For the past 12 years, Sebes & Van Gelderen Literary Agency has been Holland's leading literary agency. We represent over two hundred renowned and up-and-coming authors (of fiction and non-fiction) and handle their domestic and foreign rights. For a selection of our latest titles, see below.

Please bear in mind that, depending on the publisher and the quality of the translation, translations from Dutch into your own language can be funded by the Foundation for the Translation of Dutch Literature.

** FICTION **

Floating Islands (Sneeuweieren) – Ricus van de Coevering
Floating Islands is an intriguing novel about loss and desire. The loneliness of the Dutch countryside and the disappearance of traditional Roman Catholic rural communities form the backdrop to this story, in which David, an adopted child from Africa, wanders through one of the last Dutch marshes in search of a more perfect world. Ricus van de Coevering was awarded the ‘Academica Debutantenprijs 2009’ for his novel, a Dutch prize for the best literary fiction debut in Holland.

Netherlands: Van Gennep Publishers
Available: proposal in English, 3 chapters in English
Copies sold: 7.500

Devil’s Sonata (Duivelssonate) - Alex van Galen
In his second novel Alex van Galen shows he’s a great writer. Devil’s Sonata is the story the pianist Notovich. He’s known all over the world because of his virtuoso interpretations of Fransz Liszt. But Notovich is so possessed by this diabolic music, that he blacks out during a performance. His behaviour is getting more and more fanciful, his love for the beautiful Senna more destructive. Paranoia and his manic depression are used against him. Notovich gets involved in a piano duel with another great composer: Valdin. Who of them is able to play the mythical Devil’s sonata, which according to urban stories, was composed by Liszt? Devil’s Sonata is a suspense novel about passion and loss, depression and mania, art and the relation between what’s real and what’s not. The devil is the drawback which lives in anyone of us.

Netherlands: A.W. Bruna Uitgevers
Available: Dutch PDF
Copies sold: Publication Spring 2010

The Tulip Virus (Het Tulpenvirus) – Daniëlle Hermans
In Daniëlle Hermans' debut The Tulip Virus, the rise and fall of the 17th-century tulip trade takes centre stage. Numerous books have already been devoted to this subject, but they are either historical novels or take a more academic approach. The Tulip Virus is a literary thriller which takes place largely in 2005, but the first economic crash in history, the collapse of the Dutch tulip market in 1637, plays a prominent role.

Netherlands: A.W. Bruna Publishers
Available: Full manuscript in English, copies in German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and a publicity sheet
Copies sold: 15.000 exx.
Rights sold:
Australia: Allen & Unwin
Brazil: Record
Germany: Pendo/Piper
Italy: Piemme
Norway: Tiden
Spain: Roca
USA: St. Martin’s Press (publication date: April 2010)

The Waterlords (Watermeesters) – Daniëlle Hermans
The second historical thriller of Daniëlle Hermans, Waterlords, tells the story of the murder of a Dutch engineer, whose head is found in a dike. A murder that seems strangely connected to a 17th century skull discovered in the same dike just a couple of months earlier. As the plot moves on, we learn that the saying "God created the world, but the Dutch created Holland" seems to be true. The historic layer combined with a recent murder forms an interesting substantiation of the gripping thriller.

Netherlands: A.W. Bruna Publishers
Available: proposal in English, Dutch copies
Copies sold: 7.500 exx.
Rights sold:
Germany: Pendo/Piper
Italy: Piemme

Alexine (Alexine) – Pauline Vijverberg
Alexine is a historic novel, based on the life of the Dutch adventurer from the nineteenth century, Alexine Tinne. She was the first female explorer in the Victorian era that Holland could claim, noted for her perseverance and intrepidity. Men dominate this era of exploitation and exploration. It is exceptional for two women to set off without gentlemen accompanying them and unheard of to travel in such opulence.
In forty-five chapters, the story unfolds of a woman who chooses a path no other woman before her has taken, on camelback, with wrought iron beds, boxes full of fine china and cases filled with books, more than a century ago. She crosses deserts and searches for the places with no name, the white spots on the map.
Four characters take turns to tell the story. The prologue starts with a fictive woman visiting her aunt, a distant relative of Alexine’s, for whom the story is unravelled.

Netherlands: Prometheus Publishers
Available: Proposal in English, full manuscript in English/Dutch
Copies sold: Publication Spring 2010

Only decent people (Alleen maar nette mensen) – Robert Vuijsje
Only decent people is the sparkling debut of Robert Vuijsje. The book met with an enthusiastic reception and enjoyed lively sales immediately following its publication in the spring of 2009. The book’s nomination for one major literary prize, the Libris literary prize, and the win of another major literary prize, the Golden Owl, at the beginning of this year culminated in a real hype around the book, largely because Vuijsje combines a topical theme with a striking style. The plot centres around David, a young Jew from Amsterdam’s fashionable Old South quarter, who is constantly being mistaken for an ethnic Moroccan. David goes in search of the princess of his dreams, a shapely black woman. The author takes his readers from the poorest to the richest parts of Amsterdam and then crosses the Atlantic to the Deep South of the United States. His take on racial discrimination and the harsh lives of black minority cultures is humorous, but incisive and confrontational.

Netherlands: Nijgh & van Ditmar Publishers
Available: Proposal in English, partial manuscript in English
Copies sold: 75.000 exx.
Rights with Sebes & Van Gelderen: World English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian
All other foreign rights lie with Nijgh & van Ditmar Publishers
Rights sold:
Turkish: Sistema
Deals in other countries pending

** NON-FICTION **

Around the Roman table (Rond de tafel der Romeinen) – Patrick Faas
Patrick Faas is an internationally known food historian, who lectures and teaches all over the world. A regular participant in the Oxford Symposium on Food and History every year, his work in this field is without equal. His book Around the Roman Table contains more than 150 recipes from the Roman table and is designed to explore some of the myths about ancient Roman cuisine. Decadent flavors, pagan delicacies, and orgies of excess sometimes seem less absurd when understood in context. Over 15.000 copies sold in the Netherlands.

Netherlands: Rainbow Publishers
Available: Copies (English)
Copies sold: 15.000 exx.
Rights sold:
US: St. Martins (hardback), University of Chicago Press (paperback)
UK: Macmillan
Japan: Shogen

Darwin’s Dreampond: Drama on Lake Victoria (Darwin’s Hofvijver) – Tijs Goldschmidt
Biologist Tijs Goldschmidt traveled to Tanzania to study an intriguing phenomenon: new species of perch like fishes, coming into existence at an unbelievable rate. Darwin's Dreampond is the first book to describe the far-reaching consequences of introducing a new species into an ecosystem. This uniquely fascinating work of literary non-fiction has enjoyed great international success.

Netherlands: Prometheus Publishers
Available: Copies in English, German and Chinese
Righs sold:
US & UK: MIT Press
Germany: Beck Verlag
French: Seuil
Japan: Soshiba
Italy: Einaudi
Chinese: Flower City Press
Polish: Proszinski ska

A Suitcase from Berlin (Een koffer uit Berlijn) – Kristine Groenhart
A Suitcase from Berlin tells the story of Kristine’s uncle Nico, one of a group of students arrested by the Germans during the Second World War for refusing to sign an act of loyalty. Kristine draws on an abundance of documents, including letters, photos, official reports and diaries to trace her uncle’s travels through camps, prisons and bombardments, but also to paint a picture of everyday life in the barracks and of his friends: their thoughts, their philosophies, and their extraordinary optimism.

Netherlands: Athenaeum Publishers
Available: proposal in English
Copies sold: Publication January 2010

Is that me? (Ben ik dat? Wat hersenonderzoek vertelt over onszelf) – Mark Mieras
In Is that me? Dutch science writer Mark Mieras presents a broad, up-to-date and accessible analysis of what brain research tells us about ourselves. Entertaining, intriguing and even encouraging – this book helps us to understand that brain research touches all aspects of our lives. It sheds light on phenomena such as shyness, empathy and happiness. But also explores the downside – obesity, jetlag, forgetfulness, and even premenstrual syndrome. Although Is that me? takes a serious, in-depth look at brain function, the book proves highly popular among the general public, thanks to Mieras’ accessible style and the personal tone.

Netherlands: Nieuw Amsterdam Publishers
Available: Publicity sheet in English, sample chapters in English
Rights sold: Hungarian

The Teen Brain (Het Puberbrein) – Huub Nelis & Yvonne van Sark
Why education, upbringing, marketing and politics do not fit in with the cognitive development of teenagers. Adults often expect the wrong things of teenagers and do not provide the guidance they need. They may look like a self-confident generation of kids who have mastered the new media and know more about sex, drugs, and alcohol than their parents. But if you look more closely at the development of the teenage brain, it becomes clear that there are a lot of things these kids can’t handle. Just like previous generations, they are struggling with their hormones and their insecurities.

Netherlands: Kosmos Publishers
Available: Excerpts in English
Copies sold: 10.000 exx.

And no more sorrow. A mother, a daughter, their war. The World War II Memoirs of Sonja Kiek Rosenstein Cohen. (En verder geen leed. Een moeder, een dochter, hun oorlog.) – Liliane Pelzman
This poignant story follows the life affirming struggles of a vulnerable young girl’s journey into adulthood. The best years of her life set against the darkest of nightmares. The year is 1940. The place Amsterdam, Holland. The Nazis conquer Europe and are all intent on wiping out all its Jews. We follow Sonja, who, though born into a lovely family, was compelled to come to terms with experiences so intense that her life would be changed forever. At the age of 20, having lost her family, her new husband and most of her relatives, Sonja begins a journey of self reliance. Her story and survival are set against the socio-political canvas of the times. It is an avid testimony to a period in recent history that should serve as a warning for generations to come.

Netherlands: L.J. Veen Publishers
Available: Full manuscript in English
Copies sold: publication in November 2009
Rights sold: self-published in the US

37 Staples (37 Nietjes) – Thomas Zijlma
This is the moving and true story of Thomas Zijlma’s battle against a serious form of testicular cancer. In 37 staples Thomas Zijlma describes how he, a healthy adolescent, suddenly begins to get weaker and weaker. Nobody can tell him what is wrong with him, while his disease continues to metastasize. The story is interwoven with cycle racing, with which Thomas comes into touch in the hospital. He is given a book as a gift: It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong, who relates how he beats testicular cancer. When Thomas is recovering, he finds a cast-off racing bike in the street and this is the beginning of his own passion of bicycle racing. To him, cycling not only symbolizes his battle against cancer, but also his will to survive. The peak of this symbolic battle is his conquest of the dreaded Alpe D’Huez, notorious for its hairpins and steep climb.
The frankness of 37 staples draws the reader into the book right from the outset. It is particularly moving to see how Zijlma manages to keep his sense of humour when he describes his deadly illness.

Netherlands: A.W. Bruna Publishers
Available: Proposal in English
Copies sold: 7.500 exx.

Better (Beter) - Maarten van der Weijden
Maarten van der Weijden won the Olympic gold medal for 10 miles open swimming august 21st 2008 in Bejing. This has been the best watched moment of the Olympics. This achievement marked his long way to the top. In 2001 Van der Weijden was diagnosed with acute leukaemia. The survival rate of this disease lies between 30 en 50 percent. After heavy treatments, he was eventually cured and he restarted his swimming career. He won silver at the European Championships in Budapest in 2007 and in 2008 he became world champion in Seville in Spain.
In Beter he tells the story of his disease, his recovery, and his own vision on the disease. In this way the book is very much unlike Lance Armstrong’s book It's Not About the Bike: My Journey back to Life. Van der Weijden and Armstrong have a very different vision on cancer. Van der Weijden describes his difficult relationship with his father and his striving to become the greatest swimmer of all time. Van der Weijden describes superbly, how his first meters swum after healing, led to an Olympic gold medal. Beter is a touching and penetrating book about coincidence, bad luck and happiness in life. Within a month 30.000 copies were sold.

Netherlands: Ambo
Available: First five pages in English
Copies sold: 35.000 exx.