In this Dutch video, Jan Wolkers tells about insects and other small animals in his backyard on Texel island.
From Dutch NOS TV:
In his home on Texel island, Jan Wolkers has died. The author and visual artist would have become 82 years old next week. …He also made, still recently, the Rembrandt monument in Leiden.Wolkers in 1961 published his first book, the collection of short stories Serpentina’s Petticoat. Well known novels are Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight), Terug naar Oegstgeest and Kort Amerikaans. There have films been made based on some of his novels. Of his National Book Week Special of 2005, Zomerhitte, a film is being made right now.
After 1980, Wolkers turned more and more to visual arts. He made many glass sculpture monuments, including the Auschwitz monument in Amsterdam.
In the 1960s, he made election billboards for the Communist Party of the Netherlands; and posters against the Vietnam war.
When the Yugoslavia war broke out in 1999, unlike Blairite trendy pseudo-lefties, he did not support that war, but spoke out against it.
I still fondly remember him reading his poems in the Leidse Hout park; not far from where he was born; and featuring in his stories and novels.
Associated Press Wolkers obituary: here (scroll down).
Obituary at Indymedia Belgium: here.
From the Groene Amsterdammer: here.
R.B. Kitaj; Art Had Historical, Literary Themes; dies.
