Catalogues
New Dutch Fiction
The Archive
One of the books that featured in several Dutch critics’ end-of-year lists was The Archive. Praised for his precise style and melancholy wit, Thomas Heerma van Voss describes the life of the aspiring editor of a literary magazine who has to say goodbye to his reclusive father.
The Paradise of Sleep
The poet Joost Oomen writes cheerful books. He even manages to spin the tale of a jaded euthanasia doctor who has seen too much into an entertaining, infectious yarn.
Days Like Strange Symptoms
In this unique novel, we see Sisyphus like we’ve never seen him – or rather, her – before. Baerwaldt’s Sisyphus is not the man forced to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity that keeps rolling back, but a modern mother aimlessly wandering around an inhospitable universe, pushing an empty wheelchair.
Oroppa
It’s rare for a debut to cause such a stir: rave reviews, a spot on the bestseller list and the highest number of mentions in ‘best of 2024’ round-ups in the Netherlands. Oroppa is an ode to Europe in the form of a kaleidoscope of stories from people living there or passing through.
Dutch Non-Fiction
The Healthcare Gap
Medicine has traditionally been based on the male body, with women as bycatch, but women are not just smaller men. In scientific research, female patients remain alarmingly underrepresented, and today there is still no equality between men and women as patients, despite growing proof of the differences. And female medical professionals themselves still need further emancipation in their roles.
On Another Planet They Can Save Me
In 2017, poet and novelist Lieke Marsman was diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer. After enduring various rounds of chemo, she was told her illness was terminal. Still, she is continuing with treatment – radiotherapy, immunotherapy, operations. Living for years with death has changed Lieke’s worldview, and On Another Planet They Can Save Me is a poetic and philosophical exploration of the need to embrace the unknown.
Another Russia
Is Russia so unique that we can’t understand its people? Putin would like us to think so, and it’s why he has to defend against the ‘decadent West’. Meanwhile, our own stubborn myths about the enigmatic ‘Russian Soul’ only confirm his narrative. If we ever hope to see peace in Europe, renowned Russia-expert Sjeng Scheijen argues, we had better look at what we share. After all, one can’t win a war of ideas with bombs alone.
Lucy’s Daughters
While some see gender inequality as a natural phenomenon, the history of economics reveals a very different story. Jan Luiten van Zanden’s research focuses on the complex interplay between the social status of women and economic development. In this panoramic work, he examines the historical roots of gender inequality throughout Eurasia, and its socio-economic consequences today.
Children's books
Oever
Jip has to make a self-portrait for school. But even though the teenager has a talent for drawing and ‘a head that’s bigger on the inside than on the outside’, every attempt fails. ‘The problem isn’t with the letters in the assignment,’ Jip realises. The ‘portrait’ part is fine. No, it’s the word ‘self’ – what is Jip supposed to do with that?
The Great Flood
Fourteen-year-old Moos wakes up to find Leon, his foster grandfather, sailing into his room, complete with his bed. The world has been engulfed by a devastating flood. Fortunately, Moos is prepared: a raft carrying his grandpa’s old Buick and sufficient food and tobacco for Grandpa proves to be a lifesaver, and a frantic adventure ensues, full of social criticism.
The Teller of Wonders
Marco Polo, famous even in his own lifetime, has returned home after years of travel and immediately finds himself in a tricky political situation. His hometown of Venice is at war with Genoa, and the adventurous merchant is imprisoned by the Genoese.
The Tree That Was a World
Night is when the sloth likes to party. During the daytime, he hangs on his branch and acts like he’s doing nothing. But as soon as darkness falls, he starts doing somersaults and causing a commotion at the nearby lake, where the pikes are trying to sleep. The other inhabitants of the tree pretend they don’t know what’s going on. Meanwhile, they’re all getting on with their own lives and their own little dramas.