Dutch literary great Gerrit Komrij has died in hospital in Amsterdam at the age of 68 after a long illness.

Komrij, who divided his time between homes in the Netherlands and Portugal, was a novelist, critic, columnist, playright and poet and won numerous prizes for his works. From 2000 to 2004 he was the Dutch Dichter des Vaderlands or Poet Laureate.
His semi-autobiographical works include Verwoest Arcadië (‘Arcadia Demolished’, 1980) and Demonen (‘Demons’, 2003).