As a child, I wanted to become a writer. But I went to the Photo Academy, dyed my hair bright purple and started drumming in a punkrock band. The self-copied comics I made about my experiences in the music scene became an unexpected success. Without it being a preconceived plan, I was suddenly able to make a living from comics.
My book Vincent, about Vincent van Gogh, has been published in more than twenty countries around the world. My latest graphic novel The Philosopher, the Dog and the Wedding became a bestseller within only a month of publication, got nominated for the Hypatia Price and won the Storyworld Public Award and Sophie Castille Award. A main national newspaper calls me ‘one of the most important comics creators in the Netherlands’ and The Times and The Guardian also wrote rave reviews. I have fourteen books to my name.
PUNK
Sitting alone for hours writing and drawing a new book, I think that’s the best work there is. Stories about minimalism and rebellion, about making important choices, about people who dare to go against the grain for a higher goal. My goal is: to create stories that I think really need to be told. How to live a good life? That is the common thread in my work. The punk mentality is still there: the guts, the social engagement, the humour and the rawness.
Together with my husband Ricky I live and work in a small house in the North of the Netherlands.
“quite funny, well-told, courageously truthfull” – Robert Crumb
As a child, I wanted to become a writer. But I went to the Photo Academy, dyed my hair bright purple and started drumming in a punkrock band. The self-copied comics I made about my experiences in the music scene became an unexpected success. Without it being a preconceived plan, I was suddenly able to make a living from comics.
My book Vincent, about Vincent van Gogh, has been published in more than twenty countries around the world. My latest graphic novel The Philosopher, the Dog and the Wedding became a bestseller within only a month of publication, got nominated for the Hypatia Price and won the Storyworld Public Award. A main national newspaper calls me ‘one of the most important comics creators in the Netherlands’ and The Times and The Guardian also wrote rave reviews. I have fourteen books to my name.
PUNK
Sitting alone for hours writing and drawing a new book, I think that’s the best work there is. Stories about minimalism and rebellion, about making important choices, about people who dare to go against the grain for a higher goal. My goal is: to create stories that I think really need to be told. How to live a good life? That is the common thread in my work. The punk mentality is still there: the guts, the social engagement, the humour and the rawness.
Together with my husband Ricky I live and work in a small house in the North of the Netherlands.
“quite funny, well-told, courageously truthfull” – Robert Crumb