Havank, (February 19, 1904 – June 22, 1964) was a Dutch writer, journalist and translator.

Born in Leeuwarden as H. F. (Hans) van der Kallen, he took the pen-name of Havank and published 30 popular crime-novels and stories, featuring French police officers Bruno Silvère and Charles C.M. Carlier, the latter better known in Dutch as 'de Schaduw’ (the Shadow).

He also translated into Dutch some 45 novels, mainly those of fellow crime writers such as Leslie Charteris, Raymond Chandler and E. Phillips Oppenheim. Most of his books were since the mid 1950s were published as pocket books with covers designed by the illustrator Dick Bruna. He is estimated to have sold more than 6 million copies in his lifetime. To date, only two of his own books have been translated into other languages; both are available in German.

During World War II Havank worked occasionally as a war correspondent for the London edition of the Dutch weekly Vrij Nederland . Shortly after the war he was invited to ghost-write the memoirs of Lieutenant-Colonel Oreste Pinto, the original spycatcher. The memoirs were serialized in the News Chronicle. In 1946 he married Willesden born Cynthia Vickers. At the time of their first meeting she was a Red Cross ambulance driver.

Havank lived most of his life abroad in the south of France, on Majorca (Spain), and in England. It may, therefore, be considered quite remarkable that he suffered his fatal heart attack in his Leeuwarden’s Amicitia hotel room at a less than thirty yards distance from his birthplace.

This article about a Dutch writer or poet is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e