Dolf Verroen (born 20 November 1928) is a Dutch writer of children's literature. He won the

Zilveren Griffel The Gouden Griffel (Golden Stylus) is an award given to authors of children's or teenagers' literature in the Netherlands. History Since 1971, it is awarded each year during the Boekenweek, Dutch Children's Books Week, by the Collectieve Prop ...

award five times.

Career

Early in his career, he worked for the newspaper ''

Het Vrije Volk ''Het Vrije Volk'' () was a Dutch social-democratic daily newspaper that existed between 1945 and 1991. In 1991, it merged with the ''Rotterdams Nieuwsblad'', under the new title ''Rotterdams Dagblad'', which later merged with the ''Algemeen ...

''. Verroen made his debut in 1955 with the poetry collection ''In los verband''. His first children's book ''Het boek van Jan-Kees'', later republished as ''Paarden, van die enge grote'', was published in 1958 although he wrote the story originally between age 14 and 15. He won the

award five times: in 1979 for ''De kat in de gordijnen'', in 1981 for ''Hoe weet jij dat nou?'', in 1987 for ''Een leeuw met lange tanden'', in 2019 for ''Droomopa'' and in 2020 for ''Niemand ziet het''. In 2006, he won the

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

for his book ''Wie schön weiß ich bin'', a German translation of ''Slaaf Kindje Slaaf'' by Rolf Erdorf. The book was later republished under the title ''Hoe mooi wit ik ben'' with illustrations by

Martijn van der Linden Martijn van der Linden (born 1979) is a Dutch illustrator. Career Van der Linden illustrated the book ''Stem op de okapi'' written by Edward van de Vendel and they both won the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs in 2016 for this work. For this book he ...

. The book is inspired by his journey to Suriname with

Miep Diekmann Miep Diekmann (26 January 1925 – 9 July 2017) was a Dutch writer of children's literature. Early life Diekmann was born in 1925 in Assen. Her father worked in the military and as a result the family moved several times: Diekmann moved to Ka ...

in 1976. In 1999, he became ''Ridder'' in the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

In 2016, Verroen published ''Oorlog en vriendschap'', the Kinderboekenweekgeschenk, a publication on the occasion of the annual

Boekenweek In the Netherlands, the Boekenweek (; English: Book Week) is an annual "week" of ten days dedicated to Dutch literature. It has been held in March annually since 1932. Each Boekenweek has a theme. The beginning of the Boekenweek is marked by the ' ...

(Dutch Book Week). Verroen's books have been illustrated by various illustrators, including Jet Boeke,

Thé Tjong-Khing Thé Tjong-Khing (; born August 4, 1933) is a children's book illustrator based in the Netherlands. He was born in Purworedjo, Java, Dutch East Indies to a large Chinese Indonesian family. As a child he was interested in the Tarzan comic strips ...

and

Harrie Geelen Harrie Geelen (born 10 January 1939) is a Dutch illustrator, film director, animator, translator, writer and poet. In 2014, he was made a knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion ("Ridder in de orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw"). He studied Dutch i ...

Awards

* 1979:

, ''De kat in de gordijnen'' * 1981:

, ''Hoe weet jij dat nou?'' * 1982:

Vlag en Wimpel In the Netherlands, the award is an honourable mention awarded by either the jury of the Gouden Griffel and Zilveren Griffel awards (for Dutch-language children's literature) or the jury of the Gouden Penseel and Zilveren Penseel awards (for ...

, ''Juf is gek'' (with illustrations by

) * 1987:

, ''Een leeuw met lange tanden'' * 1989:

, ''De liefste poes van de wereld'' * 2006:

, ''Wie schön weiß ich bin'' (translated by Rolf Erdorf) * 2019:

, ''Droomopa'' * 2020:

, ''Niemand ziet het''

References

External links

*
Dolf Verroen
(in Dutch), Digital Library for Dutch Literature {{DEFAULTSORT:Verroen, Dolf 1928 births Living people Dutch children's writers 20th-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch male writers Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion