Foreign Rights Guide Frankfurt 2013

Foreign Rights Guide Frankfurt Book Fair 2013

De Bezige Bij The Busy Bee Van Miereveldstraat 1 • nl-1071 dw Amsterdam • Postbus 75184 • nl-1070 ad Amsterdam The Netherlands • tel +31 20 305 9810 • fax +31 (0)20 305 9824 Standnumber: 5.0 c5 1

profile publishing house de bezige bij De Bezige Bij (The Busy Bee) is one of the leading literary publishers in the Netherlands for both Dutch and translated literature, fiction, non-fiction and graphic novels.

During the Second World War, Geert Lubberhuizen gathered a group of students in the city of Utrecht and set up a small press. With their publications they financed their resistance movement. De Bezige Bij was founded officially in December 1944. After the war had ended, the publisher established itself as an author’s cooperative at the Van Miereveldstraat in Amsterdam. In these elegant premises the publishing house still resides and continues to go from strength to strength.

Nowadays De Bezige Bij publishes a wide range of Dutch fiction: from the works of Harry Mulisch, Willem Frederik Hermans, Cees Nooteboom and A.F.Th. van der Heijden to the prose and poetry of Remco Campert and Ramsey Nasr, from the novels of Tommy Wieringa and Margriet de Moor to the varied work of Hugo Claus and Gerrit Komrij. The same applies to our list of translated literary fiction, which consists of the works of Philip Roth, Paolo Giordano, John Irving, Donna Tartt, Khaled Hosseini, Philippe Claudel, Antonio Tabucchi, Amos Oz, Toni Morrison, Albert Camus, Marcel Proust and Vladimir Nabokov amongst many others. In this impressive variety of literary styles, there is one common feature: quality.

De Bezige Bij is also manifesting itself as publisher of non-fiction by leading Dutch and international authors. The main focus of this list has always been the Second World War and history in general, but the number of titles in other areas of non-fiction is increasing. Our authors include Paul Verhaeghe, David Van Reybrouck, Frank Westerman, Oliver Sacks, Darian Leader, David Remnick, Tim Weiner and Karen Amstrong.

In recent years, De Bezige Bij has attracted a great number of acclaimed authors. It provides a home now for successful novelists such as Peter Buwalda, Jan Siebelink, Manon Uphoff, Marcel Möring, Erwin Mortier, Charlotte Mutsaers and many others.

De Bezige Bij, based in Amsterdam, consists of the following lists: • De Bezige Bij: upmarket fiction and non-fiction • Thomas Rap: stand-up comedy books, sports library, debuting novelists and poets, publications by the most famous Dutch columnists, popular non-fiction • Balans: upmarket fiction and non-fiction • Cargo: crime fiction, thrillers, commercial fiction and non-fiction • Oog & Blik: graphic novels De Bezige Bij also has a branch in Belgium: • De Bezige Bij Antwerpen: upmarket fiction and non-fiction

foreign rights guide frankfurt book fair 2013

new literary fiction

Walter van den Berg You Can’t Beat a Dead Man

Thomas Blondeau The West Flanders Chat-up Handbook

Remco Campert Hotel du Nord

Elke Geurts Summer

P.B. Gronda Straus Park A.F. Th. van der Heijden The Hellcat

Stefan Hertmans War and Turpentine

Heleen van der Kemp Immune

Erwin Mortier The Reflections

Donald Nolet Encrypted

Tomas Ross November 2nd

4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42

new literary non-fiction Rutger Bregman The History of Progress Roelof van Gelder To Paradise on Earth Gijs van der Ham A History of the Netherlands in 100 objects Jonathan Holslag The Power of Paradise Marcel van Engelen Elmina Castle Ruben Mersch Blinkered Thinking David Van Reybrouck Against Elections Paul Scheffer It all Plays a Role in Reality Frank Westerman Choke Valley

new graphic novels Theo Bogart Dylan Shamisa Debroey Lost

succesful titles

Peter Buwalda Bonita Avenue

Jan Cleijne Heroes of the Tour

Jessica Durlacher Hero

Margriet de Moor Mélodie d´amour

David Van Reybrouck Congo. A History Typex Rembrandt

Paul Verhaeghe Identity

Tommy Wieringa These Are The Names

44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62

de bezige bij

new literary fiction

A shocking autobiographical novel about domestic violence About The King of Dogs: ‘The real strength of this debut novel is its dry, utterly unemotional and therefore compelling style.’ – de morgen About West:

‘Van den Berg is all about the details: scratching a key across the bonnet of a car, throwing out a Christmas tree, walking along a pier. West is the kind of novel you want to read.’

– het parool

walter van den berg made his debut with the novel The King of Dogs (2004). In 2007 he published his second novel West, which made it onto the longlist of the Golden Owl Literature Prize. Both novels were favourably reviewed in both the Netherlands and Flanders.

Walter van den Berg You Can’t Beat a Dead Man Your mother cut men’s hair for money.

I don’t know whether she took it up again after you disappeared, you and your mother, because she wasn’t all that good, only cheap.

Before you hit a woman, you take off your rings. You hit her body, her limbs, but never her face. And afterwards you’re sorry, because she’ll believe you. Time and time again. The narrator of Walter van den Berg’s new novel knows the rules of the game. He wheedles his way into a woman’s life with irresistible charm. And once he’s gained her trust, he’ll show his true nature. Walter van den Berg’s childhood was marked by a violent step-father.

In an attempt to understand the psychology of violence, he entered the mind of the man who terrorised his mother. The result is a novel about fear, loneliness and the dull thud of a kick in the stomach.

Chilling and heart-rending in equal measure.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • English sample translation available Fiction, 207 pages 5

de bezige bij

new literary fiction

A compelling love story by a great new talent ‘The West Flanders Chat-up Handbook is an amusing, flowingly told combination of Bildungsroman and regional literature, self-exploration and village pump, heartache and much amusing folklore.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘Allegorical

novel about the pitfalls of love.’ – de morgen

‘Blondeau shares with Verhulst a virtuosity that allows you absolutely to devour The West Flanders Chat-up Handbook.’

– cutting edge

thomas blondeau (1978) is a writer, journalist and poet. He made his debut in 2006 with the much-lauded eX while his second novel Donderhart (Thunder Heart) was published in 2010. He also compiled the anthologies Agents-Provocateurs: 20 onder 35 (Agents Provocateurs: 20 under 35) and Hard en Teder (Tough and Tender).

Thomas Blondeau The West Flanders Chat-up Handbook At the end of every day I had to note down five things I was grateful for. Five glasses of wine didn’t count.

1. Pleasant weather. 2. Perfect cappuccino – made by me.

3. French tourist (blonde, freckles) who got me to look for a club on my phone and then asked me to go with her – I declined; she was stoned and too young.

4. Passable glass of Chilean wine. Couldn’t manage five; the wine was already a dubious case.

When his umpteenth relationship flounders, Raf decides to return to the village in West Flanders where he grew up. His goal: to combat his depression and to write the book that will help him get to grips with his girl problems. The only remaining pub in the village transports him back to his childhood, but also lands him in the middle of Flanders’ current obsession: the village recently seceded from the rest of the country. And when Raf meets the second prettiest girl in the village it remains to be seen whether he can keep his cool this time.

The situation in the village gets completely out of hand.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • World rights: De Bezige Bij Fiction: novel, 272 pages 7

de bezige bij

new literary fiction

The story of an aimless wanderer ‘Hotel du Nôrd is an intriguing mixture of suspense and poetry.

Subtle [...] and exquisite sentences.’ **** – nrc handelsblad ‘The immaculate tone, that apparent ease of writing – Campert is there in Hotel du Nôrd. Totally and completely.’ **** – de volkskrant ‘Getting two ingredients as different as existential melancholy and daft comedy to balance each other on a pharmacist’s scales is something only Campert can do. This little gem has just 136 pages, and not a word too many.’ – de tijd

After a long writing career, remco campert (b. 1929) is still one of the most popular authors in the Netherlands.

His highly successful debut was Het leven is vurrukkulluk (Life is Grrreat, 1961). His style is tinged with irony and his work is often autobiographical. In 1976 Campert was awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize for his poetry. In the past ten years Campert has found inspiration for new novels, including the warmly received A Love in Paris (2004) and The Satin Heart (2006).

Remco Campert Hotel du Nord Leave a man to his own devices and he reverts to the boy he wanted, in retrospect, to carry on being, although that didn’t apply to Walter Manning, who was still in search of an age and a way of behaving that was appropriate to it.

After a long and restless life, sixty-yearold Walter Manning is still looking for an age-appropriate lifestyle. Then, in an impulse, without saying goodbye to his girlfriend, he travels to a hotel on the French coast. Overnight he surrenders to a deep-seated longing to get lost, to be a stranger to others and himself. He decides to end his 762 days of total abstinence, which failed to bring him the peace of mind and the solution he was hoping for, in the bar of a French hotel. Days of confusion and intoxication follow. In Hotel du Nord Remco Campert offers the reader a glimpse into the head and heart of his befuddled protagonist, his pen fluent and light, his tone the characteristic mix of humour and melancholy.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • World rights: De Bezige Bij Fiction: novel, 176 pages 9

de bezige bij

new literary fiction

An outstanding novel about a mother who is fixated on an idealised image of her daughter with Down syndrome Press on earlier work:

‘Elke Geurts offers plenty of laughs, but little relief.

Real life is always elusive. If only you could describe these stories as absurdist. But it’s not as easy as that.’ – de volkskrant ‘Spot on and subtle. Geurts is always in control of the plot and keeps tightening the screws. She proves herself to be a classic story-teller.’ – trouw

elke geurts previously published Dola Korstjens’ Decision (2008), which was very well received, and Troublesome (2010). Her debut was heralded by NRC Handelsblad as one of the best books of 2008 and both short story collections were nominated for various literary prizes, including the Golden Owl Literature Prize, the bng Literature Prize and the Anna Bijns Prize.

Elke Geurts Summer The sky is still, empty and bright blue when she looks up.

The birds have made themselves scarce. Even the insects are gone. Animals know everything a little earlier.

This is the well-known vacuum, the silence before the storm, the moment before the bomb drops. Then again, it could be the moment before life starts once and for all.

She simply has to keep going.

One hot summer’s day, Tessa is pulling her seven-year-old daughter Summer in a trolley through scorched dunes. During the blistering trip Tessa reflects on her seven years with her daughter. Although the girl turned out not to be the Mini Me she’d dreamed of, it never stopped Tessa from doing everything in her power to bring out the best in her child: to make her a better version of herself. But the longer she trudges through the loose sand, the stronger her sense of failure. Elke Geurts tells this acerbic story with her customary light touch. Summer paints a chilling but witty portrait of a mother who, in her quest for perfection, is prepared to go to extremes for her daughter.

World rights: De Bezige Bij and Van Grunsven Creative Management English sample translation available • Fiction, 156 pages 11

de bezige bij antwerpen

new literary fiction

A Jewish saga of love and betrayal ‘Straus Park sets itself up as a serious Great American Novel,

a Bildungsroman and a family tale in one.’

– nrc handelsblad ‘Passion, betrayal and instinct for survival are the main ingredients of P.B. Gronda’s new novel. (...) A mundane pageturner.

– de standaard

In 1996 p.b. gronda (b. 1981) bought a Rainbow pocket of Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons.

Two hundred pages in he knew he was a writer and ten years later it was a fact. Gronda published three novels before the age of 30, of which Among Friends is his most recent.

P.B. Gronda Straus Park It was spring, they’d been outdoors and he could taste a gentle rain shower and several hours of sun on her neck, where everything he could wish for seemed briefly to come together.

Amos Grossman and his brothers are the heirs of the wealthy couple Charlotte and Markus Grossman who died in a plane crash. In Straus Park we initially follow Amos’s superficial love affairs. But when art expert Julia F. Dane crosses his path he knows he has met the love of his life.

From then on, he only has one goal in life: to win her love. But what Amos doesn’t know and Julia soon finds out is that their respective Jewish grandparents knew each other well. During World War ii Charlotte and Markus Grossman escaped to the Netherlands and made friends with a flamboyant Amsterdam native from a family of art collectors. When war broke out, Charlotte embarked on a sexual relationship with an Obersturmführer and became his informant. As a consequence, most of her friends were deported, including the art collector and his family.

The story that unfolds is one of art theft, infidelity, betrayal and the instinct for survival. It turns out that hereditary traits resonate for generations. While the men are often brooding souls, the women tend to take the lead.

World rights: De Bezige Bij Antwerpen • Rights sold: btb (Germany) English sample translation available • Fiction, 362 pages • Nominated for the Halewijn Literature Prize 13

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new literary fiction

A scintillating story about strict taboos and murky family relations On The Hellcat: ‘The events come down in torrents… majestic **** – de volkskrant

style’

‘The Hellcat is a feast of anecdotes. And, after Tonio, a miracle.’ – vrij nederland ‘Despite the generous dose of misery that passes before our eyes, The Hellcat is remarkably light-hearted.

The reader can’t help but laugh at many of the incidents. (...) Van der Heijden writes great satire.’ – elsevier

a.f.th. van der heijden (b. 1951) is one of the great living Dutch authors. His oeuvre consists mainly of two sagas: The Toothless Time and Homo Duplex. In 2011 Van der Heijden won the Constantijn Huygens Award for his entire oeuvre. In the same year he published Tonio. A requiem novel, about the sudden death of his only child, which won him the Libris Literature Prize and the NS Readers’ Prize. This year A.F.Th. Van der Heijden received the P.C. Hooft Prize for his entire oeuvre.

A.F.Th. van der Heijden The Hellcat They jokingly called her Cleanin’ Tinie – but when she had a cleaning fit, she wouldn’t let anything stand in her way

We meet Albert Egberts’ Aunt Tini. She is jokingly known as Tidy Tini, but her furious cleaning and polishing is ruthless. She has a pathological fear of contamination and a relent­lessly acerbic tongue, ruining many a family celebration with vicious tirades against her parents, her older sister and her husband.

To her nephew Albert, Aunt Tini is daunting and intriguing in equal measure. As a little boy he eavesdropped on her and tried desperately to fathom what she meant by her semi-explicit faultfinding. In his time as a student in Nijmegen he even ends up in bed with her. Once he becomes a father himself, Albert is on track for a major confrontation, in which all family secrets finally come to light.

The Hellcat is an astonishingly lively and humorous novel in which Van der Heijden once again proves the immense vitality and power of his talent.

30.000 copies sold • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Fiction, 244 pages Film rights sold to Sigma Pictures 15

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new literary fiction

About the poignant life of a grandfather, wwi and a devastating love ‘The perceptive Hertmans has given voice not only to his grandfather but to an entire generation.’ **** – de volkskrant ‘With War and Turpentine Stefan Hertmans has written one of the most moving books of the year.’ ***** – de standaard ‘It’s a masterpiece.’ **** – humo

stefan hertmans (b. 1951) has published novels, short story collections, essays and poetry. In 1995 he was awarded the three-yearly Flemish poetry prize. He has also received two nominations for the vsb Poetry Prize. His most recent novel, The Hidden Tissue (2008), received unanimous praise.

Stefan Hertmans War and Turpentine Black plumes of smoke rise in the east, we hear huge explosions, birds swerve downwards out of the sky as if shot, cows clank and stamp anxiously on their chains in the sheds, and for the first time our hearts stand still with fright and dread.

Shortly before his death in the 1980s, Stefan Hertmans’ grandfather gave him a couple of old notebooks. For years he was afraid to open them, but when he did he stumbled across some unexpected secrets. His grandfather’s life was marked by his impoverished childhood in pre1900 Ghent, by gruesome experiences as a soldier on the front during wwi and by a great love who died young. For the rest of his life he converted his grief into tranquil paintings. In an attempt to get to the bottom of his grandfather’s life Hertmans wrote down the memories he had of the man. He quotes from the diaries and analyses the paintings. Hertmans tells the story with the kind of imaginative power only great writers possess, and in a form that leaves an indelible impression. War and Turpentine is a poignant search for a life that coincided with the tragic events of the 20th century and is an attempt to give a posthumous, almost mythical expression to that life.

15.000 copies sold • World rights: De Bezige Bij • English sample translation and synopsis available • German offer • Fiction, 334 pages 17

cargo

new literary fiction

Detective inspector Britt Franken is here to stay ‘With Immune Heleen van der Kemp has written a thoroughly enjoyable, convincing, fast-paced and gripping thriller.

She distinguishes herself from other Dutch crime writers by her characteristically compact writing style and has fully earned her unique place in the world of the thriller. Her hosts of fans will be delighted by this latest book.’ – crimezone

heleen van der kemp (b. 1974) made her debut in 2007 with the thriller Blond 15, which was followed by Reckoning. The books were nominated by Crimezone for ‘best debut’ and ‘best Dutch-language thriller’ respectively. She is known for her compelling and exhilarating police thrillers starring detective inspector Britt Franken: an independent and strong woman with a special talent for profiling serious criminals. Her books can be read separately.

Heleen van der Kemp Immune Altogether these people were probably good for several billion euro and no one liked the idea that anything about what was going on under this roof would become public knowledge.

Every night, detective inspector Britt Franken relives the attack in which her husband died in front of her and their young daughter. Now, 12 years later, on the advice of her daughter Bo, she contacts a medium for spiritual support. The medium seems to be intercepting signals from Britt’s dead husband, but she also becomes severely distressed at ‘seeing’ details from the case Britt is currently working on. Boys from the margins of society go missing, only to reappear again a couple of weeks later, abused, horribly maimed and murdered. All the evidence suggests that the boys are the victims of a paedophile network. Then another boy disappears, the son of a successful businessman. The cases seem connected, but how is a mystery to Britt.

Immune is a brutal and terrifying portrait of what power can do to people and what may happen when we lose track of what matters most to us.

World rights: Cargo • Fiction: thriller, 299 pages 19

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new literary fiction

Mortier’s brilliant new novel, following on from the huge best-seller Godenslaap (Divine Sleep) On Sleep of the Gods: ‘This book is a novel to admire.’ – frankfurter allgemeine ‘A

subtle song of love and death.’ – livres hebdo

‘A novel without an equal … If Marcel Proust has a descendent somewhere in Flanders, he must be born in Ghent.’

– knack ‘A monumental and phenomenal book.

Sleep of the Gods will be named in the future in one breath with The Sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Claus.’ – de morgen

erwin mortier (b. 1965) made his literary debut in 1999 with the novel Marcel (awarded, among other things, with the Gerard Walschap Literature Prize). His novel Sleep of the Gods appeared in 2008, signaling his breakthrough to a broader reading public, winning him the 2009 AKO Literature Prize.

Erwin Mortier The Reflections I love my secrets. They understand me better than anyone and they’re not loose-lipped. Our most essential secrets are those that remain concealed even from us.

The Reflections adds a new panel to Erwin Mortier’s panorama of Belgium. Edgard Demont, born from the mud of World War I, returns physically and emotionally wounded to a native country which will never be the same again. In search of a safe place among the confusion and destruction he finds that lovers are more effective than medication in helping him live with injuries that go deeper than the scars on his flesh. Meanwhile there is nothing he can do as his country succumbs to new delusions and further nightmares appear on the horizon.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Fiction, 240 pages, February 2014 21

tomas ross crime

new literary fiction

A new voice in Dutch crime fiction, in the tradition of Ken Follet and Philip Kerr ‘Once in a blue moon it happens: a manuscript so good you’re gripped from page one and sorry when you finish it. A book so good you immediately know: this is it! A wonderful premise, a gripping and original style, credible characters, a great, historically authentic plot – what more could you want as a publisher, book-seller or reader? Gentlemen (and ladies too): the home-grown quality thriller you’ve all been waiting for. I’m proud to publish it under the Tomas Ross Crime imprint!’

– Tomas Ross, thriller author

donald nolet (1975) studied Japanese in Leiden. Since graduating he has worked as an advertising copywriter.

Encrypted is his debut.

Donald Nolet Encrypted He felt two pricks to his chest. Then it was as if a hundred thousand ants were walking all over his body, each of them injecting him with poison at the same time.

He felt his muscles burning, lost all control over his body and fell to the ground.

It’s late November 1941. At the radio station in Langeveld, a German radio technician intercepts a secret code message intended for the White House. A week later all hell breaks loose in Pearl Harbor. More than seventy years later Joshua Lambert discovers that his grandfather’s real name was Walter Gruber, and that he was a German soldier stationed in the Netherlands during the occupation. Following the country’s liberation he suddenly vanished. Joshua’s exploration of his family history leads him to one of the biggest secrets of World War ii. In a nerve-racking race against time, which ultimately takes him to Argentina, the shadows from the past turn out to be alive and well.

World rights: Tomas Ross Crime • Fiction: thriller, 288 pages 23

tomas ross crime

new literary fiction

The truth about the murder of Theo van Gogh Press on earlier work: ‘Tomas Ross is the best Dutch thriller writer.’

– hp/de tijd ‘Once again bang on target.’

– crimezone.nl ‘Ross deserves a deep bow.’

– het parool

tomas ross (b. 1944) is the author of many bestsellers, including For the Sake of the Crown, The Hand of God, The Sixth of May, which became a film directed by Theo van Gogh, Mata Hari´s Tears, The Marionette and Our Woman in Tripoli. Three of his thrillers won him the Golden Moose. He has also written a number of television series and audio plays about the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange, including the prizewinning Bernhard, Knave of Orange. Tomas Ross writes tense and provocative thrillers, treading a fine line between fact and fiction.

Tomas Rosss November 2nd Bouyeri is twenty-six, the same age as him, but looks like a middle-aged man. In the light from the corridor his shaved skull is like a luminous yarmulka.

At the behest of the Dutch intelligence services the young Dutch-Moroccan Hamid follows terrorist suspect Mohammed Bouyeri to a meeting of the Hofstadgroep in The Hague. He reports to his boss Dik Fongers that Bouyeri is planning to kill a famous Dutchman. A couple of hours later Fongers dies in a traffic accident, and Hamid narrowly escapes an attack.

While Theo van Gogh is churning out his anti-Islam columns and working on his films, a desperate Hamid, suspected of murdering his superior, visits Fongers’ mourning widow Saskia. She’s the only one who can help him uncover the unbelievable truth: a secret plot hatched in government circles in The Hague two years previously, which led to a nerve-­ racking race against time to save Van Gogh’s life.

World rights: Tomas Ross Crime • Faction: thriller, 400 pages 25

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new literary non-fiction

The search for a new faith in progress ‘In his 400-page journey through history, he stimulates and provokes his readers, either by racing around a hairpin curve or shuffling across wafer-thin ice. His work is as thorough as that of his compatriot Geert Mak, but in terms of bravura and panache he is certainly a match for Bas Haring …

An impressive book.’ – humo ‘A fascinating account, told with genuine relish and expertise. Describing the ideas about progress through the ages, Bregman’s romp through history is very engaging.’ – trouw

‘To his credit, he’s not afraid of the broad outline (...) We’ll be hearing a lot more from him.’ – historisch nieuwsblad

rutger bregman (b. 1988) studied history at the universities of Utrecht and Los Angeles. He has written for a number of Dutch newspapers and currently works as an editor for de Volkskrant. In 2012 he published If We Knew Then.

Rutger Bregman The History of Progress To connect a utopian passion with everyday reality is the task of our time. Because a generation with no desire to dream loses the right to a better world.

The history of progress is nearing its end.

The old ideas about progress, whether socialist or capitalist, modern or postmodern, have been reduced to ashes. We’re richer, healthier and safer than ever, but also more likely to feel short-changed.

Where does this discomfort with the modern age come from? Why has progress failed to live up to its promises? In search of answers the young and talented historian Rutger Bregman takes the reader on a journey from the Big Bang to the present, from Columbus’s flagship to Thomas Edison’s laboratory, from the very first cave paintings to the Wall Street stock exchange.

Bregman links physics and archaeology, biology and psychology, philosophy and neurology in one scintillating account. He tells the story of the exceptional mammal that is man, who, in his little corner of the universe, clings to stories, but now appears to be at his wits’ end.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction: history/society, 409 pages 27

balans

new literary non-fiction

On Easter Day 1722, Roggeveen caught sight of an island in mid ocean not marked on any map ‘The Southern Land expedition did not bring Roggeveen the rehabilitation he hoped for, but almost four centuries later it has produced a fascinating description of an eventful life.’ – trouw ‘This well-documented and engagingly written story allows us to see what motivated Roggeveen. It would no doubt have pleased him greatly.’ – de volkskrant

roelof van gelder is an historian who worked as an editor for the daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad for many years. His books include Amsterdam from 1275 to 1795 (1983) and several titles on the Dutch East India Company: Traces of the Company (1988), The Dutch East Indian Adventure (1997), In the Company’s Service (2002) and Naporra’s Detour (2003).

In 2005 he spent six months studying Dutch letters dating back to pre-modern times in the National Archives in London and in 2008 he published Seapost. Undelivered Letters From the 17th and 18th Century.

Roelof van Gelder To Paradise on Earth Why did this man undertake such an expedition, to an unknown part of the globe, at the age of sixty-two? Why did he run the risk of shipwreck, mutiny, heat, cold, lack of food and water, sickness and death?

The discoverer of Easter Island was not a sailor but a wealthy elderly man with a doctorate in law. Yet he had decided to undertake an expedition in search of the Unknown Southern Land, a large and mythical continent in the Pacific Ocean.

After training as a mapmaker, Roggeveen became a notary and then worked for seven years as a high court judge in Batavia. He was influenced by Spinoza and became caught up in a protracted conflict with the Reformed Church.

Exiled from his native city of Middelburg, he organized his great expedition in 1721, when he was already in his sixties. It rendered up the earliest description of the inhabitants of Easter Island, Samoa and other Polynesian islands.

Van Gelder paints a perceptive picture of an unusual and varied life against the background of the Radical Enlightenment and the obsession with the Pacific Ocean that prevailed among European entrepreneurs, pirates and visionaries of the time.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Shortlist Libris History Prize; nomination AKO Literature Prize • Historical non-fiction/biography, 392 pages 29

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new literary non-fiction

Journey through the Netherlands’ fascinating past

‘Thanks to Van der Ham’s obvious delight in his craft, his lucid style, the size of the book and the colourful display of objects passing before our eyes, this book will provide pleasure for weeks.’ – nederlands dagblad

‘These one hundred objects are used as a stepping stone to present the story of the Netherlands in an accessible way.’

– vrij nederland

gijs van der ham (b. 1955) is a historian and senior curator at the Rijksmuseum’s History Department. In 1990, he obtained his doctorate with the study Zeeland 1940-1945 and ten years later he wrote 200 Years Rijksmuseum. In 2007, he mounted the exhibition ‘Held’, about hero worship in the Netherlands, at De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.

Before joining the Rijks­ museum, he worked for the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

Gijs van der Ham A History of the Netherlands in 100 Objects All kinds of things pass by: paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Appel, a doll’s house, bits of buildings, a wig, a ruff, a torn and bloodstained shirt, a clump of peppercorns, scale models, glasses, photographs and much more besides.

This is the new history book from the Rijksmuseum, which has recently reopened after a ten-year renovation. Curator Gijs van der Ham has selected one hundred remarkable objects from the museum’s collection to tell the story of the Netherlands: well-known paintings and statues, unusual jewellery, photos, coins and weaponry, even a pair of worn-out shoes and a lump of pepper. Gijs van der Ham uses these objects as the starting point for a surprising, adventurous journey through the country’s past. He shows the reader, in a hundred stories, what role these objects played through the ages, how they were used and what they say about the lives of our forebears. Each object highlights a significant aspect of our history, resulting in an extremely varied picture of the often rich, and sometimes confusing or painful Dutch past.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • English list of contents available Non-fiction: cultural/historical, 543 pages 31

de bezige bij antwerpen

new literary non-fiction

How Europe can survive in the Asian century About The Power of Paradise: ‘Jonathan Holslag has written a book that is both bold and elegant, clear-eyed and graceful. He is a European willing to say difficult truths’. – Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Revenge of Geography.’

On China and India: Prospects for Peace: ‘In putting the strategic rivalry at the centre of his analysis, Mr Holslag provides a useful corrective to some of the more starry-eyed visions of a semi-cohesive “Chindia”.’

– the economist

jonathan holslag (b. 1981) teaches international politics at the University of Brussels and is affiliated with the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies (biccs).

In Belgium as well as abroad, he shares his insights with the general public in academic magazines and as an analyst in the media. Previously he has published the academic books Power or myth? (vub Press, 2007), China and India: Prospects for Peace (Columbia University Press, 2010) and Trapped Giant (Institute of International and Strategic Studies, 2011).

Jonathan Holslag The Power of Paradise One thing is clear: the twenty-first century will be the Asian century.

We, as Europeans, feel as if the future passes right by us. The crisis rages over our continent like a storm and dismantles all our certainties. Are the fundaments of Europe crumbling? And do we actually understand what is going on? One thing is obvious, this will be an Asian Century. Yet, there is no reason to assume that Asia’s rise will be fundamentally different from Europe’s nasty and turbulent past.

In The Power of Paradise, Jonathan Holslag overwhelmingly describes the postWar economic, societal and cultural history of Europe. It is an epic story about our urge for prosperity and the way in which we’ve lost track.

Holslag is a superb chronicler of his time. He enriches his sharp and disturbing analysis of our economically failing continent with the prospect of a new renaissance – if we succeed in turning things around. Deep inside Europe still lurks the power of paradise.

World rights: De Bezige Bij Antwerpen • Full English translation available Non-fiction: cultural and economical history, 307 manuscript pages, February 2014 33

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new literary non-fiction

What was the role of the Africans in the slave trade?

‘Van Engelen has a good eye for the ambiguities of history, an infectious candour and above all an incredibly good pen.’

– nrc handelsblad ‘Elmina Castle is a tremendous history lesson, one that’s all the more gripping because Van Engelen makes it a personal account.

The subject is a familiar one, but once you’ve read this book you realise you knew practically nothing about the Dutch slave trade in Africa. (...) If only all history lessons were like this.’ **** – het parool

marcel van engelen (1971) is a journalist. In 2001 he was awarded the Golden Pen Award for promising new talent. In 2008 he published his first book, De gelukzoeker (The Fortune Hunter), the true story of a Senegalese illegal immigrant who gathered a fortune through crime.

The book was nominated for the M.J. Brusse Prize for Best Journalism.

Marcel van Engelen Elmina Castle A cold shiver ran through me. The Dutch language here.

It was as if the gravestones were talking to me.

For almost three centuries, from 1612 until 1872, the Netherlands possessed about a dozen fortresses on what was then known as the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) in West Africa. The most important one was Elmina Castle, from where African men, women and children were cruelly shipped to North and South America and the Caribbean. It was not only the first sub-Sahara African fortress built by Europeans, but it is also seen as the start of the colonisation of Africa. The port of Elmina hosted ships sailing under different flags of nationality where they were provided with slaves.

Marcel van Engelen describes life and trade around Elmina. From the coast, he travels inland to visit the places where the slaves were taken. Along the way, he sheds light on recent debates about slavery in the Netherlands, the US and Ghana and the clash of cultures it causes in these respective countries. Was the slave trade perhaps just as African as it was European? Likewise, Van Engelen explores the on-going impact of the slave trade. An oppressive account of a history that must never be forgotten.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Nominated for The Zeeland Book Prize Historical non-fiction, 304 pages 35

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new literary non-fiction

Ruben Mersch Blinkered Thinking

Why we’re all idiots ‘Blinkered Thinking is both entertaining and informative. Ruben Mersch combines keen observations of human error with scientific knowledge.’ – skipr

We are lazy in our thinking. We usually believe the first thing that occurs to us, without any further thought. We usually believe whatever our inner idiot whispers in our ear.

‘Surprising, impressive and funny [...] an excellent book which many will read with a degree of discomfort.’ – liberales

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ruben mersch (b. 1976) studied philosophy and biology at the University of Ghent. After graduating, a twist of fate landed him in the pharmaceutical industry. But fed up with turning disease into profit, he decided to do something useful with his life: to teach people how to think for themselves. For Blinkered Thinking he received the so-called (pdw)-trophy, an award for spreading objective knowledge and fighting pseudo-science and the paranormal.

What does Warren Buffet have in common with a monkey writing Hamlet?

- Why are we more afraid of sharks than of bathtubs?

- How do you prove that drain cleaners can cure cancer?

- Why are expensive medicines better than cheap ones?

We like to think we’re rational beings, but are we really? Blinkered Thinking goes in search of the pitfalls of our thinking and unmasks the idiot inside each one of us.

It’s that inner idiot that makes us susceptible to the half-truths and whole lies that permeate our daily lives – from investments and football to anti-depressants and anti-oxidants. But you can silence your inner idiot and take off your blinkers. There’s a way of distinguishing between truth and nonsense: through thinking. Knowledge is power. It’s up to you to grab that power.

World rights: De Bezige Bij Antwerpen • Popular non-fiction: psychology, 287 pages 37

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new literary non-fiction

An urgent call for reform seeking to breathe new life into democracy

david van reybrouck (1971) is a cultural historian, archaeologist and writer. He made his debut in 2001 with the award-winning De plaag (The Plague), which has been widely translated. He has also written a novel, Slagschaduw (Shadow), and poetry. His play Missie (Mission) has been successfully staged in both the Netherlands and Belgium as well as in France and Germany. His greatest success is Congo, een geschiedenis (Congo, a History), for which he received a slew of prizes, including the Libris Geschiedenisprijs 2010, the Jan Greshoffprijs 2010 and the AKO Literatuurprijs 2010. The book was also a runaway success in Germany, France and Norway.

Pleidooi voor populisme (A Plea for Populism) won him the Jan Hanlo Essayprijs 2009 and the Vlaamse Cultuurprijs Kritiek en Essay 2009.

David Van Reybrouck Against Elections We need to decolonize democracy.

We need to democratize democracy.

Once again: what are we waiting for?

Our democracy is suffering from anorexia. Whereas it once fed on various forms of participation, these days it tries to survive on the crackers of a puny ritual: elections. We’re neglecting our democracy at a time when the world is undergoing radical change: the traditional pillars of society are disappearing, people are better educated, information travels faster, the media have become much more commercial, and social media are creating new forms of political awareness. All this demands more involvement, meaningful participation and greater transparency.

David Van Reybrouck, who founded the successful citizens’ initiative g1000 in Belgium, goes in search of new ways of revitalising our impotent democracy and to involve us citizens in everything that concerns us in society. In this book he issues an urgent call for change.

World rights: De Bezige Bij • French translation available Rights sold: Actes Sud (France) • Political non-fiction, 174 pages 39

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new literary non-fiction

Partly based on Wolf ’s correspondence with Thomas Mann and Stefan Zweig On earlier work: ‘In Scheffer’s view the polite, politically correct silences of Dutch multiculturalism risk creating a new apartheid. He seeks honest dialogue. – the new york times paul scheffer (b. 1954) worked as a newspaper correspondent in Paris and Warsaw.

For the last 15 years he has been a regular columnist for the prominent Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad. His articles have appeared in various major European newspapers. In 2007, he published Country of Arrival, which became a controversial bestseller. His recent publications include Beyond Indifference: Involvement, European-style from 1999 and The Quest for Everlasting Peace in 2000. For the vpro television broadcast organization he made the series Waiting for the Barbarians in 1996 and Living and Working in 1998 – 1999.

From 2003 to 2011, Scheffer was extraordinary professor at the University of Amsterdam.

He is currently professor of European Studies at the University of Tilburg.

Paul Scheffer It All Plays a Role in Reality Wolf experienced the rise of totalitarian movements, but he tried to counter them with a mild-mannered humanism.

In 1899, the Wolfs, a Jewish family from Cologne, report to the immigration service in Amsterdam. Even at an early age, their only child, Herman, shows a great interest in things literary. His biography is a classic tale of the son destined to take over the family business, but who has dreams of his own.

Paul Scheffer sketches the life story of his grandfather, Herman Wolf, a celebrated philosopher and literary critic in the 1920s and 30s. His motto was: “It all plays a role in reality”. Rationalism and irrationalism were equally dear to him.

While the outside world grows increasingly grim, he nurtures his own tolerant sensibilities. Partly on the basis of Wolf ’s hitherto unpublished correspondence with such great writers as Thomas Mann and Stefan Zweig, a picture is presented of a generation bowled over by Hitler’s rise.

Wolf was one of the few who recognized the threat early on. In the end, the German occupation of the Netherlands would have huge consequences for him as well.

The question that characterized Wolf ’s generation also applies to our own: how can humanism defend itself against the rise of nationalism?

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Biography, 303 pages, January 2014 41

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new literary non-fiction

On the origin of stories On earlier work: ‘The name Frank Westerman stands for a new way of writing literature.’ – frankfurter allgemeine zeitung ‘In Ararat the

grandmaster of literary non-fiction combines the best of two worlds: the brainpower, curiosity and precision of science and the freedom of art and the man of letters.’ – vrij nederland

frank westerman (b. 1964) studied tropical agricultural engineering at Wageningen University. He was a correspondent for de Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad in Belgrade and Moscow. His books include The Blackest Scenario (1995), about the fall of Srebrenica, The Republic of Grain (1999), Engineers of the Soul (2002), Ararat (2007) and Brother Mendel’s Perfect Horse (2010). His books have received many awards and nominations both at home and abroad. El Negro and Me (2004) won him the Golden Owl Literature Prize in 2005.

Westerman is now a full-time writer.

Frank Westerman Choke Valley Yaoundé, 25 August 1986. In a remote valley in West Cameroon at least 1,200 people die of a still unknown cause.

21 August 1986: in the evening, at full moon, all life in a valley in northwest Cameroon is wiped out. Chickens, baboons, zebus and birds drop dead in the grass – as do two thousand men, women and children. But not before they try to tear the clothes off their bodies. There are no signs of other damage: huts and palm trees are intact. These are the facts. But what happened?

Thirty-six hours after the catastrophe, two Dutch missionaries are the first to descend into the valley of death. In the days that follow, scientists from Japan, Hawaii and Iceland are dropped off in the disaster zone by helicopter. From the edge of the valley, the African survivors look on in complete bewilderment.

Choke Valley deconstructs every single aspect of this mysterious mass death. In his customary, evocative style, Frank Westerman looks at the same event from three different angles. He guides the reader through the jungle of stories which has grown out of the compost of facts in the space of twenty-five years. What words and images have attached themselves to the facts and how have they developed into new myths? How do stories come into being?

World rights: De Bezige Bij • English sample translation available Literary narrative non-fiction, 320 pages 43

oog & blik

new graphic novels

Never before has Bob Dylan’s music been so beautifully illustrated On Theo Bogart’s Amsterdam: ‘His work is both surprising and witty. Every drawing tells a story and reveals great observational skill and a unique artistic talent. A very special city guide.’ – literair nederland ‘The catalogue is not only extremely beautiful, but it also shows the great love with which Bogart looks at the city.’ – elsevier

Theo Bogart Dylan Close your eyes Close the door You don’t have to worry anymore I’ll be your baby tonight

Dylan is a great artist’s ode to a legend. Bogart renders six Bob Dylan lyrics in a unique comic style, using a range of colours, and immerses us in the poetic world of these lyrics. Thanks to Bogart’s magnificent drawings the emotions behind Dylan’s texts really leap off the page. A must-have for all Dylan fans. theo bogart (b. 1948) made a name for himself with the notorious Sjef van Oekel comic strips he created in collaboration with Wim T. Schippers and with Theo Bogart’s Amsterdam.

He has also had a long and successful career as an advertising illustrator for, amongst others, the national railways, Playboy, NRC, Vrij Nederland and Voetbal International.

World rights: Oog & Blik • Full colour graphic novel, 208 pages 45

oog & blik

new graphic novels

A wonderful debut about a lost childhood

Shamisa Debroey Lost It was in moments of complete silence that I was most aware of my parents’ absence. Day after day, year after year, I resigned myself to it. I became the perfect, patient child.

shamisa debroey (b. 1989) did a degree in Comic Design and Illustration at Sint-Lukas in Brussels, where she graduated top of her class with her first graphic novel. In the past year she has won both the NRC Graphic Novel Prize and picked up one of the Focus Knack Strip Awards. Shamisa is currently based in Mechelen, where she works as a freelance illustrator in her own studio.

Lost is a semi-autobiographical debut about a girl growing up with her grandparents. Because her mother works for an NGO and frequently travels to Africa, she never has any time to see her children or help raise them. Every year, her father sends her a live fish for her birthday, but otherwise he’s a complete stranger to her.

A young woman looks back on her past and ahead to the future.

World rights: Oog & Blik • English translation available Full colour graphic novel, 128 pages 47

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succesful title

An impressive, hefty debut novel about the downfall of an ambitious family ‘Already in the first chapter Buwalda portrays the convin­cing character of a cad with a turn for mathematics and an obsession for judo… Buwalda has an easy going style, clear and precise, and completely unpretentious.’

– de groene amsterdammer ‘Outstanding read. Bold language and content. Bonita Avenue is a book which deserves a large audience.’ – hp/de tijd ‘Buwalda is one of those rare authors who absolutely hit the mark with their very first novel. Its stylistic virtuosity is at the service of a moving family tragedy and a wealth of penetrating observations and insights. Astounding.’ – de volkskrant

peter buwalda (b. 1971) worked as a journalist and editor for the literary pop music magazine Wahwah. His stories have been published in Hollands Maandblad and De Gids. Bonita Avenue is his debut novel.

Peter Buwalda Bonita Avenue Joni Sigerius, stepdaughter of the rector of a University, and her boyfriend Aaron, run a little business that she prefers to keep secret from her dynamic and brilliant father. It is in the year that a fireworks catastrophe vanishes a complete residential quarter in the city, that the explosion takes place within the family as well. Not only do Joni and Aaron find themselves in dire straits, but it is also in this same summer that Sigerius Sr.’s only real son is released from prison. Only eight years later – by which time Joni is running a million-dollar business in Los Angeles – does Aaron find out what was really going on in 2000.

300,000 copies sold • Sold to Rowohlt (Germany), Actes Sud (France), Mondadori (Italy), Pushkin Press (World English), Odeon (Czech Republic), Salamandra (Spain), Scolar (Hungary), Owl (Taiwan) and Forlagid (Iceland) • More than one year in the Dutch Best Seller list • Winner of the Academica Debut Prize 2011, the Selexyz Debut Prize 2010 and the Tzum Prize 2010 • Shortlisted for the Libris and ako Literature Prize 2011, the Dutch Gold Dagger Award 2011 and the Flemish Gold Dagger 2011, the NS Readers’ Award 2011 and the Anton Wachter Prize 2012 • Full English, French and German translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij Novel, 544 pages 49

oog & blik

succesful title

A graphic history of the Tour de France ‘Goodness, what great ‘Lots of beautifully

drawings.’ – veronica gids ****

Jan Cleijne Heroes of the Tour

drawn images.’ – nederlands dagblad

‘From the sepia-coloured beginning in 1903, when the cyclists had to endure a first stage of 467 kilometres on bikes without gears, to the colourful present with its publicity caravan, the mass pile-ups and the endless talk of doping. […] Cleijne portrays the familiar scenes quite beautifully.’ – de volkskrant ‘The book is structured chronologically, but Cleijne never avoids the subject of doping. […] The origins of the Tour as a ploy to sell newspaper and subsequent key changes are portrayed in a very compelling way. […]’**** – het parool

jan cleijne (b. 1977) is a cartoonist, illustrator and amateur cyclist. He has been involved with several animated films, has drawn short stories and has worked for various magazines. Heroes of the Tour is his first graphic novel.

The year 2013 saw the 100th edition of the Tour de France. Once again, the biggest names in cycling raced across the French landscape to earn a place on the podium on the Champs Elysées.

Stamina, technique, character and tactics are vital in the battle for the yellow jersey. On the occasion of the 100th edition of the Tour, Jan Cleijne paid homage to the better and lesser known heroes from cycling history: Lucien Buysse, Fausto Coppi, Wim van Est, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Lance Armstrong and many others. These are compelling stories, the sporting and personal highs and lows of the Tour heroes, illustrated by Cleijne with an eye for detail and a great sense of drama.

A must-have for all Tour de France fans.

Rights sold: Covadonga Verlag (Germany) and Turbine (Denmark) World rights: Oog & Blik • Full colour graphic novel, 160 pages 51

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A modern-day thriller about violence and revenge ‘It’s actually a marvel and certainly a virtue of Durlacher’s writing that all the complicated storylines come together neatly at the end.

Jessica Durlacher Hero

Hero is no ordinary, unambiguous novel.

It’s a war book, a family saga and a thriller rolled into one.’

– nrc handelsblad

‘Durlacher lifts her novel to a higher plane by subtly asking what the maximum longevity of the good is – in today’s world too.’ – hp/de tijd ‘Durlacher´s best

book so far.’ – de volkskrant

‘The most terrible thing in the world: when you can’t protect the one you love.’ – diogenes verlag

jessica durlacher (b. 1961) is the author of such bestsellers as: The Conscience, The Daughter and Emoticon. She has published three novellas du­ring the last three years: Arthuro d’Alberti,Writers! and What Happened to Cathy M.?

While out jogging, the driver of a car knocks protagonist Sara to the ground.

This violence takes her back to the mysterious monologues which her father held in German right before his death.

Monologues about his own mother, who was murdered during the war and about whom she knows almost nothing.

The past is a venomous thing; when Sara’s son, who is at­tending college in America, announces his plans to join the Marines and go to Afghanistan, she tries to stop him cost what may. But then she is confronted, along with her husband and their daughter, with a follow-up to the violence. Revenge seems to be the only possible answer, and Sara decides to take the law into her own hands. Her grandmother’s secrets suddenly seem very timely indeed.

Over 50,000 copies sold • Sold to Diogenes Verlag (Germany) and Turbine Forlaget (Denmark) • Winner of the Opzij Literature Prize 2010 English sample translation and synopsis available • Full German and Danish translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 384 pages 53

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Rarely has anyone written so lucidly about love ‘A

musical masterpiece’ – de telegraaf

Margriet de Moor Mélodie d’amour

‘A sensuous story about people who try to get closer to one another, yet remain strangers.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘The final score: she really hits the mark. Douze points for her enchanting writing’ – vrij nederland ‘De Moor describes all of these forms of love with grace and compassion, without explaining too much. The end result is a compelling story.’ – algemeen dagblad

margriet de moor made her debut in 1988 with the short story collection Seen from Behind. It was followed by successful novels including First Grey, Then White, Then Blue, which won her the AKO Literature Prize in 1992, The Virtuoso, The Kreuzer Sonata, The Storm and The Painter and the Girl. Her work has been translated into twenty-four languages. Mélodie d’Amour is her ninth novel.

Rotterdam in the 1950s; the collapse of a great love. A young woman called Marina comes to live with Atie and Gustaaf and family. Gustaaf ’s adultery leaves Marina pregnant and eventually leads to a divorce. Gustaaf starts a new family with Marina, and Atie’s immense love for him turns into pitiful hatred. Luuk, one of Atie’s sons with Gustaaf, watches the whole situation destroy his parents’ marriage. He says nothing, and the adulterers never bring up the subject either.

In part two we follow Luuk, who now has children of his own, as well as a wife and a mistress – the same situation as his father was in all those years ago. We see him through the eyes of his obsessive and pushy mistress Cindy. He is the subject of her fickle and tempestuous moods.

She storms into his life without the slightest inhibition and sometimes at the most inconvenient moments.

15.000 copies sold • World rights: De Bezige Bij • English sample and full German translation available • Rights sold: Hanser Verlag (Germany) Fiction, 336 pages 55

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The fate of one of the world’s most devastated countries ‘Sublime… monumental… virtuoso. This literary non­fiction is more thrilling than a novel can be.’

– nrc handelsblad ‘The best book on Africa of the past years.’

– frankfurter allgemeine ‘Essential read to understand what’s going on now in the heart of this troubled continent since humanity.’ – libération

david van reybrouck (b. 1971) is a journalist, a literary non-fiction writer, a novelist, a poet, a playwright and a professor at the university of Leiden. Many of his books were nominated and have won literary prizes. He lives in Brussels.

David Van Reybrouck Congo. A History David Van Reybrouck begins his gripping account of hope and madness in the 1870s and chronicles the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial era up to 2010, the fiftieth anniversary of Congo’s independence. His vivid narrative zooms in on the impact of the slave trade and the late nineteenthcentury rubber boom, presents lively portraits of Belgian colonization, the struggle for independence, Lumumba’s tragic life and Mobutu’s dictatorship, and details the causes of the war that has raged between 1996 and the present, the deadliest conflict since the Second World War. Congo. A History is based on little-known archival sources and extensive travelling in Central-Africa. The hundreds of interviews which Van Reybrouck conducted both in the slums of Kinshasa and in the villages of the interior, as well as in the African diaspora of Europe and China, lend a unique dimension to a rich and convoluted history.

230,000 copies sold • Sold to Ecco/Harper Collins (us), 4th Estate (uk), Font Forlag (Norway), Suhrkamp (Germany), Natur och Kultur (Sweden), Actes Sud (France), Tiderne Skifter (Denmark), Siltala (Finland), Swiat Ksiaziki/ Weltbild (Poland), Feltrinelli (Italy) • Full German and French translation available • English sample chapter available • Winner of the ako Literature Prize, Libris History Prize, ndr Kultur Sachbuchpreis, Prix Médicis Essai and the Jan Greshoff Prize • History Book of the Year 2012 (damals, German magazine) • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction: historical/Africa, 550 pages 57

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A uniquely vivid portrait of Rembrandt’s life This unique collaborative enterprise between the author, Typex, Design and Architecture, Oog & Blik|De Bezige Bij Publishers and the Rijksmuseum, home of the world’s largest and most important Rembrandt collection, guarantees a spectacular result – a stunning and surprising graphic novel on Rembrandt’s life.

‘Here is to the greatest Dutch artist...I mean the second greatest. First there was Rembrandt, then there was Typex!’

– Nick Cave

typex (b. 1962) is an Amsterdam College for the Arts graduate. His work appears in many nationwide newspapers and magazines. He illustrated numerous children’s books and published some of his own.

Typex Rembrandt

Rembrandt portrays the painter’s life and follows the whole sweep of his painting career. It is about one man’s artistic vocation and the work it demands, about life and death, love and bereavement, fame and loss. A graphic novel with the imaginative power to bring Rembrandt van Rijn, one of the greatest painters of all time, to life.

His love life is an important part of the story. His wife Saskia was his greatest passion. She came from a prosperous family and the couple was comfortably off. After Saskia’s death, Rembrandt didn’t remarry, since that would have meant forfeiting his inheritance. He did have other relationships, with Geertje Dircx and especially Hendrickje Stoffels. Rembrandt’s lifestyle had long been extravagant, and he eventually faced personal bankruptcy.

Publication: April 2013 • Rights sold: SelfMadeHero (World English), Norma (Spain), Green Knowledge (Korea) and Buclas (mainland China).

Full English and Spanish translation available • World rights: Oog & Blik Full colour graphic novel, 240 pages 59

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We’re enjoying ourselves to death, but no one is satisfied ‘An interesting analysis of the effects of the “Enron society” on our identity [...] Valuable insights into what neo-liberalism means for our self-image.’ – trouw ‘A

trenchant analyst of human despair in the face of the power of “the system”.’

– de volkskrant

paul verhaeghe (b. 1955) is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, and a professor at the University of Ghent. He achieved international recognition as an expert on Freud and Lacan. Love in Times of Loneliness (1998), a critical analysis of contemporary relations between the sexes, became an international bestseller and was translated into eight languages. More than 12,000 copies of The End of Psychotherapy have been sold to date.

Paul Verhaeghe Identity

In Identity, Paul Verhaeghe gets to the heart of the social changes behind our changed sense of identity. The crux of this new-me feeling revolves around three issues: changes in identity development, in standards and values, and the consequences of neoliberalism. Who we are is determined, as always, by the context within which we live. At this moment, that context rules: those who do not succeed will become ill. The drive for success and happiness turns out to have a dark side: it leads to a loss of self-awareness, to disorientation and despair. Humans are lonelier than ever. Love is hard to reach, and living in a meaningful fashion has become deeply problematical. On the basis of his clinical experience as a psychotherapist, Verhaeghe shows the reader the great extent to which a changed society has impacted the contemporary mental problems of the individual.

30,000 copies sold • Rights sold: Sangya Culture Media Company (Mainland China), Scribe (World English), Kunstmann (Germany) and Sciencebooks (Korea) • Full English and German translation available World rights: De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction: psychological/society, 271 pages 61

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A new classic to treasure ‘This is a monumental novel that showcases both intelligence, discipline and originality (‘he had the heart of a whale’) and Wieringa’s almost passionate drive for perfection. His vast scope has become an indisputable trademark. The Netherlands is too small for Wieringa.’

– de volkskrant ‘Tommy Wieringa takes both his protagonist and his readers on a trip across the steppe in this exceptionally clever novel.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘This novel deserves the highest praise. Compelling, intelligent and altogether impressive.’ – de standaard

tommy wieringa (b. 1967) is the author of the best-selling novels Joe Speedboat and Caesarion. Caesarion was shortlisted for the Impac-Prize. His work has been published in more than fifteen countries and has garnered high praise, both at home and abroad.

Tommy Wieringa These Are The Names

A border town on the steppe. A group of bedraggled refugees appears out of nowhere, spreading fear and panic in the town.

When police commissioner Pontus Beg orders their arrest, evidence of a crime is found in their luggage. As he begins to unravel the history of their hellish journey, it becomes increasingly intertwined with the search for his own origins. Through a meeting with an old rabbi, the last Jew in town, Beg discovers the truth about himself. With both humour and wisdom, Tommy Wieringa links man’s dark nature with the question of who we are and whether redemption is possible.

140,000 copies sold • Rights sold: Portobello (World English), Iperbora (Italy), Hanser (Germany) and Actes Sud (France) • Winner of the Golden Owl Reader Prize and Libris Literature Prize • World rights: De Bezige Bij English sample translation available • Novel, 304 pages 63

De Bezige Bij at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2013 Henk Prรถpper Managing Director De Bezige Bij, De Bezige Bij Antwerpen, Balans, Cargo, Thomas Rap and Oog & Blik Suzanne Holtzer s.holtzer@debezigebij.nl Editor-in-chief fiction De Bezige Bij Leonoor Broeder l.broeder@debezigebij.nl Editor-in-chief non-fiction De Bezige Bij Marije de Bie m.de.bie@debezigebij.nl Editor translated fiction De Bezige Bij Peter van der Zwaag p.van.der.zwaag@debezigebij.nl Editor-in-chief translated fiction De Bezige Bij Harold Polis h.polis@debezigebijantwerpen.be Publisher De Bezige Bij Antwerpen Plien van Albada vanalbada@uitgeverijbalans.nl Publisher Balans

Arend Hosman ahosma@debezigebij.nl Editor-in-chief Thomas Rap Melissa van der Wagt m.van.der.wagt@debezigebij.nl Publisher Cargo (Slaughterhouse; Tomas Ross Crime) Marjolein Schurink m.schurink@debezigebij.nl Editor-in-chief Cargo Chris Kooi c.kooi@debezigebij.nl Editor Cargo Mara Joustra m.joust@debezigebij.nl Editor Oog & Blik Henrike de Goede h.de.goede@debezigebij.nl Grants manager Hayo Deinum h.deinum@debezigebij.nl Foreign rights manager Marijke Nagtegaal m.nagtegaal@debezigebij.nl Foreign rights manager

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