The Dutch translation of John Greens debut novel Looking for Alaska was published by Lemniscaat in 2005. Six years later he is an internationally acclaimed writer who has published four novels aimed at young adults.
These books have received numerous awards and are immensely popular amongst young readers worldwide. All four have been published by Lemniscaat in translation of Aleid van Eekelen-Benders: Looking for Alaska (Het grote misschien, 2005), An Abundance of Katherines (19 keer Katherine, 2007), Paper Towns (dito, 2009) and with co-author David Levithan: Will Grayson, Will Grayson (dito, 2010). Greens new novel partly takes place in the Netherlands. Some chapters will be written in Amsterdam as this upcoming spring Green, together with his family, will be living at the Writer’s Residency at Spui square.
John Green reviews literature for Booklist and The New York Times Book Review and also writes for several radioshows. In addition, he and his brother Hank have created the popular videoblog Brotherhood 2.0. In his opinion, his literary work relates to his many other activities in the following way:
“In the media-saturated world in which we live, I try to write novels for teenagers that they’ll choose to read but that also offer a richness and depth one can’t find watching TV or playing video games. That said, my writing is inextricably linked with other media: I believe in going to teenagers where they are—hyves, facebook, twitter, YouTube—and building relationships with them so that they might become readers, and more broadly, engaged citizens of the world.”
John Green will tour several bookstores and libraries around the country from April 17th-26th. On May 9th he is invited at the University of Utrecht for a joint guest lecture with his Dutch translator Aleid van Eekelen-Benders. Furthermore Will Grayson, Will Grayson is on the longlist of the Dioraphte Jongerenliteratuur Prijs (formerly known as the Grote Jongerenliteratuur Prijs). The nominations are announced on April 18th, three titles in the category of Dutch originals and three titles in the category of translated fiction. The people’s choice award by young readers will be organized by CJP Netherlands and CJP Flanders through a digital voting campaign. In May the prize winners will be announced.
See also:
- John Green’s response to the death of Bin Laden in an interview for AT5
