Jaap Robben

Jaap Robben (b. 1984) is a writer, poet and theatre director. Since 2000 he has published several books of poems and stories for children and grown-ups, including Twee vliegen (Two Flies, 2004), De nacht krekelt (The Night is Full of Crickets, 2007), Zullen we een bos beginnen? (Shall We Start a Wood?, 2008, shortlisted for the Gouden Uil for Children’s Literature), De Zuurtjes (The Sourballs, 2010) and Als iemand ooit mijn botjes vindt (If Anyone Finds My Bones, 2012). His widely acclaimed novel Birk, published in the UK and the US as You Have Me to Love, won the Dioraphte Prize, the ANV Debut Prize, and was voted Best Book of 2014 by Dutch booksellers. It has since been translated into four languages.

Birk

(De Geus, 2014, 255 pages)

Jaap Robben is well-known as a poet, children’s author and theatre director. This, his first novel, is set on a remote island between Norway and Scotland. Only one family lives there – the nine-year-old Mikael and his father and mother, plus a solitary neighbour. The mail arrives every week by boat. One day fate strikes: Mikael’s father drowns after saving his son from the sea.

Summer Coat

(De Geus, 2018, 312 pages)

In Jaap Robben’s debut novel Birk, a boy is manipulated into taking his dead father’s place. Now, in Summer Coat, Brian, the 13-year-old protagonist, also feels the crushing weight of an adult responsibility too much to bear as he is expected to care for his physically and mentally disabled brother Lucien for a whole summer.

Author

Jaap Robben

Birk

Summer Coat

Translations