Tonke Dragt

Antonia "Tonke" Johanna Dragt (; 12 November 1930 – 12 July 2024) was a Dutch writer and illustrator of children's literature. Her book De brief voor de koning was chosen by CPNB as the best Dutch youth book of the latter half of the twentieth century.

Biography Childhood in Batavia Antonia Johanna Dragt, better known as Tonke Dragt, was born in 1930 in Batavia in the Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta in Indonesia) as the eldest daughter of a Dutch insurance agent based in Batavia. Dragt was initially called "Tonneke" (Dutch for 'tubby'), a name she disliked "because I was tall and thin". She attended the Nassau School.

During the Second World War, Dragt, her mother and her two sisters were interned in Japanese prisoner's camp Tjideng. The situation in the camp was adverse, shortages of food and other essentials were prevalent. As reading had been her biggest hobby, Dragt found herself often bored as there were no novels. To solve this problem, aged 13, she and her friend Tineke decided to write a novel, De jacht op de touwkleurige (The hunt for the rope-coloured) under the pen name Tito Drastra. Dragt also provided illustrations for this novel. A second, never completed book, De Florentijnse ring would be a motive for a part of her debut novel De verhalen van de tweelingbroers.

After the Second World War ended, Dragt was reunited with her father and family moved to the Netherlands, where they first came to live in Dordrecht in 1949 and subsequently moved to The Hague. Dragt could never return to Indonesia, initially because she lacked money, later because her health would not allow it anymore.

In 1956, her first work was accepted in several magazines and newspapers, most notably the magazine Kris Kras. Five years later, her debut book appeared and was received well by critics. She made a big name for herself with her second novel in 1962, De brief voor de koning (The Letter for the King), which won the award for being the best Dutch children's book of the year. She continued to produce at a high rhythm during the 1960s, but massively reduced the output of new work in the next decades, although collections of older short stories filled up many of the gaps.

Apart from writing and illustrating her own books, Tonke Dragt also made illustrations for some other books, including work by Paul Biegel, E. Nesbit, Rosemary Sutcliff, and the novel Elidor by Alan Garner.

Throughout the decade, the work of Tonke Dragt was translated into many languages, including German, Afrikaans, Czech, Spanish, Danish and Indonesian. It would take until 2013 before her first novel was translated into English.

Style and themes Many of the books and stories by Tonke Dragt are situated in a fantasy or science fiction environment, although usually closely related to or intertwined with the real world.

Dragt long admired British children's literature for its fantasy tradition, stating that Dutch literature demanded realism. In a 2019 interview, Dragt therefore recalled her first call with Miep Diekmann, who worked as an editor at Leopold at the time and was not entirely convinced by the first Verhalen van de tweelingbroers manuscript, stating that fables were out of fashion. Diekmann was also concerned with the thickness of the book, totalling over 350 pages, which was unusual for a children's book at the time. However, she was charmed by the illustrations and storytelling ability, calling Dragt "talented". The book has been translated many times, and reached its 22nd printing in Dutch in 2007 and its 61st printing in 2021.

In 2007, it premiered as a musical theater piece. This was the second theater production based on the works of Tonke Dragt, after an adaptation of De Zevensprong. In 2020 Netflix presented a six episodes series loosely based on the book, starring Amir Wilson.

Death Dragt died in The Hague on 12 July 2024, at the age of 93.