Writer, poet, and performer Joost Oomen is coming to Sneek to talk about his acclaimed novel, Het paradijs van slapen. He has been nominated for the 2026 Inktaap, the youth prize for Dutch literature. The novel tells a surprisingly cheerful story about Gerrit Blauw, who has lived a good life and now wants to end it — not because he is ill, but because he wants to bring his pleasant life to a ‘beautiful’ close. To write this novel, Joost Oomen interviewed his father, a euthanasia doctor in Friesland.
NRC rated the book with four stars and wrote: ‘Joost Oomen has succeeded: writing a light, cheerful novel about euthanasia that celebrates a life that has been beautiful.’
Oomen (born 1990) grew up in IJsbrechtum and is known for his columns for the Leeuwarder Courant and the Dagblad van het Noorden. His poetry collection Lievegedicht has been reprinted several times —unprecedented in poetry.
Photo: Esther Lutgendorff
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