Janwillem van de Wetering facts for kids
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Jan Willem Lincoln "Janwillem" van de Wetering (born February 12, 1931 – died July 4, 2008) was a famous author. He wrote many books in both English and Dutch. He is well-known for his detective stories about Grijpstra and de Gier, and also for his children's books about a porcupine named Hugh Pine.
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About Janwillem van de Wetering
Janwillem van de Wetering was born in Rotterdam, a city in the Netherlands. He traveled a lot during his life. He lived in many different places, including South Africa, Japan, London, Colombia, Peru, Australia, and Amsterdam. Later in life, he settled in Surry, Maine, in the United States. This town even became the setting for some of his detective novels and his children's books about Hugh Pine.
His Time in Japan and Zen Studies
When he was in Japan, Van de Wetering studied Zen Buddhism. He learned from a teacher named Oda Sessō at a temple called Daitoku-ji in Kyoto. He wrote about his experiences in a book called The Empty Mirror. In this book, he shared what it was like to live and learn in a Zen monastery. He even met another writer, Gary Snyder, who was also studying Zen there.
How His Life Influenced His Books
Van de Wetering's many travels helped him write interesting stories. He also spent time as a reserve police officer in Amsterdam. He called it "being a policeman in one's spare time." These real-life experiences made his fiction and non-fiction books feel very authentic and exciting.
In 1984, Van de Wetering won a special French award for crime novels, the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, for his book Maine Massacre. He passed away in Blue Hill, Maine.
His Stories on Screen and Radio
Many of Janwillem van de Wetering's books have been turned into movies and TV shows.
Movies Based on His Books
- Grijpstra & De Gier (1979): This Dutch movie was based on his novel Outsider in Amsterdam.
- Rattlerat (1987): Another Dutch film.
- Der blonde Affe (1999): This German movie was based on his novel The Blond Baboon.
TV Shows and Specials
- A TV series about the Grijpstra and de Gier characters started in the Netherlands in 2004. Many episodes were made, showing younger versions of the detectives.
- The original Hugh Pine children's novel was featured in a TV special called Storybreak (episode #12) on CBS.
Radio Plays
Van de Wetering also wrote four radio plays for German TV. These were based on his Grijpstra and de Gier series and aired in the early 1990s. One of these was Das Koan (1994), which was inspired by his book about Robert van Gulik, who created the famous Judge Dee series.
