Events

  Arthur Japin is one of the Netherlands' best loved and best selling authors. On publication his historical novels The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi and In Lucia’s Eyes shot to the European bestseller lists and haven’t left them since. The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi was made into an opera by the British composer Jonathan Dove in 2007. Japin has won many major literary prizes, including the 2004 Libris Literary Prize for In Lucia’s Eyes. Both of these titles have been adapted as stage plays and are set to become major motion pictures. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages. "Set in Cinecittà of the seventies, Japin's new novel, Director's Cut (Knopf) captures the affair between a beautiful young Dutch actress and a famous Italian director (a thinly fictionalized Federico Fellini), whose fading spotlight still has the power to enchant -- and ensnare. A former actor, Japin has brought a cinematic vibrancy to historical fiction....here, he draws from his own colorful past, conjuring the twilight of Hollywood on the Tiber to explore art's treacherous illusion: how a world projected on-screen can come to seem more real than anything held secretly in the heart." From a review in Vogue, full review here. Check out Arthur Japin's website (in English or Dutch). Read author Ron Slate's review on his website, On the Seawall.