J. Bernlef (born 14 January 1937 in Sint Pancras

Sint Pancras

Sint Pancras is a town in the northwestern Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Langedijk, North Holland, about 5 km northeast of Alkmaar.-History:...

) is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 writer, lyricist, novelist and translator. He made his literary debut with Kokkels in 1960. He became known to a larger public with his novel Hersenschimmen from 1984, which treated the theme of dementia

Dementia

Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...

. The book is basis for a film from 1987, and a theatre play from 2006. Bernlef received the P. C. Hooft Award

P. C. Hooft Award

The P.C. Hooft Award is a Dutch language literary oeuvre award, given annually. The award is alternately given for prose , essays and poetry....

 for 1994.

Bernlef has also written under the pseudonyms Ronnie Appelman, J. Grauw, Cas den Haan, S. den Haan, and Cas de Vries.

Awards

• 1959: The Reina Prinsen Geerligsprijs for Kokkels.
• 1962: The Poetry prize from the Government of Amsterdam for Morene.
• 1964: The Lucy B. en C.W. van der Hoogtprijs for Dit verheugd verval.
• 1964: The Poetry prize from the Government of Amsterdam for En dode hagedis.
• 1977: The Vijverbergprijs for De man in het midden.
• 1984: The Constantijn Huygens Prize
  Constantijn Huygens Prize
  The Constantijn Huygens Prize is a Dutch literary award.-History:Since 1947, it has been awarded each year for an author's complete works by the Jan Campert Foundation , a foundation named in honor of the Dutch writer Jan Campert who died while helping Jews during WWII...
  
  .
• 1987: The AKO Literatuurprijs for Publiek geheim.
• 1989: The Diepzee-prijs for Hersenschimmen.
• 1994: The P. C. Hooft Award
  P. C. Hooft Award
  The P.C. Hooft Award is a Dutch language literary oeuvre award, given annually. The award is alternately given for prose , essays and poetry....
  
  , for complete works.