The Letter for the King is a Dutch classic, winning the country’s children’s book of the year award in 1963 and, in 2004, the “Griffel der Griffels” for best children’s novel of the past 50 years. But that’s slowly changing with last year’s English translation, the first ever, of her 1962 adventure story The Letter for the King ( De Brief Voor de Koning) and, this month, the appearance of its sequel, The Secrets of the Wild Wood. She perches on the edge of her bed to be interviewed, wrapped in a wildly patterned cerise kaftan like a delicate, exotic bird, and flicks easily between Dutch and English for a couple of hours before getting weary.Īlthough a star in her own country, she is virtually unknown in the UK. Physically fragile and very private, the 84-year-old children’s author rarely goes far from the sheltered accommodation in The Hague where she now lives, and it is even rarer for her to agree to any kind of media attention. Where do I find my stories? It is there that I find them: the other side of the door,” says Tonke Dragt. And as long as the door is closed, you do not know what is on the other side. ‘There is a place on the other side of every door.
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