Louis Couperus

Born in The Hague on June 10, 1863, he spent part of his youth in the Dutch East Indies, in what is now Indonesia. That early experience of moving between worlds stayed with him and helped give his fiction a cosmopolitan feel.

He became one of the most admired Dutch writers of his time, publishing poetry as well as novels, short fiction, fairy tales, sketches, and historical work. Readers especially remember him for his psychological insight and for the way he captured both private emotion and the manners of the society around him.

Much of his later life was shaped by travel. He lived for periods in places including Italy, returned to The Hague during World War I, and wrote pieces inspired by journeys in Africa and East Asia. He died on July 16, 1923, and is still regarded as one of the foremost figures in Dutch literature.