Congratulations.
I'm a bit late. Just finished Fantoompijn & De troost vd slapstick.. So beautiful. Will keep reading...

I was excited for De Gouden Uil, now I was more indifferent. But then it was not on Dutch TV, not a major event such as sports I suppose. Shame on Dutch TV.
Congratulations anyway.

Congratulations on winning the Libris! Maybe your next book should be about the technique of winning (de Uil, Libris, AKO, Bordewijk)?

Blonde ambition

@Ron: there's a bigger world of Literature prizes out there: from Pulitzer to Nobel. I predict Arnon will win them all. Personally, I'm curious to see whether he'll be winning them for translated works or is his next step going to be English... Arnon: whichever way, your novels totally kick ass (excusez les mots). The fact that Tirza won the Libris has (slightly) restored my faith in 'the Dutch establishment'.

Another nice essay (on Nabokov etc.) for the literature enthusiasts amongst us:
http://www.psychobiography.com/schultzpubsprotoscene.html

Nabokov

Strange, the first line of chapter 7 of my edition of Nabokovs 'Speak Memory' also reads: In the beginning of this century a travel agency on Nevski Prospect ... etc. Are those lines identical or did Maarten Biesheuvel make a mistake? I'll find out.
Anyway, you also should read Speak Memory.
(Congratulations!)

Biesheuvel

PS In his short story 'Port Churchill' Maarten Biesheuvel links Nabokovs 'First Love' with another train, the Hook of Holland- Moskow Express...

@ Sander

Why is it impossible to open this blog on a H.P. notebook? It happened to me three times . Each time a recently bought H.P. notebook.

First Love

I found out: Nabokovs short story 'First Love' was originally published as 'Colette', in 1948, and it was later made chapter seven in his autobiography 'Speak Memory'.
Biesheuvel was right!

M. Dutoit

I guess this is a problem with Flash. This site should auto-update your flash to the most current version, but apparently this fails with these notebooks. I will check all the update scripts.

In the meantime you can install Flash manually at the Adobe website:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

This is lousy solution, I know. I'll work on something better.

Heine

Mijn felicitatie met je prijs en met je keuze voor H. Heine!

De krant opengeslagen vanochtend, zo als ieder ochtend. Het foto van de dag laat me niet schrikken, ergeren of onverschillig zijn. Het foto van de dag zorgt voor een moment van verbazing. Arnon Grunberg staat op de voorpagina, terwijl een man aan zijn billen friemelt. Boven dit absurde foto in vette letter “Alcoholverkoop onder 18 verbieden”. Hé?- denk ik. De foto van de schrijver, die met een vermoeide blik aan zijn billen laat friemelen suggereert, dat je alcohol in het geheel moet laten verbieden.
Ik draai de krant om: “Grunberg op tijd voor pastrami én prijs.”
Gelukkig. De wereld maakt weer zin en is vanochtend goed en rechtvaardig.

Gefeliciteerd Meneer Grunberg.
En bedankt. Bedankt voor alle existerende en toekomstige boeken. Voor alle gelukzalige leesmomenten en alle nachten, die ik in slaap val met Arnon op mijn hoefkussen.
Als ik Grunberg lees, vind ik Nederlands mooier dan mijn eigen moedertaal.

Reinjan & others

By mistake I referred to “First love” as "First loves.” I apologize for that and I have corrected it. Apart from that it might be noteworthy that for a while Maarten Biesheuvel seemed to be convinced that Nabokov was the devil.

Aaron

Belgian's most respected news anchor let us know that AARON Grunberg won this year's Libris
(and he said it more than once).

Coming to think of it, Becaus would be perfectly typecasted in the role of Hofmeester.

See: http://www2.vrtnieuws.net/cm/vrtnieuws.net/cultuurmedia/kunsten/070507LibrisVoorGrunberg

Congratulations anyway.

yegor k

This anchorman must be an anti-Semite, maybe unconsciously.

This time I wasn't abroad. It's pleasant to hear such good news at 7 a.m. in the bathroom.
Poco tempo oggi, ma tanti, tanti auguri!
And please ... continue ...

Gefeliciteerd Congratulations Arnon!

@Tess
I completely agree. As you know I too was sceptical whether Dutch juries would recognize quality. As far as I'm concerned Mr Grunberg may even win the Orange Prize next to the Nobel and the Pulitzer. The dutch/flemish prizes were mentioned because he won them already. I didn't even mention the Anton Wachter prize (Mr Grunberg is the only person so far to win this prize for a debut twice).

@Ron, do you happen to work for Buza - 'milieu'? If so, I'd like to talk to you about something. Not to worry, I'm no Folkert vd G or spy.
tess.molenaar@gmail.com

mistake - sorry, 'Volkert vd G.'

I 'm reading "On Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan. A book about first love (making).

Is it me, or do the books I read always go about me?

Dens

You maybe read well written books in which you can easily and heavily put yourself in the main character's place..?
Or you just easily identify with books you read?
Are all parts and persons of the stories about you or is it one kind of part or person over and over again?

Some things are in detail right the same about me. Sometimes just the main thing.

hee grunberg roelli lampo hier, ik zit op aruba tirza te lezen, nou het is armoe kut dus je schrijft zoals hilbrand nawijn zingt, kom eens langs ouwe rukker vanaf ny ben je er zo

Nobel

It would be ridiculous to give Mr. Grunberg The Nobel within the coming 30 years. There are at least a thousand writers who deserve it more.

stukje

Hoi!
wat een huiveringwekkend stukje over je moeder in de nrc van van de week?! wow. ..

groet van jakomijn