Alles voor de reis (Everything for the Journey), which was published on 20 January 2026, was Adriaan van Dis's new novel. On Saturday afternoon, 24 January 2026, he was the festival's guest of honour in an interview with Ellen Deckwitz to mark the publication.

A terminally ill woman chooses a hospice because she can also receive her lover there. In a fold-out bed. With morphine patches and a forbidden glass of wine from a teacup. In the weeks she has left, she asks him to take her on a journey.

The pair take flight in their imagination, experience wonderful literary journeys and find support in writers. But they also explore each other. Their differences, similarities, the lies, betrayals and wounds that shaped them. 

In sensitive language, Adriaan van Dis weaves a lyrical declaration of love with a funeral song for an unforgettable woman. What begins as the intimacy of a secret, lifelong infatuation unfolds into a story that had to be written. Alles voor reis (Everything for the journey), published by Atlas Contact, is a moving novel about an unforgettable woman.

Adriaan van Dis grew up in a family with a past in the Dutch East Indies. He draws on these experiences in several of his works such as My Father's War (1995), Repatriated (2002) and in Naar zachtheid en een warm omhelzen (2023). Van Dis became well known via his literary television programme Here is... Adriaan van Dis (1983-1992). In addition to novels he has written novellas, travelogues, essays and plays. He has received the Constantijn Huygens Award for his entire body of work. Recent publications are the collection Vijf vrolijke verhalen (2021), the novel KliFi, woede in de republiek Nederland (2022) and the essay De kolonie mept terug: over witte arrogantie en voortschrijdend inzicht: een denkoefening en leesreis (2024).

Ellen Deckwitz is a poet, columnist, critic and presenter at literary events, including Writers Unlimited. For De steen vreest mij (2011), she was awarded the C. Buddingh’ Prize for the best poetry debut. Her collection Hogere natuurkunde (2019) is part travelogue, part myth and part testimony, and the outcome of conversations Deckwitz engaged in with individuals whose roots also trace back to the former Dutch East Indies. In 2022, Eerste hulp bij poëzie was published, an omnibus containing her collections Olijven moet je leren lezen (2020) and Dit gaat niet over grasmaaien (2021). Deckwitz writes columns for national daily newspaper NRC. In her NPO Luister podcast Poëzie vandaag, she presents a Dutch or translated poem every workday morning. She is one of three critics of podcast Boeken FM. Since Autumn 2025, she has been one of the presenters of Nooit meer Slapen, the VPRO's night-time cultural radio programme.

Adriaan van Dis in conversation with Ellen Deckwitz was curated for Writers Unlimited by Ilonka Reintjens.