Tessa de Loo:
(Bussum, 15 October 1946).
Pseudonym of Dutch writer Johanna Martina (Tineke) Duyvené de Wit.
After graduating from secondary school in Oss, Tessa de Loo studied Dutch language and literature at Utrecht University. She moved to the Achterhoek region and started teaching Dutch. After a stopover in Amsterdam, she moved to Portugal. Since 2020, she has lived in Nijmegen, after suffering a minor brain infarct.
Tessa de Loo made her debut in 1983 with the short story collection De meisjes van de suikerwerkfabriek (The girls from the confectionery factory). The book went through more than twenty printings and was awarded two debut prizes. In 1993, her major novel De Tweeling (The Twins) was published. The story about two sisters in World War II was translated into 24 languages and filmed by Ben Sombogaart in 2002.
I travel in my deepest being to lose control of my life and get closer to that one truth: that life is dangerous and changeable and that I do not know my destiny. Strangely enough, I can breathe more freely.
