M.M. Schoenmakers (b. 1949) was born in Den Bosch, studied at the University of Tilburg and left for Suriname in 1977. He returned to the Netherlands in 1989. His years in Suriname inspired five novels, each published by De Bezige Bij in the period 1989-1998. After a prolonged silence, he returned with another novel, the universally acclaimed The Cloud Knight, which was included on the longlist of the Libris Literature Prize.