Benny Lindelauf

Last week, a package arrived. I knew that a Young Lijster edition of ‘Hele Verhalen voor een Halve Soldaat’ was scheduled. ‘Lijsters’ are offered to schools by publisher Noordhoff as a subscription. They are a cheaper edition so that the barrier to reading remains low. The edition is special, because the original story is beautifully illustrated by Ludwig Volbeda. I believe Noordhoff does not have any other illustrated editions. Additionally, the original book had a square shape. The Lijsters books have a traditional rectangular shape, like most books, so Ludwig had his work cut out for him to adapt the illustrations.

Anyway, I thought I was going to unpack the Lijsters, but to my surprise, I found three new copies of ‘Hele Verhalen voor een Halve Soldaat’. Square and with illustrations. The seventh edition!

So now I am going to wait until the Lijsters arrive.

After ‘De Ballonvaarder’ (the film I wrote for the streaming service Disney+), I didn’t expect to make another film anytime soon. It is often a long process full of uncertainties and with a limited budget. Enter ‘Zapp Campus’ from the public broadcaster. They launched a competition for an animated film for children. The directing duo Janneke Swinkels and Tim Frijsinger (under the name Murmur) had read ‘Hele Verhalen voor een Halve Soldaat’ and were eager to collaborate. Would ‘Duizend Vadem’, a story from that collection, be suitable? Producer Peter Lindhout also came on board. The four of us developed a plan, which was approved for development. Now the VPRO also joined in as co-producer. Of the 22 applications, only four remained. And only two scripts would actually be made. We got to work again. I wrote the script for the animated film, Janneke and Tim set to work on the visuals and director’s vision, and Peter threw himself into the production aspects. After that, it was a nail-biting wait again. When we received the joyful news, I thought: uh… yes, but shouldn’t this have taken much longer? Fortunately, the film is stop-motion, which means it will be shot frame by frame. So it will take another year or two before the film can be seen on NPO. I’ll need some patience after all…

Sorry, this entry is only available in Nederlands.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Nederlands.

Illustrator Ingrid Godon and I were already thrilled and surprised that “The Woman and His Head” made the longlist for the Boon. And now we’ve actually made the shortlist for this prestigious Belgian literary prize. Other nominated children’s and young adult books are: The Wonderteller by Lida Dijkstra & Djenné Fila, Cricket by Annet Schaap, Metamorphosis by Geert-Jan Roebers & Merlijne Marell, and Peer by Mohana van den Kroonenberg & Karst by Janneke Rogaar. The winner will be announced live on Tuesday, March 24th. I’m already looking forward to this festive day. Leave that to the Belgians!