Maarten Asscher

Biography

Maarten Asscher, who trained as a lawyer, has worked in publishing and as head of the Arts Department at the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. He is currently managing director at Athenaeum Bookshop in Amsterdam. Since 1992 he has published several collections of stories and essays, as well as poetry and a novel (translated into German).

Titles

H2Olland

(H2Olland, 2009)

H2Olland is the least assertive book ever written about the Netherlands. Here is a Dutchman who confesses to feeling ill at ease with his nationality, who during his life, as he puts it, ‘has more often daydreamed of turning his back on the Netherlands than of crawling deeper into its lap.’ That is nevertheless exactly what he does, he crawls into his country’s lap and shows it to us at its most intimate level. Continued...