'Ongelooflijke Bijbelverhalen' (2022).
Willeke Brouwer is a Dutch cartoonist, illustrator and writer. Her Christian-themed cartoons have appeared on the front page of the daily newspaper Nederlands Dagblad and in the weekly EO-Visie magazine. In addition to illustrating children's books by other authors, she is the creator of the book series 'Silvester' and 'Lotte Laatmaar' for publisher Callenbach. In 2022, she released 'Ongelooflijke Bijbelverhalen', a massive graphic novel filled with stories from the Old and New Testament.
Life and career
Born in 1964 in Hoofddorp, Willeke Brouwer grew up in a Protestant family in Barendrecht. After high school, she attended the Constantijn Huygens University of Fine Arts in Kampen, where she graduated in Illustrative Design in 1990. Since then, she has been active as a professional cartoonist and illustrator, working for publishers and newspapers, while also giving workshops in painting and cartooning. Later in life, Willeke Brouwer lived in Mastenbroek - a town near the city of Zwolle - before moving 40 kilometers north to the small fishing village of Kuinre in 2020.
'Silvester'.
Children's books
Since the 1990s, Willeke Brouwer has illustrated over 90 children's books, often with an educational or Christian theme. She has worked with authors like Gisette van Dalen, Cees Baan, Rik Felderhof, Corien Oranje, Vrouwke Klapwijk, Alianna Dijkstra and Margriet de Graaf. Notable series with her illustrations are the 'Thomas' books by Gisette van Dalen' and the 'Ernstjan en Snabbeltje' series by Jaap ter Haar. As an allround author, she writes and illustrates the children's book series 'Silvester' (Callenbach, 2015- ), about a city boy moving to the countryside town of IJsselbroek with his parents. Silvester's experiences while adapting to his new environment are told from the boy's perspective, and the illustrations make regular use of sequential narratives. The first installment of the series, 'Silvester... en de bizarre verhuizing', was awarded with the 2016 EigenWijsPrijs by the Christian children's jury. Since 2018, Brouwer has also been writing and drawing the book series about 'Lotte Laat Maar!', a twelve-year old girl who is about to go to high school. In 2023, she launched another book series, 'Museum Ravage', about a girl called Mila, whose parents inherit an old museum from the mysterious uncle Hubert. While the family renovates the museum, Mila has all kinds of unexpected adventures there.
Comic strip for Sprankel!
Cartoonist
Between 2005 and 5 April 2024, Willeke Brouwer made a daily cartoon for the front page of the Christian daily newspaper Nederlands Dagblad, the final two years in collaboration with her son, Gijs Wouda. Her cartoons have also appeared weekly in EO-Visie, the magazine of the Dutch Evangelical Broadcasting. Twice a year, she draws a comic strip for Sprankel!, the magazine of Sprank, a health care foundation for people with mental disabilities. She has additionally been involved in EO television productions, making drawings and the leaders for the children's shows 'Elly en de Wiebelwagen' (2006-2011) and 'Verhalen uit de Schatkist' (2016-2021). On behalf of these TV shows, she also did school performances, accompanied by her friend Elly Zuiderveld-Nieman - one half of the Dutch Christian music duo Elly & Rikkert.
Children's Bible graphic novel
Willeke Brouwer's experiences with making religious subjects accessible to children resulted in a request by the Heerenveen publisher Royal Jongbloed for a new illustrated junior Bible. The project was teased with the 2019 release of 'De Engel en het Kind', a graphic novel version of the Christmas story. Brouwer spent three years working on 'Ongelooflijke Bijbelverhalen' (2022), a graphic novel children's Bible filled with stories from the Old and New Testaments. In 450 largely handwritten and illustrated pages, Brouwer retells many famous biblical tales, spicing them with humor, human emotion and historical context, while staying clear from preaching or moral lessons. On 26 January 2022, the book was festively presented in the little church near the author's Kuinre atelier, with musical performances of Elly and Rikkert Zuiderveld. Received with much critical praise and media attention, the book's first print run was quickly sold out.
Willeke Brouwer in 2022, at the presentation of her graphic novel Bible 'Ongelooflijke Bijbelverhalen' in the Protestant church of Kuinre.