Pieter Steinz passed away yesterday, at the age of fifty-two, in his home town, Haarlem. He was suffering from ALS, a progressive muscular disease with which he was diagnosed in 2013. He gradually laid aside his tasks as director of the Dutch Foundation for Literature but remained closely involved with the Foundation’s activities. He also published several successful books: Made in Europe (2014), Lezen met ALS (2015), and in 2015 the Book Week essay Waanzin in de wereldliteratuur. In that same year a completely revised edition appeared of Lezen Etcetera, first published twelve years earlier, with the title Steinz – Gids voor de wereldliteratuur. He wrote this ‘Dikke Steinz’ (‘The Thick Steinz’), as it became known, along with his daughter Jet Steinz.