Sjoerd Kuyper facts for kids

Sjoerd Kuyper, born on March 6, 1952, in Amsterdam, is a famous Dutch writer. He writes many different kinds of stories, including books for children and young adults. He also writes for theatre, TV shows, and movies, and even creates lyrics for songs.

Some of his most well-known works are the film The Pocket-knife (Het Zakmes), a series of books about a little child named Robin, and the popular song Hallo wereld (Hello World). His youth novels Hotel De Grote L (The Big L Hotel) and Bizar (Bizarre) are also very popular. Sjoerd Kuyper's books have been published in fifteen countries around the world. He has won many awards, including six Zilveren Griffels and a Gouden Griffel for his book Robin en God (Robin and God). In 2012, he received the Theo Thijssen Prijs for all his amazing work.

Early Life and Writing Adventures

Sjoerd Kuyper was born in Amsterdam on March 6, 1952. When he was two years old, his family moved to Berkhout, a village near Hoorn. His father worked there as a teacher. Sjoerd later wrote about his seven years in Berkhout in his books about the toddler Robin.

Discovering a Love for Stories

In 1961, his family moved again, this time to Oostvoorne. When Sjoerd was thirteen, he started writing stories, inspired by the adventure books of Jules Verne. He also began writing poetry. He went to high school in Brielle and even wrote for the school newspaper, where he was also an editor.

Starting a Publishing House

In 1967, Sjoerd's family moved to Winkel, North Holland. There, he and his friends started their own small publishing house called Walpurgisnacht. They made their own books using a stencil machine and shared their stories. During this time, Sjoerd had a story published in a newspaper and a poem in a magazine. One of his poems from the school newspaper was even included in a national book called een 10 voor tieners (a 10 for the teenagers). In 1969, he finished high school and moved to Amsterdam to study philosophy.

Meeting Other Writers

In Amsterdam, Sjoerd met other young poets. They started another publishing group called Fizz-Subvers Press. They first published their own poems and stories, and later, they also published works by other famous writers and even translations of poems by Dadaist and surrealist poets. On July 11, 1970, Sjoerd met Margje Burger, who would become his wife. They have been together ever since.

Becoming a Full-Time Writer

Sjoerd Kuyper and Margje Burger moved to a summer house in Nieuwe Niedorp. Sjoerd continued his studies in Amsterdam and published poems in different magazines. His big break came in 1974 when his first collection of poems, Ik herinner mij Klaas Kristiaan (I remember Klaas Kristiaan), was published by De Bezige Bij. He became involved with the publishing company, helping to organize poetry readings.

Writing for Radio and TV

Sjoerd decided to stop his studies and become a full-time writer. He wrote articles and reviews for different newspapers and magazines. He also translated books and wrote his first children's stories for a radio programme called De Ko de Boswachtershow. In 1975, he and Margje moved to a houseboat in Neck.

In 1978, Sjoerd wrote his first TV series, De Grote Klok (The Big Clock). He also traveled with Margje, who was a photographer, and they wrote reports about places like the Aran Islands and New York City. In 1980, Sjoerd and Margje spent four months in the United States for a special writing program.

Puppet Shows and Children's Books

Sjoerd and his sister Trudy, who was known for her puppet theatre called Dibbes, started a publishing house called Bobbelie. They published the stories from Trudy's puppet shows as books. Sjoerd also continued to publish his own poetry and prose books.

He also conducted interviews with other writers, which were published in newspapers and later collected in books. Sjoerd and his friend Johan Diepstraten even wrote a youth novel together called De verborgen steeg (The Hidden Alley) in 1986, which won awards from many children's juries.

Family Life and Famous Works

Margje and Sjoerd got married in 1976. They had a son in 1984 and a daughter in 1986. Margje started drawing and painting instead of photography. Sjoerd began to focus more on writing for puppet theatres and especially on children's books.

In 1988, he started publishing with Leopold. One of his first books with them was Majesteit, uw ontbijt (Your Majesty, Your Breakfast), based on a TV series he wrote. He wrote for several TV programs, and in 1991, he wrote the TV series and the film Het zakmes (The Pocket-knife). This film and series won fourteen awards, including an Emmy Award. The book was reprinted many times because of the film's success.

Writing in the Nineties

In 1988, Sjoerd, Margje, and their children moved to Bakkum. Sjoerd spent more time writing books and giving lectures at schools, bookshops, and libraries.

The Robin Series and Other Stories

In 1990, he published Robins zomer (Robin's summer), the first book in a series about his own toddler years. He also included stories and ideas from his own children in these books. Eight more books followed in the Robin series, and three of them won a Zilveren Griffel, with one even winning a Gouden Griffel.

In 1996, he published De rode zwaan (The Red Swan), a philosophical children's novel inspired by the forests near his home in Bakkum. This book was later made into a film, and Sjoerd wrote the screenplay for it. He also published the fairy tale Josje (Josie) in 1989, followed by its sequel Josjes droom (Josie's dream) in 1992.

Travels and Inspiration

In 1994, Sjoerd was invited to visit Curaçao and Bonaire for children's book weeks. He later traveled to Aruba and Suriname. These trips had a big impact on his life and work. He said that he felt like a "different person, a better person" when he was there. In 1998, he created the picture book Malmok with Annemarie van Haeringen, about a pelican. This book won a Gouden Penseel and was published in English, Papiamentu, and Papiamento for children in the Antilles.

In 1997, Sjoerd's family moved to Bergen. He wrote letters about this move, which were later collected in a booklet. In 2000, Sjoerd was asked to write the Dutch children's book week gift, Eiber!, which was a story based on a puppet play he had written. Three hundred thousand copies of this book were printed and given away.

Creative Works in the 2000s

In 2003, director Peter de Baan asked Sjoerd Kuyper to write lyrics for the musical De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe (Java Ho! The Adventures of Four Boys Amid Fire, Storm, and Shipwreck). Over the next ten years, Sjoerd contributed to eleven musicals, writing lyrics and scenarios. He won two John Kraaijkamp Musical Awards for his work on musicals like Turks fruit (Turkish Delight) in 2005 and Dromen zijn bedrog (Dreams don't come true) in 2009.

Writing Together with Margje

During this time, Margje and Sjoerd started writing together. Their first joint project was the picture book Jij bent mijn mama niet! (You're not my mom!) in 2004. They also wrote forty stories for a school textbook about Nature & Technology. More picture books followed, such as Sjim and Sjon eten gek (Jim and John Eat Funny) (2009) and Kom uit die boom (Get out of that tree) (2015). They also wrote stories inspired by famous paintings for books like Het grote Rijksmuseum voorleesboek (The Big Rijksmuseum Reading Book).

Personal Stories and New Publishers

Sjoerd's father passed away in 2006. Sjoerd wrote about this in his collection September (2009) and performed a musical theatre play about it called Dode vaders, lieve zonen (Dead Fathers, Dear Sons). He won two more Zilveren Griffels during this period.

Successes in the 2010s

In 2011, Lemniscaat Publishers released Mijn opa de bankrover (My grandfather the bank robber). A film based on this story was released in the same year and became very popular, with 150,000 people watching it. Also in 2011, Lemniscaat published the last book in the Robin series, O rode papaver, boem pats knal (O red poppy, boom pats pop!), for which Sjoerd won his fifth Zilveren Griffel.

Stronger Ties to the Caribbean

Sjoerd's connection with Curaçao and Aruba grew stronger. He helped Ròi Colastica write his first youth novel, Vuurwerk in mijn hoofd (Fireworks in My Head), which was published in 2012. Through his conversations with Ròi and his family, Sjoerd learned a lot about Curaçao. This inspired him to write a book about the children of the island called De duik (The Dive), published in 2014. In 2017, Sjoerd wrote Aruba's children's book week gift, Het spannendste boek van de wereld (The most thrilling book in the world), which was given to schoolchildren in both Papiamento and Dutch.

Big Success with Hotel De Grote L

In 2014, several of Sjoerd's books were published, including Mama Lief Alsjeblieft (For You, Dear Mama), which he wrote with Margje, and Hotel De Grote L (The Big L Hotel). Sjoerd celebrated his fortieth anniversary as a writer. Hotel De Grote L became his biggest success so far. It was made into a film, adapted twice for theatre, and sold over forty thousand copies in the Netherlands. It was also published in ten other countries. Sjoerd still travels to Italy every year to give lectures about the book.

In 2019, his youth novel Bizar (Bizarre) was published.

Standing Up for What's Right

Sjoerd Kuyper's writing often shows his care for society, just like his grandparents and parents, who were involved in social causes. This started early in his life with poems about peace and songs about important topics.

Speaking Out for Education

In the early 1990s, many schools were merging, which meant they became much larger. The idea was that bigger schools would be better, but often it was about saving money. Sjoerd spoke out against this, especially when his children's small, friendly primary school was at risk of closing. He wrote about these experiences with local and national politics in his book De schoolstrijd (The School Struggle) (1997), later republished as De leukste jongen van de school (The Cutest Guy In School) (2002).

Stories About Refugees

In 1994, Sjoerd was asked to write a TV series about refugees and the fairy tales they brought from their home countries. The series was called De zevenmijlskoffers (The Seven-Mile Suitcases). Some of these stories were put into a book called Alleen mijn verhalen nam ik mee (My Stories Are All I Brought) (1998). The lyrics for the title song, Mensen met koffers (People with Suitcases), became very popular online years later when discussions about refugees in the Netherlands became a big topic. In 2012, Sjoerd and Tjeerd Oosterhuis wrote another song on the same theme, Hallo wereld (Hello World), for Kinderen voor Kinderen (Children for Children). This song has been watched and listened to over twelve million times on YouTube.

Supporting Youth Literature

Sjoerd has given many lectures where he talks about how important youth literature is and how writers should be treated fairly. He has always believed that stories for young people are very valuable.

The Sinterklaas Discussion

Sjoerd also got involved in the discussion about Zwarte Piet (‘Black Pete’) in the Netherlands. Inspired by his grandchildren, who are half Surinamese, he wrote a book called De vrienden van Sinterklaas (The Friends of Sinterklaas) (2014). This book suggested that the Sinterklaas celebration could be fun for everyone, with [pieten in all colours. This led to him being part of the national discussion. He later wrote other books on the topic, like Het kleinste Pietje (The Smallest Pietje) (2015) and Het verhaal van Sinterklaas (The Story of Sinterklaas) (2018). He also created the Sinterklaas song Al die kleuren (All those colours). Sjoerd believes that this discussion will lead to a more inclusive celebration for everyone in the future.

List of Works

Books

• Het Zakmes (1981)
• De Rode Zwaan (1996)

Films

• The Pocket-knife (Het Zakmes, 1992) (screenplay)
• De Rode Zwaan (1999) (screenplay)
• Morrison krijgt een zusje (2008) (screenplay)