A.F. Th. van der Heijden Biography
Adrianus Franciscus Theodorus van der Heijden (born October 15, 1951) is a Dutch writer. Van der Heijden studied psychology and philosophy in Nijmegen. After moving to Amsterdam he turned to writing. His first two books appeared under the pseudonym Patrizio Canaponi: the short story collection Een gondel in de Herengracht ("A Gondola in the Herengracht", 1978, Anton Wachter Prize, 1979) and the novel De draaideur ("The Revolving Door", 1979).
He began publishing under his own name in the 80s. Van der Heijden has won many awards, including all major Dutch literary awards: the 2013 P. C. Hooft Award for his entire oeuvre, the 2012 Libris Literature Prize for "Tonio", and the 2007 AKO Prize for "Het schervengericht" and the 1997 AKO Literatuurprijs for "Onder het plaveisel het moeras". Some of Van der Heijden's books have been translated into German, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Spanish and Bulgarian.
