author
Josef Cohen
1886–1965
A once well-known Dutch writer, he worked across novels, poetry, plays, and radio drama, and also became known for collecting and retelling Dutch legends. His life joined literary work with librarianship, giving him a lasting place in Dutch cultural history.
1 Audiobook
Nederlandsche Sagen en Legenden
by Josef Cohen
About the author
Born in Deventer on January 2, 1886, Josef Cohen was a Dutch author whose work ranged widely across novels, novellas, poems, plays, and radio plays. Sources also describe him as a librarian, and his writing was well enough known that Anne Frank House notes Anne Frank received his Nederlandse Sagen en Legenden as a birthday gift in 1942.
Cohen spent much of his professional life in Groningen, where he served as director of the public library and was remembered as an important literary presence there. A DBNL memorial notes that he died in Groningen on July 12, 1965, after heart trouble, at the age of 79.
He is especially associated with Dutch tales and legends, but his career was broader than that, spanning both creative writing and cultural work in public libraries. That mix of storyteller and librarian helps explain why his name still appears in literary references and historical archives today.