Sjoerd Kuyper
Sjoerd Kuyper (b. 1952) made his writing debut in 1974 with a collection of poems for adults. He wrote various stories for television, among them 'Majesteit, Uw ontbijt' (‘Your Breakfast, Sire’) and 'Het zakmes' (‘The Pocket Knife’) which was also filmed and received fourteen awards, among them an Emmy.
In 1994 he won a Silver Slate Pencil for Robin en Suze (‘Robin And Suze’), in 1995 he won another for Het eiland Klaasje (‘The Isle of Klaasje’). In 2012 he was awarded the Theo Thijssen Prize for his oeuvre. He is, he thinks, a writer who writes mostly about what he thinks, fears, feels, more than about what he himself has experienced. Kuyper writes in a style that is poetic, clear and vivid and enters with ease into the emotional world of young children.
More Sjoerd Kuyper
Bizarre
‘Every person is a story that in no way resembles the story of anyone else. By reading, you find out what other people think.’ Taking this idea as a starting point, Sjoerd Kuyper has written 'Bizarre', a unique diary adventure packed with beautiful sentences and important thoughts and in which the truth is at stake. In addition, through his unforgettable protagonist, he incidentally raises all kinds of major social issues.
The Dive
For this work of magical realism, Sjoerd Kuyper found inspiration on the island of Curaçao. He organised his thoughts in emails to his children, with songs, a monologue, a newspaper article. That was how the form of the book came about: ‘a love letter to the island of Curaçao, in 25 genres,’ as one reviewer wrote.