Peter van Gestel: Netherlands Author

Peter van Gestel was born in Amsterdam in 1937. Writing was as integral to Peter van Gestel's life as eating, sleeping, and breathing; he grew up in a family of writers. In addition to writing, theatre had a powerful impact on his life, and by the time he was eleven he had seen many of the great plays, including those of Shakespeare. As a young boy he combined these interests by composing his own plays. After trying his hand at acting with disappointing results, he turned to writing as a career. Van Gestel made a name for himself as a scriptwriter for radio and television and as a journalist.

At age 42, he debuted as a writer of children's literature and since then he has produced at least 20 children's books. He has received numerous awards for his body of work. The Diaries of Ko Kruier earned van Gestel both a Silver Pencil award and the Nienke van Hichtum Prize. Two of his most esteemed titles are Mariken (1991) and Winterijs (2001). Mariken is an 8-year-old protagonist of the book with the same name. The story takes place during the Middle Ages and is inspired by a well-known miracle play in which a foundling, Mariken, is raised by an eccentric. Mariken learns about life from a book called Mankind Is a Farce. Later she finds herself in the company of actors who become her family. The reviewer for NLPVF (Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature) Joke Linders notes that van Gestel examines ideas such as the search for God, love, death, and the soul and that Mariken is a tribute to "van Gestel's exceptional ability to capture the large view in small words."

Winterijs (Winter Ice) (2001) tells about the friendship between two boys who both have experienced loss in post-war Amsterdam. Lonely but resilient Thomas meets Zwaan, a child who lost his parents in the Holocaust. This book, which addresses grief and the difficulty of fitting into a world where differences are not valued, appeals to adults as well as child readers. Joke Linders commented: "The razor-sharp dialogue shows van Gestel's great empathy with the soul of a child." For Winterijs Peter van Gestel received three Dutch awards: the Gouden Griffel, the Woutertje Pieterse Prize, and the Nienke van Hichtum Prize. In 2006 van Gestel received the Theo Thijssen Prize, the most important Dutch prize for children's and adolescent literature.