The Great Marc Evers: The True Story of a Champion Against All Odds

The inspiring life story of one of the greatest Paralympic swimming champions and his family that stopped focusing on a "no" to find a "yes"

What if you stopped focusing on what's impossible and opened yourself up to what's possible?

Marc Evers is two years old, and it's almost impossible for anyone to get through to him. His parents are told by a psychiatrist he has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and that he'll never be able to talk or go to the toilet on his own. For this reason, the psychiatrist recommends institutionalization. Thankfully, Marc's parents refuse to listen.

Eighteen years later, Evers is preparing to compete in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2012 London Paralympics. He walks, talks, and rides his bike. He's his own person, surrounded by a busy family--and he can swim like a torpedo. With five Paralympic medals and many world records, Evers is the Netherlands' greatest Paralympic swimming champion. How did he manage to beat the odds?

The Great Marc Evers is a moving, intimate, inspiring, and above all optimistic coming-of-age portrait of Evers and his family. A beautifully drawn story about perseverance, hope, and strength, about trusting your intuition and daring to believe.

Ivo van Woerden is a journalist and writer. He has authored various literary nonfiction books and has contributed to Dutch and international newspapers and magazines. He's been nominated for several writing and journalism awards, and won a prize for his 2015 prose version of The Great Marc Evers. Gemma Plum is a Dutch artist with degrees in industrial design, graphic design, and graphic narrative. Previous projects have seen her work for public libraries, governmental health departments, children's rights organizations, and the City Archive of Rotterdam. Her work and stories have been published in Dutch and international magazines, newspapers, and books, as well as featured in several galleries and museums around Europe. Marloes Dekkers is a Dutch comic colorist specializing in the narrative possibilities of color. She combines digital techniques with traditional materials such as ecoline, watercolor, and gouache, and her work has been published by various European publishers. She won the P. Hans Frankfurther Prize in 2022 and the Comic Medal for Production in 2008 for her merits in the Dutch comic scene.