Aleid Truijens, born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1955. M.A. in Dutch language and literature from the University of Amsterdam. Biographer, freelance journalist and writer for Dutch daily De Volkskrant.
Journalist-in-Residence (1 February 2007 – 30 June 2007)
A BIOGRAPHY OF F.B. HOTZ
During my stay at NIAS, February – June 2007, I worked on ‘Het leven van F.B. Hotz’ (unofficial title of a work in progress), the biography of the Dutch writer Frits Bernard Hotz (1922-2000). My book will eventually be 12 to 13 chapters long. I did most of the research before my arrival at NIAS. This semester I completed the following Chapters four to eight entitled: ‘Kleine, benepen jaren’, 1935-1940; ‘De hel van Rotterdam’, 1940-1945; ‘Eindelijk volwassen’, 1945-1950; ‘Broeders droomorkest’, 1950-1955; ‘Vluchten naar Amsterdam’, 1955-1960. I also revised drafts of Chapter 1, 2, and 3 which cover the years 1922-1935. ‘De mythe van Madoerastraat 1’, will be published this year in Cor Gout (ed.), Muziek in Den Haag (unofficial title). I also wrote an article for the NIAS Newsletter 38, spring 2007, p. 12-16 entitled ‘The Land of Hotz’. I also delivered a lecture on F.B. Hotz, former inhabitant of Leiden en Oegstgeest, in de Openbare Bibliotheek Oegstgeest, March 2007 and gave a lecture on F.B. Hotz and on writing a biography, in Lelystad, April 2007.