Thea Beckman

Biographie :

At young age (11), Beckman knew she wanted to be a writer. As a teenager, she would write numerous stories and would listen to various types of music, ranging from classic to exciting film scores, depending on the kind of scene she was writing.
Beckman studied social psychology while she was in her twenties, attending the University of Utrecht. In wake of the 1929 economic crisis, her father lost his job and Beckman was glad she had finished her study, especially after World War II occurred.
As a writer, she intended to use her husband's name of Beckmann as her pseudonym. Her publisher urged her to change it to Beckman with only one "n" to prevent her name from sounding "too German", in wake of Germany's negative reputation after World War II.
Beckman is best known for Crusade in Jeans, a 1973 children's novel for which she was awarded the Gouden Griffel. The book describes a children's crusade in 1212 and was adapted into a movie in 2006. She also received notable attention for her trilogy Children of Mother Earth, which depicted a post-apocalyptic earth where soldiers from societies led by men invade and disrupt a newfound Greenlandic society, which is led by women. Though the book contained superfeminist themes, Beckman didn't consider the book's ideology as her own, stating: "People are greedy, aggressive and intolerant." In this statement, she specifically referred to the idea that a female society would work out better - an idea she did not believe in.
She died in her residence in Bunnik of unknown causes in 2004, aged 80.