Willem Jan Otten (b. 1951) is a poet, essayist, and playwright in addition to being a novelist.
He made his poetry debut with the collection Een zwaluw vol zaagsel (1973), awarded with the Reina Prinsen Geerligs Prize. Subsequent collections include Ik zoek het hier (Herman Gorter Prize 1981) and Paviljoenen (Jan Campert Prize 1992).
In his debut novel De man van horen zeggen (1984), the sorrow of a man in mid-divorce who knows he is indispensable gathers pace when it emerges that the narrator has died. De wijde blik (1992) was short-listed for the ako Literature Prize. It is the confession of an adulterous spouse who in the end is himself deceived.
He has published also two essay collections, Het museum van licht in 1991 dedicated to the cinema and the much-praised De letterpiloot in1993.
His novel Specht en zoon (2004) has been awarded the Libris Literary Prize 2005.