Journalism

Cees Nooteboom had a regular column in de Volkskrant in the 1960s. These were impressions, and also reports, of major developments in society, with the highpoint being the May 1968 workers’ and students’ revolution in Paris. Nooteboom, who followed Philip en de anderen with a number of poetry collections and, in 1963, the novel De ridder is gestorven (The Knight Has Died), has this to say about the ‘craft’ of journalism, ‘My work had to lose its overdone lyricism. A certain connaissance du monde is required for writing. That’s why I started travelling.’ His great travel stories about regions and countries on every continent have been published since August 1968, mainly in the monthly magazine Avenue, which has also published many of his translations of poetry by internationally renowned poets. Nooteboom lived with singer Liesbeth List for a number of years, and also wrote lyrics for her. He often travels alone, but sometimes with photographer Eddy Posthuma de Boer, or his partner, photographer Simone Sassen, whom he met in 1979.