Kuyper and Dreesen

Sjoerd Kuyper won the Golden Pencil this year for Robin and God (1996). The book is a disarming account of discussions between little Robin and his grandfather about the existence of God. Kuyper created the character of Robin back in 1990. The stories featuring him show everyday things from a child’s life in a poetic, moving and heart-warming manner.

Jaak Dreesen addresses a broader audience. In both his stories for young children and his novels for adolescents he experiments with literary form: his poetic descriptions, suggestive style and way of interweaving different narrative motives creates a suitable frame work for his often sensitive themes. Marieke, Marieke (1997) is a poetic, rhyming story in twenty stanzas in which the narrator desperately waits for the return of the dead Marieke. The repetitive structure makes the longing all the more desperate.