Last night in Amsterdam at the dinner for the "Libris Award" the Dutch minister of culture, Mr. Plasterk, approached me.
He did like my novel Tirza and compared the plot to an Agatha Christie novel, but he thought that my novel The Asylum Seeker was a little frigid.
I smiled.
Mr. Plasterk seemed to me an extremely likable man and I know that my talent for keeping conversations going is limited.
In 2004 Mr. Plasterk was foreman of the jury of the Libris Award.
I have never been foreman in my life, and if it’s ever going to happen I will be foreman of a group of miners.