Joke van Leeuwen

Biography

Joke van Leeuwen (1952) studied history at the University of Brussels, performs in cabaret and theatre shows, writes stories and poems for children, which she illustrates herself, and writes prose and poetry for adults. She has received innumerable awards, including the prestigious Theo Thijssen Prize, the triennial Dutch State Prize for youth literature.
In her work, Joke van Leeuwen champions the uninhibited way children look at the world, fighting against repression and narrow-mindedness. A number of stories are about a quest in various stages, such as Deesje (Dee Dee) (1985), Wijd weg (Far Away) (1991) and Iep! (Cheep!) (1996). Joke van Leeuwen demonstrates that high quality literature need not be inaccessible.

Titles

Deesje

(Deesje, 1985)

In Deesje by Joke van Leeuwen you roll along with the main character from one adventure into the next. And not only as far as the story is concerned; reading the words and looking at the pictures is one big surprise. In the work of the doubly talented Van Leeuwen, text and illustrations complement each other perfectly, and humour and seriousness intermingle. The language is packed with puns and the comical black-and-white drawings are really different and also tell a story. A veritable feast for the eyes. Continued...

Cheep!

(Iep!, 1996)

One characteristic of classics is that they tell us the most ordinary things in extraordinary ways. Alice’s constant growing and shrinking, for example, teaches her that nothing is what it seems to be. And Pinocchio’s nose shows him that lying doesn’t pay. Iep! is based on a similar principle. Like Deesje and Bobbel, main characters in Van Leeuwen’s previous books, Eep is pervaded by an enormous longing for freedom, a demand for space for people as they are. Eep is a creature with little wings and little limbs that closely resemble legs. Little legs with little toes and ‘little nails on those toes and tiny little crumbles of earth under those nails on those toes on those legs.’ A little angel fallen from heaven, half bird and half human. And since Tine and Warre have wanted a child for so long, they decide to keep their foundling and look after it as best they can. Continued...

Dunno

(Kweenie, 2003)

Kweenie (Dunno) is the name of a strange little creature with a big, yellow, beak-like nose who suddenly tumbles onto the bed of the first-person narrator, a small girl with a mop of hair. Kweenie doesn’t know who he is or where he comes from. All he knows is that he’s fallen out of a story that had just started and that he fears will now continue without him. When the little girl sees how sad he is she decides to help him find his story. Continued...

Thinking Half a Dog Whole

(Een halve hond heel denken, 2008)

As modern media consumers, we receive around four thousand images projected onto our retinas every day. Four thousand! That’s an incredible number. But there’s no way of stopping them. The digitisation of the 21st century is an irreversible process and the visual culture is now more dominant than ever. The highly regarded and very versatile author/illustrator Joke van Leeuwen has written a beautifully designed book on this very subject. Continued...