Biography

Paul van Loon (born 17 April 1955) is a Dutch writer of children's literature. His best-known books are the series about Dolfje Weerwolfje and the series De Griezelbus (book series). These books were adapted into a musical and a movie. The series Raveleijn also became one of his best known works after the appearance of a television series (Raveleijn (TV series)) and of an amusement park show in Efteling.

Van Loon has been working as a writer for over thirty years and has written more than a hundred books. Apart from the Netherlands and Belgium, his books have also been published in other countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Spain, Japan, and England. In his youth, Van Loon was already interested in fantasy horror stories. He read the books of Tolkien, Bram Stoker, and H. P. Lovecraft, as well as stories about local sagas and legends such as Het Limburgs Sagenboek. He had no intention of becoming a writer, but after high school, he went on to study as an illustrator at the Art Academy of Den Bosch. Van Loon did not complete his studies there. He did, however, regularly create stories for himself for the drawings he made during his studies. After he sent one of these stories to the Brabants Nieuwsblad in 1977, he was asked to write more stories, as his first proved popular with readers. Van Loon accepted this request and wrote more stories. Other magazines also showed interest in his work, such as Donald Duck Weekblad, Okki, Taptoe and, Ezelsoor.Van Loon's first book was published in 1983. Initially, he illustrated his books himself, but as he focused more and more on writing, other illustrators took over this work. Many of his books are illustrated by Hugo van Look. In 1997 he wrote the kinderboekenweekgeschenk LYC-DROP, which was later published under the title Wolven in de stad. The same year he wrote Dolfje Weerwolfje, which remains a children's favorite in the Netherlands after over 25 years.In addition to being a writer, Van Loon is also a guitarist. He is married and has a daughter. He lives in Drunen.