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The Dutch Foundation for Literature has the task of supporting writers and translators, and of promoting Dutch literature abroad. The foundation invests in the quality and diversity of literature through grants for writers, translators, publishers and festivals, and contributes to the production and distribution of Dutch and Frisian literature at home and abroad.

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<a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/books/the-teller-of-wonders">The Teller of Wonders</a> gives an intriguing look at a historical figure and the relationship between fact and fiction, with plenty of fun along the way. Marco Polo, famous even in his own lifetime, has returned home after years of travel and immediately finds himself in a tricky political situation. His hometown of Venice is at war with Genoa, and the adventurous merchant is imprisoned by the Genoese.In his luxurious cell, he receives important guests who want to hear about his experiences. Even the prison director comes by for a visit and the maid Topina secretly eavesdrops from the corridor. When she discovers that a well-known writer is locked up on another floor, she steals the keys from the guard and brings the two men together, so that they can create a book. As a reward, she is allowed to listen in on their discussions.

Lida Dijkstra (b. 1961), or Dykstra in Frisian, her mother tongue, grew up in Friesland. She trained as a museum worker in Leiden, where she later studied art history and archaeology. She worked in museums for some years, but after her daughter was born, she began to write more and more. Her work has been published in both Dutch and Frisian, and her oeuvre also includes read-aloud stories and exciting tales for readers who are a little older. History often plays a role in her writing.

About Lida Dijkstra

Djenné Fila quickly attracted the attention of readers and critics with her illustrations for Lida Dijkstra’s Het beest met de kracht van tien paarden (2019) and Joukje Akveld’s Een kleine geschiedenis van de mensheid door dierenogen (2022), for which she won the Gouden Penseel for the year’s best illustrated children’s book.

About Djenné Fila

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The Gouden Griffel 2025, the Netherlands’ annual award for the best written children’s book, goes to the ‘Teller of Wonders’ by Lida Dijkstra. The prize has been festively awarded last week. Djenné Fila, who illustrated the book, received a Zilveren Penseel for her work, earlier this year. ‘The Teller of Wonders’ was part of our Children’s Book Selection 2025.

The Teller of Wonders wins Gouden Griffel 2025

Laïla Koubaa (1977) is the daughter of a Tunisian father and a Belgian mother, and grew up in the Flemish village of Eggewaartskapelle. She holds a master’s degree in Eastern Languages and Cultures and is currently pursuing an academic degree in Visual Arts at LUCA, School of Arts in Ghent.Her debut Azizi en de kleine blauwe vogel (Azizi and the Little Blue Bird, Book Island, 2013) tells the story of young Azizi, who follows a blue bird on a symbolic journey. The story took shape during the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia in 2011 and has since been translated into English, French, Danish, and Chinese. This was followed by Hoger dan de bergen en dieper dan de zee (Uitgeverij Vrijdag, 2015), in which Koubaa tells the story of Monji, who migrates from Tunisia to Europe as a laborer in the 1970s.During her residency in Amsterdam, Koubaa will be working on the graphic novel Tot aan de overkant, in collaboration with illustrator Anneka Robeyns. The story follows Layla, a Middle Eastern journalist and ceramicist, who, during a trip to Tunisia, is confronted with the death of her mother and a magical diary that draws her into the past.Koubaa will also continue writing Kortverhalen over het slapen gaan (Bedtime Stories) and will give readings and workshops, including at Athenaeum Bookstore on Spui. There, she will lead a workshop based on her latest book Emile, de prins van het licht (De Eenhoorn, 2024), introducing children to the life and work of painter Emile Claus.<h2>About the residency</h2>Each year, the Flemish literary organization Passa Porta and the Dutch Foundation for Literature exchange an author for a residency opportunity in Belgium and the Netherlands. Passa Porta selects a Flemish author for a residency in Amsterdam, and the Dutch Foundation for Literature selects a Dutch author for a residency in Brussels. Flemish authors can express their interest in a stay in Brussels directly to Passa Porta.Previous Flemish residents in Amsterdam include Lies Van Gasse, Jeroen Olyslaegers, Maud Vanhauwaert, Tom Struyf, Roderik Six, Peter Terrin, Anne Provoost, Saskia de Coster, Max Greyson, Rudi Meulemans, and Bart Meuleman.

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Flemish children’s author Laïla Koubaa will stay at the Amsterdam Writers Residency from 1 to 28 July, at the invitation of Passa Porta and the Dutch Foundation for Literature. Each year, the Flemish literary organization Passa Porta and the Dutch Foundation for Literature exchange an author for a residency in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Laïla Koubaa as writer in residence in Amsterdam

The Dutch winners of a Zilveren Griffel or Zilveren Penseel have a chance to win the Gouden Griffel or Gouden Penseel, which will be awarded during the Children&#039;s Book Ball on September the 26th. Several nominated titles have been mentioned in our <a href="https://assets.letterenfonds.prod.verveagency.com/assets/brochures/nlf_dutchchildrensbooks2025_def.pdf">Children’s Book 2025 Catalogue</a>, such as <a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/books/violet-soapys-list">Violet Soapy’s List</a> (De lijst van Violet Sopjes) by David Vlietstra and the <a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/books/the-teller-of-wonders">The Teller of Wonders</a> (De wonderverteller) by Lida Dijkstra.

Age 0 - 6 <ul><li>Een ongelofelijk grote, ongelofelijk gevaarlijke leguaan by Pim Lammers, illustrated by Natascha Stenvert (Querido)</li><li>Vogel en Beer – De picknick en andere verhalen van Jarvis, translated by Tjibbe Veldkamp (Gottmer)</li></ul>Age 6 - 9<ul><li>Kip en kat by Margreet de Heer (Zwijsen)</li><li>Roversjong by Jef Aerts, illustrated by Martijn van der Linden (Querido)</li></ul>Age 9 - 12 <ul><li>De zomer die alles was by Mariska Overman, illustrated by Esther Leeuwrik (Kluitman)</li><li><a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/books/violet-soapys-list">De lijst van Violet Sopjes by David Vlietstra, illustrated by Yoko Heiligers (Gottmer)</a></li><li>Patina by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Maria Postema (Condor)</li></ul>Age 12 - 15 <ul><li>Welkom thuis, chrononauten by Dirk Weber (Querido)</li><li><a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/books/oever">Oever by Ludwig Volbeda (Querido)</a></li></ul>Informative<ul><li><a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/books/the-teller-of-wonders">De wonderverteller by Lida Dijkstra, illustrated by Djenné Fila (Luitingh-Sijthoff)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/books/smarter-than-you-think">Slimmer dan je denkt by Lotte Stegeman, illustrated by Mark Janssen (Luitingh-Sijthoff)</a></li></ul>Poetry<ul><li>Het onvergetelijke verhaal van Reinaert de vos by Maria van Donkelaar &amp; Martine van Rooijen, illustrated by van Wendy Panders (Gottmer)</li></ul>

Zilveren Griffels - Best Written Children’s Books

Picture Books<ul><li>Een ongelofelijk grote, ongelofelijk gevaarlijke leguaan by Natascha Stenvert, written by Pim Lammers (Querido)</li><li>De wens by Victo Ngai, written by Mu’o’n Thi Van, translated by Hans &amp; Monique Hagen (Mondo)</li></ul>Illustrated Children’s Books<ul><li>Donsdag by Jeska Verstegen, written by Kristien Dieltiens (Lannoo)</li><li>De schedel by Jon Klassen, translated by Berd Ruttenberg (Hoogland &amp; Van Klaveren)</li></ul>Informative Books<ul><li>Je hond en jij by Elena Bulay, translated by Robbert-Jan Henkes (Querido)</li><li>Het grote kippenboek by Jan Hamstra, written by Evelien de Vlieger (Lannoo)</li></ul>Illustrated Youth Books<ul><li>De wonderverteller by Djenné Fila, written by Lida Dijkstra (Luitingh-Sijthoff)</li><li>Het hart van een giraf is ongelooflijk groot by Amanda Chanfreau, written by Sofia Chanfreau, translated by Sophie Kuiper (Lannoo)</li></ul>

Zilveren Penselen – Best Illustrated Dutch Children’s Books

Twelve “Zilveren Griffels” and eight “Zilveren Penselen” have been festively awarded in Amsterdam, last week. The Griffels and Penselen are the Netherlands’ major awards for the best written (Griffels) and illustrated (Penselen) Children’s Books.

Griffels and Penselen 2025 Awarded for Best Dutch Children's Books

Chris Tse is the current Poet Laureate of New Zealand. He is the author of three poetry collections published by Auckland University Press: How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes (winner of the 2016 Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry), HE’S SO MASC, and Super Model Minority (a finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry and longlisted at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards). He and Emma Barnes edited Out Here: An Anthology of Takatāpui and LGBTQIA+ Writers from Aotearoa. In 2024, he was a fellow of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program Fall Residency. Tse has also been a programmer and guest curator for arts and literary festivals in New Zealand.During his time in Amsterdam, Tse will be working on a number of projects including the completion of a new poetry collection.

During Poetry International June 12: <a href="https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/festival/festival/50-155_55th-Poetry-International-Festival-Rotterdam?day=thursday">Opening Program</a> June 13, 20:00-20:30: <a href="https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/festival/programma-onderdeel/55-254_Main-reading-Chris-Tse">Main reading</a> June 14, 19:15 – 20:15: <a href="https://www.poetryinternational.com/nl/festival/programma-onderdeel/55-272_Guiding-Voices-x-Poetry-International-Chris-Tse">Guiding Voices x Poetry International</a>

Performances

June 2 – June 27 2025

Poet Chris Tse, from New Zealand, will be staying at the Amsterdam Writers Residency from June 2st to June 27th, upon invitation by the Dutch Foundation for Literature and Poetry International, where he will perform during the annual poetry festival.

Chris Tse as a writer in residence in Amsterdam

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Clarice Gargard

For Gargard, change is about imagining an alternative future, crafting new narratives, caring for the planet and daring to hold up a mirror to ourselves. ‘You don’t lay siege to empire by appealing to its sense of morality,’ she writes. ‘You lay siege to empire by becoming more human and asking others to do the same.’ The road to change can be a difficult one, and knowing how to care for and love ourselves and each other is essential. Gargard writes from experience, recounting moments of pain, exhaustion and hard-won success, as a Black woman in the public eye.  Gargard was born in the United States to Liberian parents. After having to flee from the Liberian civil wars at four years old, she ended growing up between the Netherlands and the United States. Her global and diverse education and upbringing have added to her unique perspective on society and the challenges we face today. She argues we have more power than we think and provides advice on how to, for example, organize within our communities and why it’s important to let love guide our activism.Toxic systems can’t be upheld if we choose to stop upholding them within ourselves – at work, at school, in public and our personal lives. Gargard pulls from renowned thinkers like James Baldwin, bell hooks, Octavia Butler, Arundhati Roy, Carl Jung and Ama Ata Aidoo. But also from Sufi and indigenous African practices to offer insight on how more authentic living can lead to an inner and outer (r)evolution. While looking at global injustice it seems like things are getting worse and can’t improve; Gargard reminds us that change is a gradual process, and each generation brings us a little closer to the freedom we desire. The old world is dying because a new one is looming on the horizon.  <ul><li>Highly anticipated in the Netherlands</li><li>A more practical guide to change making and activism, including the work of countless artists, writers, thinkers and indigenous groups  </li><li>Full English text available </li></ul>

Owing to her sharp style, the book exudes urgency and strength. It is, after all, the result of the hard lessons Gargard learned from her extraordinary past… From Resistance to (R)evolution can also be read as a manual for activists, written by someone with first-hand experience.

Clarice writes with a similar unyielding passion I’ve witnessed in her activism throughout the years. A courageous being writing courageously. Clarice doesn’t just reflect a world only meant for the brave, she invites us to imagine bringing about a revolution even when we are scared to do so. Clarice reminds us that there is space for each of us in this paradigm shift and it’s beautiful to read.

Sometimes you read something that is soft and radical at the same time. That shakes you up but also comforts. This book is about (r)evolution, our place in nature and about love. Not just for those who call themselves activists. But especially for those who doubt and are afraid. A rich and courageous book. Chapeau.

Book

Non-Fiction

One of the Netherlands’ most prominent voices on enacting change

Martijn Prins

‘What can I do?’ It’s a question millions of people are asking themselves as the world burns. For years journalist, documentary maker and community organizer Clarice Gargard has wrestled with how to best fight systemic injustice and oppression. In this book, based on her research, experiences and inspirations, she lays out ten paths that we can walk towards a personal and societal (r)evolution.

From Resistance to (R)evolution. Ten Roads Towards a New World

Ulbe Bosma

Born into a poor family in Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars, Junghuhn developed a love of mycology and botany early on, rebelled against family and religion, was imprisoned as a student for duelling, escaped, joined the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, and travelled as a physician to colonial Indonesia where he fell in love with Java’s flora, fauna and geology.  He became instrumental in the island’s production of kina bark, used to treat malaria. Time and again, however, Junghuhn’s volcanic personality would bring him into conflict with the colonial government, academic colleagues and friends.While Junghuhn was a man of action, Bosma paints a careful psychological portrait. He positions the polymath, and his significance within the international scientific community, in a time when romantic science (in the tradition of Goethe, Schelling and Novalis) was falling out of favour. Junghuhn’s work nevertheless won him the admiration of his idol Alexander von Humboldt, and his groundbreaking magnum opus, Java, Its Shape, Cladding and Internal Structure, remains a foundational text in Southeast Asian volcanology, botany, and geography. In the end, liver disease would cut short Junghuhn’s boundless ambition, and Bosma explores his paradoxical role as both critic and agent of the colonial system. <ul><li>From the author of The World of Sugar (Harvard University Press, 2023), translated into 10 languages</li><li>Irresistible biography that reads like an adventure novel</li><li>Specimens collected by Franz Junghuhn are still cared for in herbaria across the world</li></ul>

‘Bosma’s clear, energetic, and overwhelming biography is more than just a depiction of a hyperactive life in science. It is also an adventure novel.'

‘Ulbe Bosma’s book is more than a biography. […] It is a valuable and enriching contribution to the understanding and legacy of this often-underappreciated, remarkable polymath.’

On the unlikely, adventurous life of the ‘Humboldt of Java’

Leven op een vulkaan. Franz Junghuhn, een biografie

These days the Prussian-Dutch scientist Franz Junghuhn (1809-1864) is mostly known for his role in the Netherlands’ free thought movement. But he was so much more: an explorer, anthropologist, surveyor, physician, geographer, geologist, writer and botanist – and obsessed with Java’s many volcanos. In this irresistible biography, historian Ulbe Bosma recounts Junghuhn’s unlikely, adventurous life, restoring his legacy within today’s debates on science, ecology and colonial history.

Living on a Volcano. Franz Junghuhn: A Biography

Petra Couvée

Critic, children&#039;s book author, translator, memoirist and author of a three-volume diary, Korney Chukovsky was at the heart of Russian literary life for decades and knew practically everyone important in twentieth-century Russian literature and art, from Maxim Gorki and Ilja Repin, to Anna Achmatova, Vladimir Majakovski and Aleksandr Solzjenitsyn. He lived through two Tzars, multiple revolutions – he reported the mutiny on the Potemkin – four volatile Soviet leaders, famines, Stalin’s terror, evacuation, adulation, defamation, national vilification, self-sacrifice, bitter poverty, dachas, chauffeur-driven cars and the highest state literary awards.He was a survival artist, never arrested or exiled – though the same couldn’t be said of those close to him. Chukovsky had a large family and his son-in-law was arrested and murdered. While earlier publications inevitably came back to haunt him whenever the political winds turned, he escaped the brutal punishments inflicted upon more than a thousand other writers including Isaac Babel and Boris Pilnyak. In the end, the Chukovsky family’s eventful life – with imprisonments, favours and systematic opposition from high authorities, loss of loved ones – forces us to nuance our view of the dichotomy between loyalists and dissidents, good writers and bad.<ul><li>On a subject that is playing out again in the present – history is repeating itself</li><li>A portrait of Russia’s Dr Seuss</li><li>By the author of the internationally acclaimed The Zhivago Affair (Vintage)</li><li>For readers of Frank Westerman’s Engineers of the Soul and Michiel Krielaars’ The Sound of Utopia</li></ul>

A world opened for me when I read Petra Couvée’s The Days Burn Up Like Paper… Couvée shows, like no other, how as an artist you were forced to live during the Stalin terror.

It’s clear that very meticulous and thorough research was carried out… It’s partly thanks to Couvée’s pleasant, even entertaining style that you want to know everything about the family’s balancing act from start to finish.

An alternative history of the twentieth century in Russia, based on censure and literary power politics

Stella Rieck

De dagen branden als papier. De eeuw van de familie Tsjoekovski

The illegitimate son of a Jewish student and his Ukrainian housekeeper, Korney Chukovsky was born in the Russian Empire in 1882. By the time of his death in the Soviet Union in 1969, he’d sold 82 million books, translated into 64 languages. Writing under authoritarian rule was, however, often nearly impossible. Through his family’s story, Petra Couvée paints a brilliant portrait of Russia’s twentieth century.

The Days Burn up Like Paper. The Century of the Chukovsky Family

Reinier Kooiman

Kooiman takes us back to thirteenth-century Italy, where newly-independent city states like Bologna, Siena and Perugia first sought the fairest way to tax their citizens. Their eventual system, based on each citizen’s means, was a source of civic pride. These original ideals were, however, steadily forgotten with the industrial revolution and Adam Smith, who favoured manufacturers and merchants. The widespread destruction caused by the Second World War might have temporarily reversed the transfer of wealth from poor to rich, but since the 1970s when Thatcher and Reagan dismantled the welfare state, our tax systems have rather helped increase wealth inequality.As long as the tax system favours wealth over work, Kooiman argues, inequality will continue to grow. Fortunately, the solution doesn’t require a dismantling of capitalism, or the state – simply a fairer tax system that returns to simple principles and distributes wealth from the rich to the poor. Ultimately, he proposes a single tax on wealth, and demonstrates why it is feasible and why it will work. It’s time for those who own the world to help bear the burden.<ul><li>Argues for reclaiming the tax system as a democratic good we should all have a say in</li><li>Tax havens and capital flight, it turns out, are nothing new, with the church being tax exempt early on</li><li>Historical context for fans of Thomas Piketty and Garry Stevenson</li></ul>

The reason the book is a pleasure to read is that Kooiman builds up his book so exquisitely with historical insights.

A groundbreaking book...

A fascinating historical argument for making taxes simpler and fairer

Hayo Deinum

De sterkste schouders. Wat de geschiedenis ons leert over (on)eerlijke belastingen

Cicero famously called taxes the ‘sinews of the state’, essential to the government’s functioning. We’ve nevertheless reached a point where hardly anyone, politicians included, understands our byzantine tax systems. Isn’t there a better way? For tax specialist Reinier Kooiman, a democratic discussion about taxes doesn’t have to be complicated. We can understand the principles behind tax law if we understand how they were invented and where they went wrong.

The Strongest Shoulders. What History Teaches Us about (Un)equal Taxes

Best of Non-Fiction

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The Gouden Griffel 2025, the Netherlands’ annual award for the best written children’s book, goes to the ‘Teller of Wonders’ by Lida Dijkstra.

We are very happy to present our new Children’s Books from Holland brochure, with a fantastic cover image by Jan Jutte, a nationally and internationally acclaimed illustrator.

Dutch Children's Books 2025

This new edition of New Dutch Fiction presents a selection of books recently published in the Netherlands, books that have been included for their artistic and commercial success.

New Dutch Fiction Spring 2025

Our latest edition of Dutch Non-Ficton is now available. Each title has national and international dimensions, showing how the Netherlands is intertwined with the rest of the world.

Dutch Non-Fiction Spring 2025

The shortlist for the Vondel Translation Prize, the prize for the best English-language translation of a Dutch-language literary work, has been announced.

The Teller of Wonders wins Gouden Griffel 2025

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The Teller of Wonders wins Gouden Griffel 2025

Laïla Koubaa as writer in residence in Amsterdam

Griffels and Penselen 2025 Awarded for Best Dutch Children's Books

Chris Tse as a writer in residence in Amsterdam

Translation Database

Best of Non-Fiction

From Resistance to (R)evolution. Ten Roads Towards a New World

Living on a Volcano. Franz Junghuhn: A Biography

The Days Burn up Like Paper. The Century of the Chukovsky Family

The Strongest Shoulders. What History Teaches Us about (Un)equal Taxes