Benny Lindelauf

In the last decade the world has achieved an astonishing turnover-speed, but that does not apply to books published in China. I think it took me two years to get my hands on the book. And a lot of emails preceded that. Sometimes I doubted whether the book was in the bookstores over there. But it defenitely was worth the trouble: I finally have a copy and it really looks fantastic. Not only because it is full of mysterious Chinese characters, but also because the book has been published larger, so that Ludwig’s drawings are even more beautiful than they already were.

And the good news is that they will also be publishing ‘Whole Stories for Half a Soldier’. Probably in 2024 0f 2025.

Usually it goes like this: a writer writes a book or story and the illustrator makes drawings. But for ‘Mr Makkelie’s Night Lanterns’ it went exactly the other way around. Illustrator Alice Hoogstad created 14 eye-catching prints and asked 13 authors to come up with a story to go with it. Sjoerd Kuyper, Paul van Loon, Annet Schaap, Bart Moeyaert, Bette Westera, Daan Remmerts de Vries, Dolf Verroen, Jan Paul Schutten, Jowi Schmitz, Koos Meinderts, Marancke Rinck, Marjolijn Hof and I took up the challenge myself. We couldn’t choose, you got the print and that’s what you had to write about. A wonderful exercise in inventing.

Gottmer published a beautiful collection of poems. Poet
Jaap Robben collected 333 of the most beautiful poems from the
Dutch and Flamish children’s poetry in recent years.
The sturdy book consists of four parts and in each part you enter
a new phase of childhood. Poems that make you laugh, move
or amaze you.

It also contains two poems of mine. It is illustrated by Sebastian
Van Doninck with images that are just as moving.
What an incredible wealth this book is.

Yes, here it is. The newest baby. An adaptation of the Christmas story.

As a child in winter I sang ‘the shepherds lay at night’ in church. And I often wondered why the shepherds in the middle of the night did follow the light of some faraway star. I couldn’t believe that a shepherd lying cozy by his fire, probably dead tired would see the star and think: Hey, let’s see where that light will take me!

The question came to my mind again when theatregroup Het Laagland asked me to write a play especially for Christmas. Accompanied by the thirty-person orchestra of the South Netherlands Philharmonic, I told the story. A fantastic experience.

And now there is the book, an adaptation of that text. With beautiful illustrations by Marieke Nelissen.

Happy Holidays!

Today ‘The opposite of worries’, the collection of books about the Boon family, was published.

A sturdy collection of 639 pages, containing ‘Nine open Arms’ and ‘Heivisj’s heaven’.

There is nothing better than the smell of a fresh book!