Jan Vantoortelboom

Jan Vantoortelboom (b. 1975) grew up in Flanders, but now lives and works in the Netherlands. In many of his novels he revisits the region where he grew up and paints a compelling picture of la Flandre profonde. In each of his books he operates within a frightening universe all his own, a world of psychologically broken men and the damage they do. To many of his characters, life is a question of survival, or of death. They are ruled by fate and have to make the best of a bad situation. His work is characterised by the rich imagination that flows through his intuitive writing.