Arthur Japin

Arthur Japin (b. 1956) has written for the stage as well as for radio, film and television. His breakthrough came in 1997 with the novel De zwarte met het witte hart (The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi), which sold over 150,000 copies and was awarded several prizes. Een schitterend gebrek (In Lucia’s Eyes) won him the Libris Literature Prize in 2004. His other great historical novels – Someone Found and Vaslav – were also worldwide successes. His books have sold more than one and a half million copies in the Netherlands alone and have been published in more than twenty languages. What Silence Wants has been on the Dutch bestseller list since its publication and has so far sold over 55,000 copies.

De vierde wand

(De Arbeiderspers, 1998, 204 pagina's)

The publication of De zwarte met het witte hart (The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi) in 1997 established Arthur Japin’s name as a writer. This voluminous, bestselling novel about the tragic story of two Ashanti princes Kwasi and Kwame, who were offered as a gift to King William I in 1837, can compete with the work of writers like Marguerite Yourcenar and Hella Haasse. In a beautiful, polished style, Japin blended fiction and historic fact into a striking whole.

Een schitterend gebrek

(De Arbeiderspers, 2003, 240 pagina's)

Arthur Japin found his inspiration for In Lucia’s Eyes in an episode in the life of Giacomo Casanova, philanderer and bon vivant. In his memoirs Casanova tells of being invited to the country estate of Pasiano as a sixteen-year-old and falling hopelessly in love with the breathtaking Lucia, two years his junior. She has only one splendid flaw: ‘She is too young.’ Because of Lucia’s genuine innocence he does not bed her, promising instead to return in six months to ask for her hand in marriage.

De overgave

(De Arbeiderspers, 2007, 302 pagina's)

Arthur Japin vertelt in De overgave het hartverscheurende, gruwelijke en wrede verhaal van Sallie ‘Granny’ Parker, een diep gelovige blanke koloniste, die met haar familie, haar man, haar dochters en kleinkinderen steeds verder naar het Westen trekt om daar een nieuw leven op te bouwen. Voor zijn nieuwe roman heeft Arthur Japin zich begeven in de ‘nieuwe wereld’ van de Verenigde Staten van Amerika in het begin en het midden van de negentiende eeuw. Hij baseert het boek op historische feiten, die hij naar zijn hand zet.

Mrs. Degas

(De Arbeiderspers, 2020, 336 pagina's)

Arthur Japin brings us another brilliant historical novel centered on an artist – this time, Edgar Degas. In this book he once again has the artist look back on his life, resulting in a wholly engrossing account that also allows Japin to share his views on what it means to be an artist.

Wat stilte wil

(De Arbeiderspers, 2022, 336 pagina's)

After Kolya, about the composer Tchaikovsky, and Mrs Degas, Arthur Japin once again takes his readers back to the nineteenth century. What Silence Wants is a paean to Anna Witsen, a singer torn between her art and the mores of her time. ‘The story of a woman. How she went in search of her voice, was forced into silence, but in the end made herself heard.’

Schrijver