Oek de Jong

(Breda, 1952) grew up in Dokkum and Goes before studying art history in Amsterdam. He made his debut in 1975 in Hollands Maandblad. Four years later he made his breakthrough with Opwaaiende zomerjurken, a coming of age novel about the main character Edo Mesch: as a child growing up in the countryside in the 1950s, as an adolescent in Zeeland and later as a student going through erotic adventures in Amsterdam. Six years later his novel Cirkel in het Gras appeared. This was followed by a long silence. In that time De Jong taught creative writing to Joost Zwagerman and Marcel Möring, who had not made their debuts yet. In 2002 he published Hokwerda's kind, which was adapted for the stage. In 2012 Pier en oceaan appeared, which won him the Gouden Uil in 2013. This is again a coming of age novel, in which De Jong returns to the provinces of Zeeland and Friesland of his youth. At the festival Oek de Jong will be awarded the F. Bordewijk Prize for Pier en oceaan.