L. (Louwrens) Penning

Born in Waardhuizen on December 2, 1854, and died in Utrecht on January 12, 1927, he was a Dutch novelist who wrote under the name L. Penning. He became especially well known for historical and patriotic fiction centered on the Boer struggles in South Africa.

Reference works describe him as one of the most popular Dutch writers of his day in this genre. His Boer War novels were widely read and repeatedly reprinted, and later scholarship notes that his writing did much to strengthen Dutch identification with the Boer cause.

An interesting detail about his work is that, although he wrote passionately about South Africa, contemporary summaries say he had never traveled there when he produced his best-known novels. Alongside that fiction, he also wrote religious and historical works, including books on John Calvin.