W F Hermans

Willem Frederik Hermans was born in Amsterdam in 1921 and studied physical geography before becoming a lecturer at Groningen University. Disaffected with academia and his native country, he took up residence in Paris in 1973. He is the author of numerous novels, essays, plays and poems, and is considered one of the greatest post-war European writers. His novel Beyond Sleep, his first book to appear in English translation, was published recently by Harvill Secker. He died in 1995.