtzer Editor-in-chief fiction De Bezige Bij

Katrijn Van Hauwermeiren Editor-in-chief fiction Flanders De Bezige Bij

Haye Koningsveld Editor-in-chief non-fiction De Bezige Bij

Catharina Schilder Editor non-fiction De Bezige Bij

Peter van der Zwaag Editor-in-chief translated fiction De Bezige Bij

Arend Hosman Publisher Thomas Rap

Saartje Schwachöfer Editor Thomas Rap

Marjolein Schurink Publisher Cargo

Chris Kooi Editor De Bezige Bij; Cargo

Mark Beumer Head of sales De Bezige Bij; Thomas Rap; Cargo

Marijke Nagtegaal Senior rights manager De Bezige Bij; Thomas Rap; Cargo

Uta Matten Rights manager De Bezige Bij; Thomas Rap; Cargo

Haico Kaashoek Rights assistant De Bezige Bij; Thomas Rap; Cargo

THO MA S RA P

C ARG O