Imme Dros (born 26 September 1936, Oudeschild,

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

) is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

writer of

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

Life

Dros grew up on the island of

. She studied

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. There she met her husband

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 ...

, with whom she had three children. As a homemaker, she wrote her first

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

in 1971. Her husband has illustrated several of her books. She currently resides in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

Work

In the 1970s, Dros wrote books mainly about animals. Young adolescents were her main theme in the 1980s, during which time she also shifted towards writing for a younger audience. From the 1990s on she made the classic works of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

and other

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

stories into new forms. For example, her book ''Odysseus : een man van verhalen'' describes how

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

attempts to return home after the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

. It is written in a rather poetic style of writing. Many of her works have received awards from Dutch literary critics. Dros has twice won the

Woutertje Pieterse Prijs The Woutertje Pieterse Prijs (; Dutch language, Dutch for Woutertje Pieterse Prize) is an annual Dutch literary award for the best Children's literature, children's book of the preceding year. History The award was first given in 1988. The ...

for best children's book of the year.

Awards

Nienke van Hichtum-prijs The Nienke van Hichtum-prijs (Dutch language, Dutch for Nienke van Hichtum Prize) is a biennial Dutch literary award for children's literature awarded by the Jan Campert-Stichting. The award is named after children's author Nienke van Hichtum and ...

(1983, ''En een tijd van vrede'') *

(1988, ''Annetje Lie in het holst van de nacht'' with illustrations by Margriet Heymans) * Woutertje Pieterse Prijs (2006, ''Bijna jarig'', together with

) *

Theo Thijssen-prijs The Theo Thijssen-prijsSometimes spelled ''Theo Thijssenprijs''. (Dutch language, Dutch for Theo Thijssen Prize) is a Dutch literary award awarded once every three years to a Dutch author of children's literature or young adult fiction. The award ...

(2003) Dros also wrote the book ''Een heel lief konijn'' for which Jaap Lamberton won the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs in 1993.

References

External links

Imme Dros · dbnl
1936 births Living people People from Texel Dutch writers Woutertje Pieterse Prize winners Nienke van Hichtum Prize winners {{netherlands-writer-stub