Peter van Gestel (3 August 1937, Amsterdam – 1 March 2019, Amsterdam)[1] was a Dutch writer.
Career
Writing
Van Gestel made his debut in 1962 with Drempelvrees, a collection of stories.[1] He received the Reina Prinsen Geerligsprijs for this book.[2] In 1976, he published the book Ver van huis under the pseudonym Sander Joosten.[3] He made his debut in children's literature with Schuilen onder je schooltas in 1979.[1][4] He received the Vlag en Wimpel award for this book.[1] He received the Nienke van Hichtum-prijs 1987 for his book Ko Kruier en zijn stadsgenoten (1985) with illustrations by Peter van Straaten.[1][2]
For his children's book Winterijs he won the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs 2002 as well as the Gouden Griffel 2002 award and the Nienke van Hichtum-prijs 2003.[5] He became the first to be awarded these three awards for a single book.[6]Winterijs tells the story of a ten year old living in Amsterdam in the winter of 1947 developing a friendship with a Jewish boy.[7] The story is inspired by van Gestel's brother's friendship with a Jewish boy when both were also ten years old.[7] Van Gestel does not consider the book to be an autobiography but acknowledges that there are many similarities between the characters and people from his youth.[7]
In 1986, he adapted the book Het wassende water (1925) written by Herman de Man to television.[10] The idea to adapt the book to television came from van Gestel's experience as dramaturge for Anton Quintana's radio play also based on the same book.[10]
In 1997, he adapted late medieval Dutch text Mariken van Nieumeghen into the children's book Mariken.[3] He received the Gouden Uil 1998 award for this book and the story was used for the 2000 film Mariken.[3] Van Gestel co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Kim van Kooten.[11]