Biography

Kees van Beijnum (born 21 March 1954 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch writer. He grew up in Amsterdam, where his mother had a bar near the Zeedijk. Before he became a writer, he was a journalist. He made his debut as a novelist in 1991 with Over het IJ, a non-fiction novel about a murder case in Amsterdam.

The novel De ordening, published in 1998, was based on the life of Florentine Rost van Tonningen (1914-2007), a Dutch national-socialist who stood by her beliefs until her death. The book was adapted to film and was nominated for a Golden Calf award in 2003.

He received the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs in 2001 for De Oesters van Nam Kee ("Oysters at Nam Kee's"), which was also longlisted for the Libris Prize. The book was also made into a film as Oysters at Nam Kee's starring Katja Schuurman. Van Beijnum also changed publishers in 2001, moving from Nijgh & Van Ditmar to De Bezige Bij.Van Beijnum also wrote the scenarios for De langste reis ('the longest travel', 1996), a movie about the kidnapping of businessman Gerrit Jan Heijn, and for De Heineken Ontvoering ('The Heineken Kidnapping', 2011), a movie about the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken.