The writer Tonke suit (Jakarta, 1930-The Hague, 2024), one of the most prolific and award-winning authors of children’s and young adult literature in recent decades, has died in The Hague at the age of 93, according to her Spanish publisher Siruela.
“With his death, Dutch children’s literature has lost one of its most original and creative voices.“Tonke Dragt was born in Jakarta in 1930 and spent most of her youth in Indonesia, which was marked by the outbreak of the Second World War.
In 1941, When Japan invaded Dutch India, Dragt ended up, along with his mother and two younger sisters, in a Japanese prison camp.She was only twelve years old. It was there that she began to write her own novel with a friend.
What began as a teenage pastime became a profession in 1961 when, after the war and settled in The Hague, she published her first book: ‘Adventures of two different twins’.
Just one year later came what would later become one of his most emblematic works: ‘Letter to the King’which was chosen as the Best Young Adult Book of the year and won the Griffel der Griffels (Prize of Prizes) in 2004, thus being recognized as the best young adult book of the last fifty years.
In 2020, Netflix released a six-episode series based on the novel and starring Amir WilsonIn addition, Ediciones Siruela has published other works by Tonke Dragt such as ‘Tall as a Tower, Wide as the Sea’, ‘The Towers of February’, ‘Blue Moonstone’, ‘The Cursed Window’, ‘The Watchmaker’s Secret’, ‘The Enigma of the Seventh Step’ and ‘The Secrets of the Wild Forest’, the latter being a continuation of the successful ‘Letter to the King’.
Dragt was a pioneer of children’s literature from her country, becoming one of the first authors to set books aimed at children in epic fantasy and science fiction environments. Her stories, however, always reflect the real world, with themes as diverse as initiation, the difficult leap from childhood to adolescence or personal growth.
The author received numerous awards throughout her career, including the National Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature in recognition of her work as a whole in 1976.