Writersblog

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

The Dutch programme at the International Book Fair in Beijing was cunn... >>> read more

Henk Pröpper

Henk Pröpper, Director Dutch Foundation for Literature

In two weeks’ time, the official opening of one of the largest b... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

Dear Dutch publishers. The book fair is over. Perhaps you’ll now... >>> read more

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Dutch illustrators

The days are full and long. We are incessantly bombarded with impressi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

Arriving on the stand on the first day, I’d asked a Chinese visi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

Big excitement today since we were finally meeting with Songyu from Fl... >>> read more

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Dutch illustrators

It’s now the third day, and the first one with plenty of sun. Un... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

What a great opportunity to learn about the Dutch literature for Chine... >>> read more

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

A duck flies to and fro over the vast expanses of world ocean, despera... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

‘In the era of browsing, we provide reading.’ - Slogan see... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The jewel in the crown of our collection of Arbeiderspers titles publi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The Chinese publishers I have met during the course of my career, the ... >>> read more

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

I have so far never been to a book fair. Nor do I know what to imagine... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

Since 2006, I began writing about the Netherlands’ performance a... >>> read more

Henk Pröpper

Henk Pröpper, Director Dutch Foundation for Literature

Now that the fair is just round the corner, this is perhaps the moment... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The traffic in Beijing is horrendous, I’m sure the other blogger... >>> read more

Thomas Möhlmann

Thomas Möhlmann, Staff member Dutch Foundation for Literature

What an evening the poets and the approximately 200 onlookers present ... >>> read more


A.F.Th van der Heijden – Ash Destination

A.F.Th van der Heijden – Ash Destination

Reality and fiction are always closely bound up together in the work of A.F.Th. van der Heijden. Historical events – such as the coronation of Queen Beatrix in 1980, which was marked by heavy riots on the streets of Amsterdam, and the social unrest of the seventies and eighties – form the backdrop to the dramatic lives of his characters, who are often based on real people.

In Ash Destination, Van der Heijden sticks closely to reality, ‘perhaps out of misplaced deference’, as he writes. In diary fragments and in disparate notes he portrays his alcoholic father, who ‘drowned in his own fluid’ at the age of sixty-seven. In earlier books Van der Heijden had already described his childhood in a down-at-heel village and his difficult relationship with his father. In the first part of his novel cycle The Toothless Time, for example, fiction and reality coalesce, the father evoking nothing but anger and embarrassment in the central character, not least because of the alcoholism that is his legacy.

Here, as part of his attempt to understand his father, Van der Heijden goes in search of exceptional, intimate memories. His requiem is a melancholy and tender account of coming to terms with a difficult father-son relationship.

Biography

A.F.Th. van der Heijden studied psychology and philosophy before becoming a writer in the 1970s. He established his name with The Toothless Time (1983-96), a seven-volume saga about Amsterdam in the 1970s and 1980s. He has published more than thirty books, including novels, diaries, short-story collections and letters. His work has been translated into many languages and won him numerous literary awards.

Quotes

  • ‘Ash Destination is neither a hagiography nor a settling of accounts. It is a magnificent document about a multifaceted relationship.’ – De Groene Amsterdammer