Anton Quintana

Anton Quintana is the pen name of Anton Kuyten (1937 - 2017). He grew up in an orphanage, together with his twin brother. From the age of seventeen he roamed around the world. This experience, together with the compelling bonds of twinship was to determine his life and work.

Children's books

Quintana has written stories for radio and television, science fiction and thrillers, but the core of his oeuvre consists of novels for young adults. These are always about a solitary youngster coming into conflict with his surroundings and in particular with himself. Opposite him stands the figure of the wise, older counsellor. De bavianenkoning (The Baboon King, 1982) is set in Africa, where a half Kikuyu-half Masai boy is rejected by both tribes and manages to survive in the wilderness thanks to a group of baboons. De vuurman (The Fireman, 1987) is set in the south of the Netherlands in the eighteenth century, when a Robin Hood-style gang fights for justice.

Prizes

Quintana was awarded a Golden Slate Pencil for De bavianenkoning, and for Het boek van Bod Pa he received both the Gouden Uil and the Libris Woutertje Pieterse Prize 1996.

More Anton Quintana

Anton Quintana

The Book of Bod Pa

With 'the Book of Bod Pa' Quintana has written both a boy’s adventure book and a philosophical adolescent novel. It is a broadly-based story set among a tribe of nomads on the steppes of Central Asia, at a time when sword fighters whose life’s work was the defence of their honour still roamed the land. One of them is Bod Pa, a blind, dipsomaniac dwarf, scarred by life but never beaten in battle. He becomes the teacher of the son of a friendly tribal chief. This boy has a broken leg that will not heal and he uses his infirmity as an excuse to evade his responsibilities, scared of death and even more scared of life. From Bod Pa he learns to have the guts to take to the road, and that it is better ‘to have dents in your armour than to know nothing of the battle.’

Part ofChildren's books