caption death_date death_place birth_place imagesize nationality birth_date period signature genre image article_title name occupation
jan wolkers in 1995 19 october 2007 texel oegstgeest , netherlands 150px dutch 26 october 1925 1961 -- 2007 jan wolkers signature.svg novels jan wolkers-portrait . jpg jan wolkers
 jan hendrik wolkers writer , sculptor , painter
jan wolkers

jan hendrik wolkers -lrb- oegstgeest , 26 october 1925 -- texel , 19 october 2007 -rrb- was a dutch author , sculptor and painter .
wolkers is considered one of the `` great four '' writers of post-world war ii dutch literature , alongside willem frederik hermans , harry mulisch and gerard reve -lrb- the latter authors are also known as the `` great three '' -rrb- .
he became noted as an author in the 1960s mainly for his graphic descriptions of sexual acts .
his 1969 novel `` turks fruit '' was translated into ten different languages and published in english as `` turkish delight '' .
it was also made into a highly successful movie , the paul verhoeven-directed `` turks fruit '' -lrb- 1972 -rrb- which was nominated for an academy award for best foreign language film and in 1999 won the award for best dutch film of the century .
wolkers declined several literary awards .
in 1982 he refused the constantijn huygensprijs , and in 1989 he refused the p.c. hooftprijs .
from 1980 until his death , wolkers resided on the dutch island of texel .
he died on 19 october 2007 , aged 81 , at his texel home and was cremated in amsterdam at de nieuwe ooster cemetery .
a number of his outdoor sculptures in the netherlands have been subject to vandalism , presumably due to his use of glass as a construction material .
some examples are the auschwitz monument in amsterdam and the monument on the dike at ceres on texel .
in reaction to the destruction of the monument in 2003 , wolkers announced that he would use less glass and more steel for such monuments in future .
the jac .
p. thijsse monument on texel does contain more steel , but glass is still a substantial part of the artwork .
