Jan Geurt Gaarlandt

Jan Geurt Gaarlandt (born October 9, 1946) is a Dutch journalist, poet, translator, editor and novelist. He writes novels under the pseudonym Otto de Kat.

Biography

Gaarlandt was born in Rotterdam on October 9, 1946, to the son of Hans Gaarlandt and Anna Wilhelmina Gaarlandt Hupkes. He is a grandson of Egbertus Gerrit Gaarlandt, a mayor of Gouda, and Hermina Johanna Maria de Kat. In 1977, he married Françoise Kist, with whom he has a son and a daughter.

Gaarlandt studied theology at the University of Leiden, following which he took up studies in art criticism, completing a thesis on the art theory of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. An article on Van Geel, published in the journal Raam attracted attention, and he was invited by the de Volkskrant newspaper to write reviews for them. In 1995, Gaarlandt became the Lord of the Manor of Barendrecht, a purely honorary position without any role of governance. The hereditary title belonged to his uncle, after whose death, he purchased it for 10,000 guilders. Previously, Gaarlandt has also been Mayor of Emmen and a Queen's Commissioner in Drente. His second novel, Man on the Move came out in 2002, while his third, Julia was published in 2008. His 2012 novel News from Berlin was made into a film by Ben Verbong based on a screenplay by Toenke Berkelbach.

Translations of Gaarlandt's books have appeared in German, French, Italian and English.

Selected bibliography

Poetry

1975 - Het ironisch handvest, Amsterdam: Van Oorschot

Novels

1998 - Man in de verte (English translation by Arnold Pomerans and Erica Pomerans: ) 2004 - De inscheper (English translation by Sam Garrett: ) 2008 - Julia (English translation by Ina Rilke: ) 2012 - Bericht uit Berlijn (English translation by Ina Rilke: )

Edited works

1984 - An Interrupted Life: The Diaries and Letters of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943 (English translation by Arnold Pomerans, Pantheon Books) 1989 - Men zou een pleister op vele wonden willen zijn (Collected essays on Etty Hillesum)

Awards and recognition

Gaarlandt served as a juror for the Multatuli prize in 1977, and for the Laurens Janszoon Coster prize in 1997.

In 2005, Gaarlandt received the Halewijn prize for literature.