What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Having worked in the garden all day then drink a very satisfying beer.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
No idea.
Which living person do you most admire?
Hmm.
Which is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Being jealous.
What is your greatest extravagance?
I do not have any extravagances, for as far as I know. So I am rich.
What is your favourite journey?
The trainride from Groningen to Leeuwarden.
On what occasion do you lie?
I do not lie any more. I like to make true stories a little bit juicier.
Which living person do you most despise?
I do not very quickly despise people, for usually I see their ‘other side’ as well.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
A guy who was our ‘führer’ during a hike in the Pyrenees.
When and where were you happiest?
During the years that I was an active speedskater.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I would love to have been a biologist, or rather: a zoölogist.
What is your current state of mind?
One in between. I have very little hope or longing at the moment, I’m between two novels.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being able to take my mother to Paris for a weekend.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what do you think it would be?
I would love to come back as a sheep.
What is your most treasured possession?
Can’t think of anything that I would really miss.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Being in a train that is late, and nobody telling me why, or how long it is going to take.
What is your favourite occupation?
Gardening and writing. And drinking wine.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Good hands.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Their ability to listen.
Who are your favourite writers?
I just read Solar by Ian McEwan, and he’s very good. I loved Anthony Burgess, Raymond Carver, Iris Murdoch, John Updike.
What is your motto?
Al sal recht kom. That’s Afrikaans. It means ‘Everything will be OK (in the end ).’
Dutch writer Gerbrand, author of The Twin, will read in the Town Hall on Thursday April 14 at 8.30pm as part of Cúirt.
