Peter van Dongen
Peter van Dongen (b. 1966) trained as an advertising illustrator and made his debut at the age of sixteen. His breakthrough came with the award-winning graphic novel 'Muizentheater' (Theatre of Mice, 1990), which followed the fortunes of two Amsterdam brothers during the depression of the 1930s and the Second World War.
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That same year, he started work on the first part of Rampokan: Java. It took a long time to research, write and draw this story and it was finally published seven years later. The second part, Rampokan: Celebes, came out in 2004. This work confirmed Van Dongen’s talent, establishing him as a graphic novelist at home and abroad. In 2011, Van Dongen completed a trilogy about boat people for the collection of the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam. In 2017 he published the graphic adaptation of Adriaan van Dis’s successful novel Familieziek (Repatriated. Heinemann, 2008).