Benny Lindelauf

On April 10, Ludwig Volbeda and I received the Woutertje Pieterse Prize 2021 for ‘Whole Stories for a Half Soldier’. It happened in the radio program ‘de Taalstaat’ by Frits Spits. Jury chairman Abdelkader Benali presented us with the prize. Afterwards we drank fake wine, outside in the parking lot of the NPO. Of course it was still very hard corona time. Dik Zweekhorst and Wendy Wilbers from Querido publishers also provided a festive cake. And despite the fact that the weather was a bit drizzly, we were still pleasantly warm. Afterwards I drove back to Rotterdam on my own. The backseat was filled with the life-size check, I heard us win on the radio news and thought: Sometimes life takes a wonderful turn.