Annet Schaap

(The Netherlands, 1965) had illustrated about 200 children's books, including the work of Francine Oomen, Jacques Vriens and Janneke Schotveld, when she wrote her first children's book Lampje (Little Lamp) in 2017. It won the Nienke van Hichtum Prize, the first time it was awarded to a debut. She also wrote YA plays, songs and the libretto for a children's opera. She won the 2015 Willem Wilmink Poetry Prize with Marianne. Lampje is an impressive adventure story about the daughter of a one-legged lighthouse keeper. When everything goes wrong after a terrible storm, Lampje is taken away from her home. Together with musician Fredrike de Winter, she made the storytelling performance Lampje (7+). She is a born storyteller with a clear message: freedom lies mainly in the acceptance of individuality, peculiarity and fallibility.