Anna Woltz

Anna Woltz, was born in London in 1981, and grew up in Den Haag. She wrote her first children’s book »Alles kookt over« (2002; tr. Everything boils over) at the age of 17. Woltz studied history at the University of Leiden where she wrote a column for the newspaper »Volkskrant«, among others. Since then, she has worked as an author and journalist in the Netherlands and published over twenty children’s books, many of them exploring today’s realities and often dealing with problems between parents and children: »My heroes discover that their parents did something very bad, at which point they become very angry. I love writing about angry children. In the end, they notice that parents are just normal people who also make mistakes.«

In her children’s book »Evi, Nick en ik« (2001; tr. Evi, Nick and I), Woltz tells the story of Flora, who is enjoying her summer holidays in a small village but must deal with a visit from her father’s boss and his daughter Evi. At first, Flora has no desire to make friends with the contentious Evi, but she gradually figures out how great it can be to share a secret with friends. »Mijn bijzonder rare week met Tess« (2013; tr. My wonderfully weird week with Tess) is another story that takes place during school holidays: Samuel breaks his foot and meets Tess at the village doctor, where he also finds out that Tess has secretly invited her father – whom she knows only by name – to her vacation house to find out whether she wants to have him as a father or not. With a great deal of empathy and without any form of pretention, Woltz explores important subjects such as loss and loneliness. »Gips« (2015; tr. Plaster cast) also begins with a small catastrophe: Fitz and her little sister Bente, whose parents are in the process of divorcing, drive to their father’s apartment when Bente falls and has to go to the hospital. As they wait for the doctor, Fitz messes about in the hospital, steals plaster to make a cast for herself, and meets wheelchair-bound Adam, who also has experience with broken families. Woltz published »Honderd uur nacht« (Eng. »A Hundred Hours of Night«, 2016), a children’s book, in 2014. In this unusual coming-of-age story, 14-year-old Emilia, who is very angry at her father, takes off to New York with his credit card and ends up hanging out with two young people who have also been left to fend for themselves. They are forced to work together and experience a number of exciting events – indeed, chaos is the order of the day not only in Emilia’s life, but also in New York, where a hurricane is blowing through and the electricity is out.

Anna Woltz has received several prizes, including the Nienke van Hichtum-prijs, the Gouden Griffel and the LUCHS Prize. Her books have been translated into nine languages. She lives in Utrecht.

Alles kookt over

Leopold

Amsterdam, 2002

Black box

Leopold

Amsterdam, 2007

Kükensommer

[Ill. von Angela Glökler]

dtv

München, 2015

[Ü: Bettina Bach u. Eva Schweikart]

Meine wunderbar seltsame Woche mit Tess

[Ill. Regina Kehn]

Carlsen

Hamburg, 2015

[Ü: Andrea Kluitmann]

Gips oder Wie ich an einem einzigen Tag die Welt reparierte

Carlsen

Hamburg, 2016

[Ü: Andrea Kluitmann]

Alaska

Querido

Amsterdam, 2016

Hundert Stunden Nacht

Carlsen

Hamburg, 2017

[Ü: Andrea Kluitmann]