Raoul de Jong’s mystical journey into his Surinamese ancestry

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• 00:00

  Hello and welcome to Meet the Writers.

• 00:05

  I'm Georgina Godwin.

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  My guest today is a Dutch author and journalist

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  whose work blends memoir, travel and questions of identity and belonging.

• 00:13

  His earlier books have taken him from a teenage diary to journeys through Africa and conversations with family.

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  And his latest Jaguar Man begins with the return of an absent father

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  and unfolds into a search for ancestry rooted in Suriname,

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  the former Dutch colony on the northern coast of South America, exploring belief, history and inheritance.

• 00:35

  First published in Dutch in 2020, the book was nominated for several major literary prizes

• 00:40

  and is now appearing in English for the first time.

• 00:47

  Raoul de Jong, welcome to Meet the Writers.

• 00:50

  Thank you.

• 00:51

  It's really lovely to have you here.

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  We've never, ever had a book from Suriname before.

• 00:55

  And although I know this is also a Dutch book, it's really wonderful to explore a different part of the world.

• 01:01

  And it was a book we all loved very much.

• 01:03

  I'm so happy to hear that.

• 01:04

  So you grew up in the Netherlands with a Dutch mother and without your father.

• 01:09

  Tell me about your early life.

• 01:11

  Well, I met my father when I was 28. So before that, I just knew my mother and her family.

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