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Göteborg 2027

Rob van Essen

Rob van Essen has once again written a weird and wonderful book rich in insights.

It would make perfect sense if Rob van Essen won the Libris Literature Prize yet again for his latest novel.

Rob van Essen has once again captured something brilliant in his new novel.

Book

A darkly funny quest for the inexplicable by the bestselling, two-time Libris Prize winning author

Asset

Assets

Stella Rieck

De grote schoonmaak

In 1980, Thomas leaves school without a diploma and takes a job at a small supermarket. One day a walking bottle of a new cleaning product, a mascot called Brixo, tears open in the aisle. There is no one inside: only detergent pours out. His boss acts as if nothing happened, nobody has ever heard of the brand, and soon afterwards Thomas is fired.

The Big Clean-Up

Benny Lindelauf

Lindelauf appeals to the reader’s imagination, and once the reader has engaged it, they become part of the story and there is no turning back. Like Walter, they find themselves caught among the branches, hoping against hope for a miracle.

The first novel for adults by one of the Netherlands' most celebrated children's authors

Martijn Prins

Het licht tussen onze vingers

In Het licht tussen onze vingers, Benny Lindelauf delivers an original and frank account of fatherhood, grief and the silence that can creep into a marriage after an unforgettable loss.

The Light Between Our Fingers

Ananda Serné

'The novel's greatest strengths are its setting and the atmosphere Serné conjures, comparable to W.F. Hermans' Beyond Sleep.

A subtle exploration of transience and vulnerability, of trauma and memory, and of the complex relationship between humans and nature: how people are afraid of what they seek to protect, and destroy what they love.

A novel of slow-burning suspense about vulnerability in a melting Arctic

Ijsberenprotocol

Eira travels to a research village on Svalbard for a writer's residency. A handful of wooden buildings at the edge of the inhabited world. Her housemates, a group of biologists, joke that it would make the perfect setting for a murder mystery. But that is exactly the story Eira does not want to write.

The Polar Bear Protocol

Sarah van Vliet

Aigou stays with you: a sharp, pointedly written story in which you can feel the writer's cleverness and enjoyment. A delightful book about that poor, sweet little dog, who truly comes alive.

Aigou is a story about how people themselves are worn down like machines, about the influence of parents and loved ones, about work and, of course, the ambiguous influence of AI.

A robot dog with feelings has twenty-one days to win over its new owner

Aigou

Saar Schokking, who distrusts artificial intelligence, receives an unexpected gift from her father: a robot dog. It is an Aigou, ready for an adventure with a new owner. It can sit, give a paw and cuddle... as well as think, feel and yearn. Saar has twenty-one days to decide whether to keep it; if she doesn't, it goes back to the manufacturer.

New Dutch Fiction

Spring 2025

Autumn 2024

Spring 2024

Autumn 2023

Spring 2023

Autumn 2022

Spring 2022

Autumn 2021

Janny van der Molen

The book is a reminder that every major historical event also affects normal people with dreams and feelings of their own, and that their stories deserve to be told.

Children's books

Non-Fiction

A tribute to ‘the sister of’

Sophie Mulder

Margot Frank. Uit de schaduw van Anne

'The Diary of Anne Frank' may be the  most famous book in the world, it has been translated into 70 languages. Anne’s older sister Margot also kept a diary. That diary never received the attention, as it was never found after the war. In 'Margot Frank – Stepping out of Anne’s Shadow', Janny van der Molen gives a voice to the young woman whose diary remained unknown.

Margot Frank – Stepping Out of Anne’s Shadow

Govert Schilling

Adriaan Bijloo

Exovida is a hefty volume that you read at leisure, put aside and pick up again. Each time I read on, I thought of the enormous amount of work that must have gone into this graphic novel.

Visually, Exovida is attractive and varied, and Menlu's production is superb. It is a book to be proud of on your shelf.

Graphic novel

Are we alone in the universe? A boy's road trip through the history of that question

Menno Ludriks

Exovida

Tom is an astronomy enthusiast who dreams of becoming a comic artist. When his mother Mary, who works for NASA, announces a major discovery at a press conference – a tantalisingly Earth-like exoplanet – she takes him on a road trip across the United States, to places such as Roswell and a range of observatories. Along the way, Tom is engrossed in an old comic by a mysterious creator who calls himself C. Superiu.

Cees Nooteboom

In the second volume of his diaries, the recently deceased writer throws the windows wide open to the world in a way rarely seen in Dutch literature. A truly cosmopolitan writer.

‘Reading a diary is like being offered an extra life.’

Bart Kraamer

Naar de wereld, in de wereld, uit de wereld. Dagboeken 1996-2006.

For over fifty years, Cees Nooteboom – the most internationally acclaimed Dutch writer – kept a diary. The first part, 'De danser en de monnik' ('The Dancer and the Monk'), written between 1970 and 1995, was released while Nooteboom was still alive. This second volume, is a posthumous publication following the writer’s passing this February aged 92.

Diaries 1996-2006

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

A powerful warning against the rise of authoritarian political leaders.

Absolute democratie. Kroniek van een aangekondigde afrekening

As far-right politics gains ground, elected leaders seize power, sideline judges, portray the media and universities as elitist, and bend government and policy to their will. The book’s title, Absolute Democracy, refers to this dangerous development. Prominent examples include Trump, Meloni, Putin, Orbán, Netanyahu and Wilders.

Absolute Democracy: Chronicle of a Foretold Reckoning

Dutch Non-Fiction

Reinier Sonneveld

De geheimen van Sterrenstad is a captivating quest, written in an engaging style and with a multilayered, inventive structure that leaves you dazzled. You don’t find much young adult fiction with this many twists and turns.

Ilya’s experience of losing his father is described beautifully and tenderly. The comparison with little Laika, the first dog sent into space, looking out through a tiny porthole window into the endless emptiness, is poignantly apt. It mirrors Ilya’s own loss: lonely, weightless, rudderless.

De geheimen van Sterrenstad is dazzling, original and bold.

How much of what you believe is really true?

Robin van der Gaag

De geheimen van sterrenstad

For one whole night, the writer Reinier and his son are trapped in a rollercoaster car, dangling 32 metres above the ground. To help divert their attention, Ilya, a Russian man behind them on the car, begins to tell his miraculous life story. This marks the beginning of an intriguing frame narrative.

The Secrets of Star City

Renske de Greef

[Pip’s] endearingly matter-of-fact take on the countless shenanigans and unwritten rules at school is sure to strike a chord with young readers. You can feel yourself breathe a sigh of relief as Pip realises and champions the fact that everyone has their own truth.
The charming, cheerful illustrations and cartoony style form a natural backdrop to the story, making it an inviting read for younger and less confident readers.
I’m sure Pip will win over many hearts. And the best thing is that there’s part two to look forward to!

Discovering yourself, following your heart, being who you are

Luciënne van der Leije

Pip en de waarheid over eenhoorns

Girls love pink, glitter, singing and dancing. Boys love video games, dinosaurs and football. Boys and girls can NEVER – NEVER! – play together. And nobody is allowed to bring peanut butter sandwiches to school either – they stink! These are the UNWRITTEN TRUTHS at school. The only way to belong, like a zebra among many others in the herd, is to believe in those truths. Pip enjoys being a zebra: never sticking out, always playing it safe.

Pip and the Truth about Unicorns

Janneke Schotveld

Abel en Olle is a moving story that champions the plight of pigs

A series of compelling stories told with plenty of humour and beautiful illustrations by Martijn van der Linden.

Janneke Schotveld once again shows us what she’s best at: telling truly magical stories and finding irresistibly charming ways of weaving her social involvement into the narrative.

A heartwarming yet hard-hitting topical story

Abel en Olle

Abel is a lorry driver. For years and years, he’s been transporting the same cargo: 100 piglets, driving them from farm to slaughterhouse. One day, as he takes a short break, a young piglet manages to escape. Abel catches the animal and pops it onto an orange tea towel on the passenger seat of his lorry. ‘How much further till we get there?’, asks the piglet, startling Abel.

Abel and Olle

Robert van Dijk

Robert van Dijk has managed to capture grief  in a heartrending story. It is so tender it hurts.

With care and precision, and sensitivity Robert van Dijk guides you to the poignant conclusion. Mum no longer sets the table for four, and Dad openly shows his emotions: ‘He cried silent tears’..

Van Dijk describes the emotions with empathy and care, the feelings are heavy yet his tone is light. . By showing how each character deals with their loss in their own way, he demonstrates that there is no right or wrong way to grieve.

A tour de force.

A gripping, heartwarming story on grief

Elaine Michon

Het boek van Bent

‘I want to forget. I want to forget it all, and I want you all to forget it, too. That’s why I wanted a dog, a dog named Ben, so that we could talk about a dog whenever Ben came up in conversation, as it always did.’

Ben’s Book

Spring 2021

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With these catalogues, we proudly present a curated selection of books published in the Netherlands. Each book featured has been chosen for its artistic excellence and commercial success. It is distributed free of charge to foreign publishers and editors.

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