Dutch author, famous for sexual prose, dies at 81

AMSTERDAM, Oct 19 (Reuters) Dutch author and sculptor Jan Wolkers, once controversial for his explicit writing on sex and later famous for his glass and steel creations, died today aged 81, his publisher said.

Seen as one of the most important Dutch writers of the post-World War Two period his work initially shocked in the 1960s with its strikingly sexual descriptions. Among his best known novels were ''A Rose of Flesh'' and ''Turkish Delight'' in 1969 which was turned into a film.

Wolkers' books focussed on breaking with a strict protestant upbringing, lust, loss, and death.

From the 1980s onwards he won several important Dutch literary prizes but he concentrated on sculpting rather than writing. He was well known for the Auschwitz monument in Amsterdam that commemorates the victims of Germany's Nazis.

Wolkers died in his sleep in his home on the Dutch island of Texel, his publisher De Bezige Bij said in a statement.

REUTERS RSA BST0010