Writers from Amsterdam

Henri_van_Praag

Naphthali ben Levi (Henri) van Praag (September 12, 1916 in Amsterdam – November 3, 1988 in Hilversum) was a Jewish-Dutch writer, teacher, and religious historian, and became known also for his publications in the field of parapsychology.

Gerard_Reve

Gerard Kornelis van het Reve (14 December 1923 – 8 April 2006) was a Dutch writer. He started writing as Simon Gerard van het Reve and adopted the shorter Gerard Reve [ˈɣeːrɑrt ˈreːvə] in 1973. Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he is considered one of the "Great Three" (De Grote Drie) of Dutch post-war literature. His 1981 novel De vierde man (The Fourth Man) was the basis for Paul Verhoeven's 1983 film.
Reve was one of the first homosexual authors to come out in the Netherlands. He often wrote explicitly about erotic attraction, sexual relations and intercourse between men, which many readers considered shocking. However, he did this in an ironic, humorous and recognizable way, which contributed to making homosexuality acceptable for many of his readers. Another main theme, often in combination with eroticism, was religion. Reve himself declared that the primary message in all of his work was salvation from the material world we live in.
Gerard Reve was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and was the brother of the Slavicist and essayist Karel van het Reve, who became a staunch anti-communist in his own way; the personal rapport between the brothers was not good. They broke off relations altogether in the 1980s.

Maarten_Maartens

Maarten Maartens, pen name of Jozua Marius Willem van der Poorten Schwartz (15 August 1858 in Amsterdam – 3 August 1915 in Doorn), was a Dutch writer, who wrote in English. He was quite well known at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, in both the UK and the US, but he was soon forgotten after his death.

Simon_Carmiggelt

Simon Carmiggelt (7 October 1913 – 30 November 1987) was a Dutch writer, journalist, and poet who became a well known public figure in the Netherlands because of his daily newspaper columns and his television appearances.