CV
NAME: Steve Korver
BORN: 1967, Canada
EDUCATED: BSc with English minor, University of Toronto
RESIDENCE: Canada until 1989, Asia until 1992, Amsterdam ever since…
WORK:
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
From July 2005 to January 2009, I was the editor-in-chief of cultural paper Amsterdam Weekly. During that time, it had a circulation of 25 000 and won 14 European Newspaper Awards.
FREELANCE WRITER/EDITOR
Hundreds of published articles on travel, art, design, architecture, music, film, books, food, Yuri Gagarin, former Yugoslavia, and – most predominantly – on all things Amsterdam.
● Contributor to New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Condé Nast Traveller, McSweeney’s Quarterly, The Globe & Mail, Amsterdam Weekly, Eat (JP), Subbacultcha, Rails, Marmalade, Voyager, The Independent, Sunday Times (UK), Sunday Times (SA), Eyemazing, BBC Radio, Luxuria Music, Olive, Dazed & Confused, Hemispheres, Sky and Discovery.
● Writer/editor/consultant for European Cultural Foundation (promoting cross-border culture in EU), Virtueel Platform (“the sector institute for e-culture in the Netherlands”), Transnational Institute (international activist think-tank) and StrangerFestival (an on- and offline platform for young video makers).
● Editor/correspondent/columnist/writer for Time Out (magazines and guidebooks) since 1993. Most recently, I was the editor of the Time Out Amsterdam (Random House, 2007) guidebook and the Time Out Amsterdam Shortlist (Random House, 2009).
● In the past I was also consulting editor/writer for Virgin guidebook to Amsterdam, the writer of Fodor’s Gold Guide to Amsterdam and a contributer for Fodor’s Gold Guide to Holland, and the Amsterdam Bureau Chief for ontheroad.com, a global web/mobile site of restaurant and culture listings.
● As columnist I wrote ‘Our Man in the Gutter, Amsterdam’ (1998-9) for Time Out, ‘Eel-Advised’ (2000-2003) for Shark and ‘In This Issue And…’ (2006-2009) for Amsterdam Weekly.
CREATIVE/COPY-WRITER
● I have worked on international campaigns for the likes of Sprint, Ikea and Diesel with such agencies as StrawberryFrog and Wink.
● There has also been extensive trade and media hype for my text describing designer hotel Spaarne8, and for my role as “imaginary film critic” and poster-blurb writer for the Arling&Cameron CD, Music for Imaginary Films (Emperor Norton, USA).
● Writer/director of Diesel Comics Great Adventures: From Walhalla to Inferno, a series of four short absurdist films combining live action, bluescreen and animation that were made to promote Diesel’s 2004-2005 seasons.
SET DESIGNER/ART DIRECTOR (1993-9)
● For photo, museum, TV, film, commercials and music videos. Evolving from my 1980s roots as carpenter for home and film set, this was my money-maker while establishing writing career.
VOICE-OVER/ACTOR (1990-2, sporadically since…)
● Supported travels with voice-overs and acting (i.e. usually getting kung-fu’ed…) in a variety of Thai, Hong Kong and Japanese productions.
● More recent work includes acting in the films Baby Blue (Theo van Gogh, 2001), Timbuktu (David Schramm, 2007) and Snuf de Hond in Oorlogstijd (Steven de Jong, 2008), and in commercials for Diesel, Kink FM (NL), Radio 3 (NL) and E4 (Channel 4, UK). I’ve also done voice-overs in, for example, the film Phileine zegt sorry (Robert Jan Westdijk, 2003) and in such commercials as the internationally renown GapKids ‘How about the Boys?’ and the KPN (Dutch national phone company) ‘Beam me Up’.
