Fernand Auwera

Ferdinand Van der Auwera (26 November 1929, in Antwerp – 27 October 2015), pseudonym Fernand Auwera was a Belgian writer. His fragile health during his youth and its impact on his life (solitude), had an effect on his first literary work.

He started his career as a civil servant and worked for the journal Volkskrant and the literary magazine Dietsche Warande en Belfort. He made his literary debut with the psychological novel De weddenschap (E: The bet) in (1963). Later he made the statement that he wrote as a therapy, such as with Zelfportret met gesloten ogen (E: Self-portrait with closed eyes) (1973) and Uit het raam springen moet als nutteloos worden beschouwd (E: Jumping out of the window must be considered useless) (1983), which was made into a movie Springen. In Schrijven of schieten (E: Writing or shooting) (1969) and Geen daden maar woorden (E: No deeds but words) (1970), he published several interviews with fellow writers. In addition he wrote some books for children and literary essays. He contributed to the screenplays of the movies De Witte van Sichem (1980) after Ernest Claes and Lijmen/Het Been (2000) after Willem Elsschot.