Dutch writer (1937?2017)
Anton Quintana
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Anton Quintana in 1983
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Born
| Anton Adolf Kuyten
[1]
[2]
[3]
(
1937-09-06
)
6 September 1937
Amsterdam
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Died
| 15 October 2017
(2017-10-15)
(aged 80)
Hoorn
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Occupation
| Writer
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Nationality
| Dutch
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Notable awards
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Anton Quintana
(6 September 1937 ? 15 October 2017),
pseudonym
of
Anton Adolf Kuyten
, was a Dutch writer.
[2]
Biography
[
edit
]
Early life
[
edit
]
Quintana was born in 1937 as the twin brother of
Andre Kuyten
. His brother was named by his mother and Quintana was named by his father after
Anton Mussert
and
Adolf Hitler
.
[1]
[4]
[5]
His father abandoned his wife and children when Quintana was two years old to join the
Dutch national socialist party
.
[3]
Their mother died of
tuberculosis
when they were ten years old.
[1]
[3]
The twins then moved to an orphanage in Amsterdam.
[1]
Due to complications at birth, one side of Quintana's face was left disfigured which was only corrected when he was sixteen years of age.
[1]
Differences with his brother, both in physical appearance and in popularity, and being abandoned by his father would translate into recurring themes in his work, such as rivalry and a search for identity.
[2]
[5]
His brother Andre also went on to write books, poetry and radio plays and asked Quintana not to use his name "Anton Kuyten" as it was too similar to "Andre Kuyten" so Quintana decided to write under his mother's surname.
[1]
[3]
Quintana was also asked not to write
poems
and
adult literature
like Andre; instead Quintana would focus on other work, such as
crime novels
and
children's literature
.
[3]
Quintana would later state that he does consider his work literature but that he ended up in children's literature as a result of this deal with his brother.
[4]
Radio and television
[
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]
His first
radio play
was
Ontmoeting in de herfst
which aired in 1962 and published a year later in
6 hoorspelen
(1963).
[6]
In 1970 he received the
ANV-Visser Neerlandiaprijs
for his radio play
De vrouw onder het schavot
and in 1973 he received the same award for his
television play
Het zout der aarde
.
[7]
His brother Andre received the same award a few years earlier in 1967 and again in 1973.
[7]
In 1970, Quintana also adapted the book
Het wassende water
(1925) by
Herman de Man
into a radio play.
[8]
Peter van Gestel
was involved as
dramaturge
for this adaption.
[8]
In 1975 and 1976 he adapted the stories of
Martin Beck
, written by
Maj Sjowall
and
Per Wahloo
, into a radio play called
Moordbrigade Stockholm
.
[9]
The main characters were played by
Jan Borkus
,
Hans Karsenbarg
,
Paul van der Lek
and
Hans Hoekman
.
[9]
In 1977 and 1978 Quintana wrote the popular television series
De Kris Pusaka
.
[10]
Writing
[
edit
]
Quintana made his debut in children's literature with the book
Padjelanta
in 1973. The book was not a commercial success and Quintana bought all remaining copies and used them to raise his garden.
[1]
[3]
His next children's book
De adelaar
was published in 1974. Quintana also wrote comic stories for children's magazine
Pep
with illustrations by
Hans G. Kresse
,
Jos Looman
and
The Tjong-Khing
.
[11]
[12]
[13]
In the years after his brother's death in 1979 Quintana turned to
vodka
and he traveled to
Sumatra
to escape his life in the Netherlands.
[3]
[4]
In 1982, he published the book
De bavianenkoning
which is based on his travels in Sumatra.
[3]
Quintana's emotional struggles left him unable to read or write and instead he had to
dictate
the book to someone else.
[3]
Quintana was awarded the
Gouden Griffel
in 1983 for the book.
[3]
In 1995, he published the book
Het boek van Bod Pa
for which he was awarded the
Gouden Uil
and
Woutertje Pieterse Prijs
in 1996.
[3]
[14]
In 2001, his last book
De hemelruiter
(2000), a
sequel
to
Het boek van Bod Pa
,
[15]
received an honorable mention by the jury of the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs.
[16]
Quintana's work has been translated into several languages, including by
Mirjam Pressler
(German) and
John Nieuwenhuizen
(English).
[1]
Quintana himself has also translated several stories and books into Dutch, including work of
Harlan Ellison
,
Alec Haig
and
John D. MacDonald
.
[1]
Death
[
edit
]
Quintana died on 15 October 2017.
[5]
Awards
[
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]
Quintana received various awards for his work:
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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International
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National
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Other
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