The prestigious, triennial Theo Thijssen Prize for children’s and youth literature goes to Bibi Dumon Tak, the board of the P.C. Hooft Prize for Literature announced. She is the first author of literary non-fiction to be awarded this prize. She regularly received scholarships from the Dutch Foundation for Literature for writing her books. Her work has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, German, English, Japanese and Polish.
The jury of the Theo Thijssen Prize 2018 commends Dumon Tak for her ability to captivate the reader:
“One does not need fiction to become enraptured. Rapture is reached through the gaze of a child - uninhibited, original and honest - and the pen of a poet - quirky, aesthetic and personal. Then observe, and write. Creating such stuff as literature is made off. Bibi Dumon Tak possesses that gaze and pen like no other.”
Bibi Dumon Tak (1964) wrote books for both adults and children, including Het koeienboek (2001), Latino King (2010) and the Children’s Book Week Gift 2006, Laika tussen de sterren. Animals are a recurrent theme throughout her work. She received the ‘Zilveren Griffel’ four times, including one for Het koeienboek, and in 2012 she received the Gouden Griffel, the prize for the best children’s book of the year, for Winterdieren.
The Theo Thijssen Prize consists of an amount of 60,000 euros and a sculpture by writer Theo Thijssen. The prize will be presented in The Hague in September 2018.
More information
