Els Pelgrom (born 2 April 1934,

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of Else Koch, is a Dutch writer of children's literature.

Biography

Career

For some time she worked on the children's section of the ''Winschoter Courant''. She also worked for a short period of time as teacher.

Children's literature

Pelgrom made her debut as writer in 1962 with the book ''Het geheimzinnige bos''. Her book ''De kinderen van het achtste woud'' (1977) is considered by many to be her true debut. For this book she received the

Gouden Griffel The Gouden Griffel (Golden Stylus) is an award given to authors of children's or teenagers' literature in the Netherlands. History Since 1971, it is awarded each year during the Boekenweek, Dutch Children's Books Week, by the Collectieve Prop ...

award in 1978. The book was translated into English as ''The Winter When Time Was Frozen'' by Maryka and Raphael Rudnik who won the

Mildred L. Batchelder Award The Mildred L. Batchelder Award, or Batchelder Award, is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the publisher of the year's "most outstanding" children's book translated into English and published in the U.S. The M ...

in 1981 for this translation. The book was translated into German by Jutta Knust as ''Die Kinder vom Achten Wald'' which was awarded the ''Gustav-Heinemann-Friedenspreis für Kinder- und Jugendbücher'' in 1983. Pelgrom also won the Gouden Griffel for her books ''Kleine Sofie en Lange Wapper'' and ''De eikelvreters''. Pelgrom won the Zilveren Griffel award in 1983 for ''Voor niets gaat de zon op'' and in 1988 for ''Het onbegonnen feest''. Pelgrom also received the

Vlag en Wimpel In the Netherlands, the award is an honourable mention awarded by either the jury of the Gouden Griffel and Zilveren Griffel awards (for Dutch-language children's literature) or the jury of the Gouden Penseel and Zilveren Penseel awards (for ...

award in 1986 for ''De Olifantsberg'' and in 1987 for ''De straat waar niets gebeurt''. In 1994, she won the

Theo Thijssen-prijs The Theo Thijssen-prijsSometimes spelled ''Theo Thijssenprijs''. (Dutch for Theo Thijssen Prize) is a Dutch literary award awarded once every three years to a Dutch author of children's literature or young adult fiction. The award is not given f ...

for her entire oeuvre. In 1995, she wrote the children's book ''Bombaaj!'' which was the Kinderboekenweekgeschenk on the occasion of the

Boekenweek In the Netherlands, the Boekenweek (; English: Book Week) is an annual "week" of ten days dedicated to Dutch literature. It has been held in March annually since 1932. Each Boekenweek has a theme. The beginning of the Boekenweek is marked by the ' ...

. The majority of Pelgrom's books have been published by Querido.

Illustrators and translators

Pelgrom's books have been illustrated by various illustrators including

Margriet Heymans Margriet Heymans (born 29 October 1932) is a Dutch writer and illustrator of children's literature. Heymans wrote and illustrated various books in collaboration with her sister Annemie Heymans, including ''Het poppenfeest'' (1971), ''De gele dra ...

Peter van Straaten Peter van Straaten (25 March 1935 – 8 December 2016) was a Dutch cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his political cartoons as well as his satirical observations of everyday people. He also had a newspaper comic strip '' Vade ...

and

Thé Tjong-Khing Thé Tjong-Khing (; born August 4, 1933) is a children's book illustrator based in the Netherlands. He was born in Purworedjo, Java to a large Chinese Indonesian family. As a child he was interested in the Tarzan comic strips of Edgar Rice Bur ...

. Many of Pelgrom's books have been translated into German by

Mirjam Pressler Mirjam Pressler, born Mirjam Gunkel (18 June 1940 – 16 January 2019) was a German novelist and translator. Being the author of more than 30 children's and teenage books, she also translated into German more than 300 works by other writers from ...

and

Hanni Ehlers Hanni Ehlers (born 2 August 1954, Eutin) is a German translator known for translating English and Dutch literature into German. Career Ehlers has translated books written by numerous Dutch authors, including Renate Dorrestein, Guus Kuijer, J ...

. Some of her books have also been translated into English by Arnold Pomerans.

Personal life

Pelgrom was married to Karl Pelgrom and they had three children. They separated in 1975. Pelgrom also lived for some time in Granada, Spain. Pelgrom is a half-sister of writer and actor Herman Koch.

Awards

* 1978:

, ''De kinderen van het achtste woud'' * 1983: Zilveren Griffel, ''Voor niets gaat de zon op'' * 1985:

, ''Kleine Sofie en Lange Wapper'' (''Little Sophie and Lanky Flop'') * 1986:

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

, ''Die wundersame Reise der kleinen Sofie'' (''Little Sophie and Lanky Flop'') * 1986:

, ''De Olifantsberg'' * 1987:

, ''De straat waar niets gebeurt'' * 1988: Zilveren Griffel, ''Het onbegonnen feest'' * 1990:

, ''De eikelvreters'' * 1994:

References

External links

Els Pelgrom

Nederlands Letterenfonds The Nederlands Letterenfonds ("Dutch Foundation for Literature") is a Dutch organization that promotes Dutch literature at home and abroad. The Letterenfonds represents Dutch authors at such events as the Frankfurt Book Fair, and awards a number o ...

(Dutch Foundation for Literature)
Els Pelgrom
(in Dutch),

Digital Library for Dutch Literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelgrom, Els 1934 births Living people Dutch children's writers Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century Dutch women writers 21st-century Dutch women writers Dutch women children's writers Gouden Griffel winners People from Arnhem 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers