Cees Nooteboom

Dutch novelist, poet and journalist

Cees Nooteboom (; born 31 July 1933) is a Dutch novelist, poet and journalist. After the attention received by his novel Rituelen (Rituals, 1980), which received the Pegasus Prize, it was the first of his novels to be translated into an English edition, published in 1983 by Louisiana State University Press of the United States. LSU Press published his first two novels in English in the following years, as well as other works through 1990. Harcourt (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Grove Press have since published some of his works in English. Nooteboom has won numerous literary awards and has been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature.

Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees" Nooteboom was born on 31 July 1933 in The Hague, Netherlands. His father was killed there in the 1945 bombing of the Bezuidenhout during World War II. After his mother remarried in 1948, his Catholic stepfather enrolled Nooteboom in several religious secondary schools, including a Franciscan school in Venray and a school run by the Augustinians in Eindhoven. He finished his secondary education at a night school in Utrecht. After his first job with a bank in Hilversum, Nooteboom travelled throughout Europe. In addition to his independent writing, he worked for the weekly magazine Elsevier, from 1957 to 1960, and at the newspaper de Volkskrant from 1961 to 1968. In 1967, he became the travel editor of the magazine Avenue. In 1957 Nooteboom was hired on as a sailor on a freighter to Suriname in order to earn money and ask for the hand of his first wife, Fanny Lichtveld. They married but later divorced in 1964. Some of his travel experiences are recounted in the book De verliefde gevangene (1958). He was also in a relationship with the singer Liesbeth List. Nooteboom is married to Simone Sassen and divides his time between Amsterdam, Germany and the island of Menorca. On 2 September 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from UCL, London.

Nooteboom's first novel, Philip en de anderen (Philip and the Others, 1988 English translation), was published in 1954 and won the Anne Frank Prize. His second novel, De ridder is gestorven (1963) (The Knight Has Died, English edition, 1990) was his last for 17 years. During that period, he was working for publications and writing poetry and travel books. In 1980, his third novel Rituelen (Rituals, 1983) brought him wide acclaim in the Netherlands, winning the Pegasus Prize. It was his first novel to be translated into English and was published by Louisiana State University Press, which published two of his earlier novels in English, as well as others through 1990. Other novels include Een lied van schijn en wezen (A Song of Truth and Semblance, 1984); Allerzielen (1998) (All Souls' Day, 2001), and Paradijs verloren (Paradise Lost, 2007). His best known work to English speaking audiences is perhaps The Following Story (Het volgende verhaal, 1991), which was written for the Dutch Boekenweek in 1991. It won the Aristeion Prize in 1993. Nooteboom is also a well known travel writer. Some of his travel books include Een middag in Bruay, Een nacht in Tunesië, and De omweg naar Santiago (Roads to Santiago, 1997), an anthology of his writings on Spain. This last book inspired the musical work Six Glosses (2010) by Spanish composer Benet Casablancas. Nooteboom's experiences living in Berlin are detailed in the book Berlijn 1989–2009, which collects his earlier books, Berlijnse notities and Terugkeer naar Berlijn, and new material. The book De omweg naar Santiago inspired several Spanish and Dutch composers. It has been the subject of the tournée of concerts celebrated in 2010 in The Netherlands by the Ensemble 88 from Maastricht.