Wim Hofman (

Oostkapelle Oostkapelle is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Veere, and lies about 9 km north of Middelburg. Oostkapelle was a separate municipality until 1966, when it was merged with Domburg. History The ...

, February 2, 1941) is a Dutch author. After elementary school he joined the seminary in

Sterksel Sterksel is a village in the southern Netherlands, near Eindhoven. It lies within the municipality Heeze-Leende. It's the smallest village of three in the municipality. The spoken language is "Heeze-en-Leendes", a distinct dialect within the East ...

, because he wanted to become a missionary. He started writing books early, and published his first novel, "Welwel, de zeer grote tovenaar & zes andere doldwaze verhalen over ridders, tovenaars, matrozen, krentenbollen, cowboys, indianen & over een planeet" in 1969. On February 2, 1970 he married Toke Mertens and moved to Vlissingen, where he still lives. He has two children. Wim Hofman also illustrates his own books, and paints. He won awards for a number of his books.

Notable Books

Wim Hofman wrote a large number of books. Some of the important ones are described here. A number of his books have been translated into German, but only one book ("Straf") was translated into English ("A Good Hiding"). His books contain many puns and twists.

Koning Wikkepokluk de merkwaardige zoekt een rijk

This book, published in 1974, took a long time to write. It describes the adventures of King Wikkepokluk the odd, who is looking ("zoekt") for his kingdom ("rijk"). It feels a bit like a fairy tale (it even opens with "Once upon a time"). The book is supposedly influenced by

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...

and

Ubu Roi ''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de P ...

and was awarded with the Gouden Penseel for the beautiful ink drawings that Wim added to the story.

Het vlot

The title translates to "The Raft". The book, published in 1989, describes the town of

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...

after the bombings of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The main character is a little boy, who is trying to escape, and decides to build a raft, to be able to travel like

Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...

. The book was awarded the highest prize for Dutch children books, 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 Dutch Children's Books Week, by the Stichting Collectieve Prop ...

Zwart als inkt

This book was published in 1998 and its title translates to "Black as ink". The subtitle ("is het verhaal van Sneeuwwitje en de zeven dwergen") means "is the story of Snow white and the seven dwarves". At the surface this book is indeed the well known fairy tale, but it is more tragic, cruel, touching and funny than the original. Like other books of Wim Hofman ("Klein Duimpje", "Straf"/"A Good Hiding") it shows the powerless position of children in the world. "Zwart als inkt" also received the

in 1998.

References

External links

Wim's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofman, Wim 1941 births Living people Dutch children's writers Dutch male poets People from Veere Woutertje Pieterse Prize winners Max Velthuijs Prize winners Nienke van Hichtum Prize winners Gouden Griffel winners Gouden Penseel winners