Koos Meinderts (born 1953) has written more than fifty books, including picture books like De vuurtoren (The Lighthouse), poetry collections like Het regent zonlicht (It’s Raining Sunlight) and two novels for young adults: Lang zal ze leven (Long May She Live) and De zee zien (To See the Sea), which won the Flemish Boekenleeuw award. In 2003 Emperor and the Story Father was awarded a Flag and Pennant. He won a Silver Pencil in 2009 for Ballad of Death and in 2017 for To the North. Meinderts has also written musicals and many song lyrics. Books by Meinderts have been translated into Afrikaans, Chinese, Danish, German, English, French, Kurdish, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish and Japanese.