Arjen Fortuin

(Amsterdam, NL, 1971) is a literary critic with the NRC Handelsblad newspaper. He believes that a novel is good if it changes his view of the world. Fortuin studied history and philosophy in Amsterdam and Madrid. During his studies he wrote for the faculty paper Babel; Folia, the weekly paper of the Amsterdam University; Biografie Bulletin and Historisch Nieuwsblad. He's worked for the Books supplement of NRC Handelsblad since 1998, became its editor in 1999 and literary coordinator in 2005. He has focused strongly on Dutch literature, history and sports books. Fortuin was an editor with Magazijn, a yearbook for writers under forty, and together with Hans Schoots compiled Ongenaakbaar Madrid (Inaccessible Madrid, 2003), a collection of stories about the Spanish capital. He's on the editorial board of the Foundation of Literary Activities Amsterdam. His biography of publisher Geert van Oorschot was published in 2015.