Literair cafe met Gijs Wilbrink

February 22, 2024: Gijs Wilbrink
'A grim western about a village with a family secret' is how one of the
quality newspapers described Gijs Wilbrink's debut novel The Beasts.
Wilbrink (1984) writer, musician and podcaster, grew up in Ulft in the Achterhoek.
Besides being a musician in various bands, he is co-founder of podcast platform 'Friend of the
Show'. In 2014, Wilbrink moved with his wife for a year to northern Macedonia, where her
family lives. There he began work on The Beasts. The book is set in the
Achterhoek where he grew up. When he returned after that year, he suddenly had a lot of
questions about the region in which he himself had grown up. He then went to speak to many relatives
talk to them to find out more about his family and his childhood. After the Second
World War there was poverty, many of his uncles and aunts had to go through poaching
to
                    
February 22, 2024: Gijs Wilbrink
'A grim western about a village with a family secret' is how one of the
quality newspapers described Gijs Wilbrink's debut novel The Beasts.
Wilbrink (1984) writer, musician and podcaster, grew up in Ulft in the Achterhoek.
Besides being a musician in various bands, he is co-founder of podcast platform 'Friend of the
Show'. In 2014, Wilbrink moved with his wife for a year to northern Macedonia, where her
family lives. There he began work on The Beasts. The book is set in the
Achterhoek where he grew up. When he returned after that year, he suddenly had a lot of
questions about the region in which he himself had grown up. He then went to speak to many relatives
talk to them to find out more about his family and his childhood. After the Second
World War, poverty prevailed; many of his uncles and aunts had to make a living by poaching
to make a living. Those postwar sixties form, among other things, the backdrop of The
animals. Three generations of the Keller family - the criminal grandfather
Frank, the perished father Tom and talented daughter Isa. They are crooks,
failures, misfits. The Beasts was showered after its launch in October
with rave reviews. This pageturner about the Achterhoek rural family Keller
landed in fourth place on the Volkskrant's annual list of 54 best books.
Link to ticket sales:
https://delagebeemden.op-shop.nl/1439/literair-caf-gijs-wilbrink/22-02-2024
Credits photographer: Keke Keukelaar