Literarischer Sommer: Joost Oomen liest aus "Ein volles Leben"

In the organizer's words:

Theo Engel works as an euthanasia doctor in the Netherlands. Almost every week, he gives people who are suffering unacceptably and hopelessly the saving injection. But the job wears him down, Theo struggles with depression and struggles with his job. One day he receives a letter: In it, a no longer young but perfectly healthy man asks him for euthanasia. Gerrit Blauw, in his early 70s, wants to die because he believes his life is over. To convince the doctor to help him, Gerrit tells Theo about the beauty that has filled his life. He talks about his youth in Friesland, where he met Saartje at a party and fell head over heels in love. Although Saartje started a relationship with his friend Douwe, she remained the most important person for Gerrit, even when he went to study in Groningen. He talks about his work for the theater and how, decades later, he shipped a giraffe to the North Sea island of Terschelling for a production to attract the attention of the love of his life. And for the first time, Theo begins to ask himself whether people deserve not only a beautiful life, but also a beautiful death. In tender images, Joost Oomen tells the story of a man who wants to end his life in a beautiful way. And of another who has to look the ugliness of death in the eye every day. Together they approach deeply human questions: What do we want to fill our lives with? And how do we want to die?

Joost Oomen, born in 1990, is a writer, poet, theater maker and musician. His debut novel "Het Perenlied" was nominated for the Anton Wachter Prize, and his latest poetry collection "Lievegedicht" is going through reprint after reprint. Oomen writes columns for various newspapers, regularly appears on television and radio and inspires almost 30,000 followers for poetry on the Instagram channel "poezieiseendaad", which he co-founded and curates. "A Full Life" is his second novel.

Moderation: Maren Jungclaus, Literaturbüro NRW

Price information:

One-way ticket 12 / 6 € or festival ticket Literary Summer (40 / 25 €)