Marrit Jellema, City Poet of Leeuwarden since 2024, will release her debut novel Mag ik eindelijk liggen? (May I Finally Lie Down?) this autumn. The book will be published in October by Uitgeverij Passage.
Marrit Jellema (Sneek, 1993) is a writer and spoken word artist. With her striking stage performances, she has built a considerable audience over the past few years, not only in the north of the Netherlands but well beyond. For someone yet to make her literary debut, Jellema has repeatedly drawn media attention, both for her work and for her turbulent teenage years marked by addiction.
In Mag ik eindelijk liggen? we follow a young woman who bears a striking resemblance to the author herself. Both are city poets of a provincial capital, and both have fallen into a depression as a result of a difficult childhood, a rather complex mind and the untimely death of their mother.
The novel paints a portrait of someone struggling with the workings of her mind and with what is and isn’t socially appropriate. The narrator clings to the things she can control: her appearance, hygiene, manners, and the compulsive checking of her home for intruders. The book is a daring tragicomic drama about the monster called depression.
The novel will be published by Uitgeverij Passage, also known for publishing a wide range of Dutch authors such as Anjet Daanje and Meindert Talma.
