Amsterdam Noir

About the Contributors

Karin Amatmoekrim (Paramaribo, 1976) is the author of six novels, including the best seller Het Gym (2011) and De Man van Veel (2013), a historical novel about the life of Resistance hero Anton de Kom. A documentary about her sixth book, Tenzij de Vader (2016), was broadcast on Dutch television in May 2017. She also writes short stories and essays, and is currently working toward a PhD in modern literature.

René Appel (Hoogkarspel, 1945) published his first thriller, Handicap, in 1987, and has written twenty more, two of which have received the Golden Noose, the annual award for the best Dutch-language crime novel. In 2017, Joyride en Andere Spannende Verhalen, a collection of his short stories, was published, and English translations of his stories have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and several anthologies.

Abdelkader Benali (Ighzazene, Morocco, 1975) is a writer, documentary filmmaker, and photographer. He emigrated to The Netherlands from Morocco at the age of four. In 2003, his novel De Langverwachte won the Libris Literature Prize, the most important literary award for Dutch fiction. His work includes novels, plays, poetry, and travel essays, and he has written extensively about Tangier, Henri Matisse, radicalism, and Marcel Proust. Today he lives in Amsterdam and Tangier.

Michael Berg (Heerlen, 1956) worked for almost twenty-five years for Dutch public radio as a host, director, documentarian, and manager before moving to France and becoming a full-time writer. In 2013, he won the Golden Noose for Nacht in Parijs, and his Het Meisje op de Weg was the highest-ranked Dutch-language entry on Hebban’s list of the best international thrillers of 2016. In 2017, he moved back to The Netherlands.

Hanna Bervoets (Amsterdam, 1984) is a fiction writer and essayist. She has published six novels and is the recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the Opzij Literature Prize for Lieve Céline and the BNG Literature Prize for Ivanov. In 2017, she was awarded the Frans Kellendonk Prize for her full body of work. Translation rights for several of her books have been sold in the US and Germany. Her most recent novel, Fuzzie, has received glowing reviews.

Theo Capel (Amsterdam, 1944) has reviewed crime fiction in addition to writing it himself. After ten novels about Hank Stammer, who runs a collection agency in Amsterdam, Capel (writing as Erik Bolt) began a new series featuring Amsterdam policeman Felix de Grave; to date, there are two books in that series. “The Red Mercedes,” a short story about Stammer, appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 2004 and was reprinted in Passport to Crime in 2007.

Maria de Bruyn (Utrecht, 1949) has had a varied professional life, beginning as operations manager of a translation bureau, working as a desk and copy editor, and progressing to a career as a policy advisor, trainer, and writer after becoming a medical anthropologist. Her nontechnical translations have included a children’s book and a comic book. She fills much of her time now with wildlife photography and blogging about nature.

Simon de Waal (Amsterdam, 1961) writes novels and scripts. Cop vs. Killer, Pentito, and Nemesis were nominated for best crime novel in The Netherlands and Belgium, and Pentito won Belgium’s Diamond Bullet. De Waal’s script for Lek won the Golden Calf, and he wrote and directed a film version of Cop vs. Killer. He has worked for the Amsterdam police since 1979, including as a detective-sergeant in the homicide division since 1986.

Loes den Hollander (Nijmegen, 1948) began writing prose and poetry at the age of eight, and in 2001 she won a short-story contest, which motivated her to write twenty-four thrillers, three collections of stories, a commercial novel, and three novellas.

Sam Garrett (Harrisburg, 1956) has translated almost forty novels and works of nonfiction from Dutch to English, has been short-listed for some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards, and is the only translator to have twice won the British Society of Authors’ Vondel Prize (in 2003 and 2009). His translation of Herman Koch’s The Dinner was a best seller in the US, UK, and Canada.

Murat Isik (Izmir, 1977) debuted in 2012 with Verloren Grond, for which he received the Bronze Owl for best Dutch-language first novel and was nominated for the Academica Literature Award. The book has been reprinted multiple times, and has been translated into German, Swedish, and Turkish. Wees Onzichtbaar, his second book, was published in 2017, and was selected as the NRC Book of the Year and nominated for the BNG Literature Award and the Halewijn Award.

Herman Koch (Arnhem, 1953) is the author of, among others, Het Diner (The Dinner), Zomerhuis met Zwembad (Summer House with Swimming Pool), Geachte Heer M. (Dear Mr. M), and De Greppel (The Ditch). Het Diner, an international best seller, was translated into more than forty languages and was filmed in the US, The Netherlands, and Italy.

Christine Otten (Deventer, 1961) writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her novel De Laatste Dichters (2004), based on the lives of the legendary African American group the Last Poets, was nominated for the Libris Literature Prize and was published in English as The Last Poets (2016). Her latest novel, We Hadden Liefde, We Hadden Wapens (2016), was enthusiastically reviewed and has been adapted for the stage. Otten leads creative-writing workshops in Dutch prisons. She lives in Amsterdam.

Josh Pachter (New York, 1951) is an American writer, editor, and translator. His own short crime stories have been featured in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and many other periodicals and anthologies since the late 1960s, and his translations of crime fiction by Dutch and Belgian authors appear regularly in EQMM. He lived in Amsterdam from 1979 to 1982 and returns often, although he now makes his home in Northern Virginia.

Anneloes Timmerije (Amsterdam, 1955) has written several nonfiction books, beginning in 1992. Her first novel, Zwartzuur (2005), won the Women & Culture Debut Prize in 2006, and was followed by De Grote Joseph (2010), the short-story collection Slaapwandelen bij Daglicht (2013), and, in collaboration with Charles den Tex, the historical novel Het Vergeten Verhaal van een Onwankelbare Liefde in Oorlogstijd (2014), which was published in English as Finding Her.

Walter van den Berg (Amstelveen, 1970) spent almost forty years in Osdorp, the Amsterdam neighborhood in which he set his contribution to Amsterdam Noir, but he now lives in a village by a river with his wife and dog. He has published four novels: De Hondenkoning (2004), West (2007), Van Dode Mannen Win Je Niet (2013), and Schuld (2016), which was nominated for the Libris Literature Prize.

Mensje van Keulen (Den Haag, 1946) lives in Amsterdam. She writes novels and short stories and has published several award-winning children’s books. Her first novel was Bleekers Zomer (1972), and her most recent was Schoppenvrouw (2016). Her books frequently appear on the long and short lists for literary awards, and her body of work has been honored with the Annie Romein, Charlotte Köhler, and Constantijn Huygens prizes.

Max van Olden (Zevenaar, 1973) debuted in 2015 with Lieve Edelachtbare, a legal thriller about a young lawyer in training that won the Shadow Prize for the best Dutch-language debut crime novel of the year. His second book, De Juiste Man (2017), a psychological thriller that explores the subject of revenge, made the long list for the Golden Noose. Van Olden is himself an attorney with a civil practice.