Ted van Lieshout: Author – Netherlands

I put as much as possible of myself into my work. If you describe a person, you have to do this in as lifelike a manner as possible. You can only realize that by borrowing from yourself, by looking at yourself

T. van Lieshout

for the past three decades, Ted van Lieshout has dedicated himself to practicing a great diversity of genres for all age groups and particularly young readers, including picture books, poetry, fiction, radio plays, song lyrics, and scripts for children’s television. Born in Eindhoven in December 1955 into a family of twelve children, van Lieshout set his mind on becoming a writer at an early age. After his graduation in Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in 1980, he worked for various publishers as an illustrator and book designer. In 1984, he made his debut as a children’s writer with his first poem in De Blauw Geruite Kiel, the famous children’s newspaper of a Dutch Weekly magazine. Since then, he has made tireless efforts in publishing quality works for children and adolescents.

A distinctive trait of van Lieshout’s works is that his stories and poems, partly semi-autobiographical, deal with compelling cross-generational themes, such as death and sexuality. Writing about these sensitive topics has enabled him to come to terms with the death of his father and young. At the same time, these themes also connect him to children, who share his quest for belonging and security. In a voice that is both personal and collective, van Lieshout tries to unearth private feelings and create a healing effect with his sense of “melancholy humor” that can resonate with children. Besides these characteristics, van Lieshout tends to approach ordinary subjects in novel ways, experimenting with words and images and sounds and rhythms. With such language effects he aspires to open up children’s literature.

Van Lieshout’s influence in children’s literature is considerable; his works have been translated into Danish, English, Estonian, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish. A case in point is that the German edition of his novel Gebr (Brothers) won Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize) in 1999. Over the course of his career, his unique contribution to children’s literature has brought him a number of awards, including the Charlotte Köhler Stipendium, Gouden Griffel award, and the Theo Thijssen Prize.