Johan Fretz

(1985) is a writer, theatre and documentary filmmaker. He successfully made cabaret performances, first with Marcel Harteveld and then solo, was a columnist for Het Parool for a decade and in 2012 published his novel Fretz 2025, in which a young idealist aspires to become prime minister of the Netherlands. His second novel, Onder de paramariboom, won him the Boekhandelsprijs in 2019. In it, he tells the story of a hilarious and disarming road trip through Suriname; a quest for roots and identity as a 'double-blood' and for reconciliation between a mother and a son. 2022 saw the broadcast of the documentary What's Left, which he made with Juul Op den Kamp, about the decline of social democracy, and the publication of his book Met vriendelijke groet (Best regards), a collection of his most important pieces, stimulating and layered reflections, with which Fretz celebrates ten years of authorship. In 2023, his literary non-fiction book Onvrijheid (Lack of Freedom) will be published.