Godfried Bomans

Godfried Jan Arnold Bomans (2 March 1913 – 22 December 1971) was a Dutch author and television personality. Much of his work remains untranslated into English.

Life and career Godfried Bomans was born in The Hague and grew up in and around Haarlem, where his father had a law office.

Already as a pupil in high school Bomans showed literary interest; he became editor of school newspapers and published short stories, even in literary and student magazines.

He originally studied law at the University of Amsterdam (1933–1938; LL.B.) and then until 1942 psychology and philosophy at the University of Nijmegen, but spent his entire life writing.

In 1943 he quit his studies and moved back to Haarlem. There he helped save a number of Jews, for which he received the distinction Righteous Among the Nations. He is best known for his books of modern-day fairy tales and his short, humorous pieces full of wit, parody and mild irony. In 1950 he began an artist's club in Haarlem called Teisterbant, that became better known for its literary influences rather than other arts. He was friends with leading Haarlem artists and writers, and was "best man" for local artist Anton Heyboer in 1953. He was a widely read author in the 1950s and 1960s, but he is not mentioned in most histories of Dutch literature and did not receive a single literary prize. Nevertheless, a seven-volume edition of his collected Works was published between 1996 and 1999. His phantasy book Erik, or the Little Insect Book (1940), widely read during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945), was made into a film in 2004.

Selected works Source: Memoires of gedenkschriften van minister Pieter Bas, 1937 Wonderlijke Nachten (Wonderful/Wondrous Nights) Erik of het klein insectenboek, 1940 (Erik, or the Little Insect Book), translated as Eric in the Land of the Insects (published Boston, 1994) . The book has inspired the film Erik of het klein insectenboek, (2004). Sprookjes, 1946 (Fairy Tales), translated as The Wily Wizard and the Wicked Witch and other weird stories (published London, 1969) and as The wily witch and all the other fairy tales and fables (Owing Mills, Maryland, Stemmer House Publishers, Inc., 1977). Kopstukken, 1947 Pim, Frits en Ida (an eight-volume series of Children's Books, of which four were translated into English: Gnomes and princes, 1979; The uninhabited island, 1979; The runaway balloon, 1980; Captains, pirates and runaways, 1980) Dickens, waar zijn uw spoken?, 1972 (posthumously published anthology of articles on Dickens and his books)