Born in a family of illustrators, Harmen van Straaten has always loved drawing. Yet he chose to become a law teacher at the HEAO of Amsterdam. But he soon grew tired and went back to his true passion—drawing. Since 1987, he has been working for publishers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain and Germany, illustrating more than 400 books and writing more than 100 of them, for all ages. His work has been translated in more than 12 languages and sold more than 2.5 million copies in the Netherlands.
His work has won several awards, including the BIB Golden Apple and the Sankei Children’s Book Award for A Grandfather You’ll Never Forget.
In 2016 the world premiere of the musical production A Snowman’s Wish (a Chinese/Dutch co-production) was aired in China in Xi’an and toured around Holland afterwards.
Related events
15 November, 13:30–14:15
Illustration from The Netherlands—Workshop and Interview with Two Dutch Illustrators
Other speakers: Loes Riphagen (The Netherlands), Picture Book Author and Illustrator;
Thille Dop (The Netherlands), Senior Publisher Children's and YA, Uitgeverij Luitingh-Sijthoff
Event venue: Stage 2
Event host: Dutch Foundation for Literature
Exhibitors’ Event; Event in Chinese and English; open to all CCBF visitors
