Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees"Nooteboom (Dutch pronunciation:[seːsˈnoːtəboːm]; 31 July 1933 – 11 February 2026) was a Dutch novelist, poet and journalist. After the attention received by his novelRituals (Rituelen, 1980), which won thePegasus Prize, it was the first of his novels to be translated into an English-language edition, published in 1983 byLouisiana State University Press (LSU Press) of the United States. LSU Press published his two earlier novels in English in the following years, as well as other works up until 1990.Harcourt (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) andGrove Press have since published some of his works in English.
Nooteboom won numerous literary awards and was mentioned as a candidate for theNobel Prize in literature.[1]
Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees" Nooteboom was born on 31 July 1933 inThe Hague, Netherlands.[2] His father was killed there in the 1945bombing of the Bezuidenhout during World War II.[3]
After his mother remarried in 1948, his Catholic stepfather enrolled Nooteboom in several religious secondary schools, including a Franciscan school inVenray and a school run by the Augustinians inEindhoven. He finished his secondary education at a night school inUtrecht.[4]
After his first job with a bank inHilversum, Nooteboom travelled throughout Europe. In addition to his independent writing, he worked for the weekly magazineElsevier, from 1957 to 1960, and at the newspaperde Volkskrant from 1961 to 1968. In 1967, he became the travel editor of the magazineAvenue.
In 1957 Nooteboom was hired as a sailor on a freighter toSuriname in order to earn money and ask for the hand of his first wife, Fanny Lichtveld. They married but later divorced in 1964. Some of his travel experiences are recounted in the bookDe verliefde gevangene (1958).
He was also in a relationship with the singerLiesbeth List. Nooteboom was until his death married to Simone Sassen and divided his time betweenAmsterdam,Germany and the island ofMenorca.
On 2 September 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate fromUCL, London.[5]
Nooteboom died on 11 February 2026, at the age of 92.[6]
Nooteboom's first novel,Philip en de anderen (Philip and the Others, 1988 English translation), was published in 1954 and won theAnne Frank Prize. His second novel,De ridder is gestorven (1963) (The Knight Has Died, English edition, 1990) was his last for 17 years. During that period, he was working for publications and writing poetry and travel books.
In 1980, his third novelRituelen (Rituals, 1983) brought him wide acclaim in the Netherlands, winning thePegasus Prize. It was his first novel to be translated into English and was published by Louisiana State University Press, which published two of his earlier novels in English, as well as others through to 1990.
Other novels by Nooteboom includeEen lied van schijn en wezen (A Song of Truth and Semblance, 1984);Allerzielen (1998) (All Souls' Day, 2001), andParadijs verloren (Paradise Lost, 2007). His best-known work to English-speaking audiences is perhapsThe Following Story (Het volgende verhaal, 1991), which was written for the DutchBoekenweek in 1991. It won theAristeion Prize in 1993.[7]
Nooteboom was also a well-known travel writer. Some of his travel books includeEen middag in Bruay,Een nacht in Tunesië, andDe omweg naar Santiago (Roads to Santiago, 1997), an anthology of his writings on Spain. This last book inspired the musical workSix Glosses (2010) by Spanish composerBenet Casablancas. Nooteboom's experiences living inBerlin, Germany, are detailed in the bookBerlijn 1989–2009, which collects his earlier books,Berlijnse notities andTerugkeer naar Berlijn, and new material.[8]
The bookDe omweg naar Santiago inspired several Spanish and Dutch composers. It was the subject of the tournée of concerts celebrated in 2010 in The Netherlands by theEnsemble 88 from Maastricht.[9]
1963Een middag in Bruay. Reisverslagen (An Afternoon in Bruay. Travelogues)
1965Een nacht in Tunesië (A Night in Tunisia)
1968Een ochtend in Bahia (One Morning in Bahia)
1971Bitter Bolivia. Maanland Mali
1978Een avond in Isfahan
1981Voorbije passages
1983Waar je gevallen bent, blijf je
1985De zucht naar het Westen
1986De Boeddha achter de schutting. Aan de oever van de Chaophraya
1989De wereld een reiziger
1990Berlijnse notities
1991Vreemd water
1992Roads to Santiago (De omweg naar Santiago). In English: Harcourt Brace, 1997
1992Zurbarán
1993De koning van Suriname
1995Van de lente de dauw. Oosterse reizen
1997De filosoof zonder ogen : Europese reizen
1997Terugkeer naar Berlijn
2002Nootebooms Hotel (Nomad's Hotel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009; the German edition with the same title appeared first in 2000)
2005Het geluid van Zijn naam. Reizen door de Islamitische wereld (the German edition with the titleDer Laut seines Namens. Reisen durch die islamische Welt appeared first in 2004)
^(in Dutch) Dick Welsink, "Cees Nooteboom: een leven in data",Cees Nooteboom. Ik had wel duizend levens en ik nam er maar één! (1997). Retrieved on 2012-10-10.
^The Dutch Foundation For Literature (17 November 2009)."Cees Nooteboom". Retrieved22 July 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Nooteboom, Cees.Berlijn 1989/2009 (De Bezige Bij, 2009), p. 413.
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