Anna Rutgers van der Loeff
Anna ("An") Rutgers van der Loeff-Basenau (1910–1990) was a Dutch writer of children's novels. Biography. van der Loeff was born in Amsterdam on March 15, 1910, the eldest daughter of bacteriologist Jacob Basenau and writer-translator Nora Goemans. She attended Barlaeus Gymnasium in Amsterdam, and went to study classical languages at the Municipal University of Amsterdam (now the University of Amsterdam). After her father's suicide in 1929, she gave up her studies to do translation work and teach with her mother. In 1934 she married her childhood friend and fellow student Michaël  Rutgers van der Loeff, a member of the prominent Van der Loeff family. The couple had two daughters and two sons. In 1941 Rutgers van der Loeff, together with her mother, published her first book "Het oude huis en wij", (The Old House and We), a biography of her mother. Her breakthrough came with "De kinderkaravaan" (published in English as "Children on the Oregon Trail"), a young adult novel, published in 1949. She also had success with "Lawines razen " ("Avalanche!") in 1954, of which a multi-part radio play was broadcast by the Dutch radio station NCRV. She is best  known as a writer of children's and young adult books, but has also written eight novels for adults. She did not shy away from controversial topics in her children's books and consciously strove to make her readers think. She often tried to bridge differences between people and cultures by removing misunderstandings and developing an understanding for others. Her work is also characterized by thorough preparation (she often traveled to do research), as well as realism, involvement with the characters, and versatility. She did not limit herself to one genre, but wrote historical stories, psychological novels and thrillers. Her  work has been translated into numerous languages. Her work has also received many awards, including the Dutch State Prize for children's and youth literature ("Staatsprijs voor kinder- en jeugdliteratuur,"), the Austrian State Prize for youth literature and the German Youth Book Prize. In 1976 she was appointed Knight in the Order of Order of Orange-Nassau for her contribution to Dutch children's literature. van der Loeff died on August 19, 1990 in Laren, North Holland. Work. Possibly her most popular novel was the 1963 "Children on the Oregon Trail" ("De Kinderkaravaan"), an account of a family of children  traveling with a pioneer caravan to Oregon in the mid-19th century, loosely based on the real incident of the Sager orphans. Another popular novel was her 1958 novel "Avalanche!", a story of a group of children from an orphanage caught up in heavy snowfall in Switzerland. Other works in English include (with publication date of English translation):