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Raoul de Jong (Rotterdam, 1984) is a leading voice in contemporary Dutch literature, blending memoir, fiction, history, and spiritual inquiry.
At nineteen he traveled across West Africa for four months, survived New York on fifty dollars, and later walked from Rotterdam to Marseille in honor of his dog Puck — journeys that inform his adventurous literary perspective.
His work, including Jaguarman, explores identity, heritage, and hidden histories, resonating across borders and languages. In 2023, he wrote the prestigious Boekenweekessay Boto Banja, which became a bestseller and drew attention to Surinamese and Caribbean literature in the Netherlands.
De Jong has received major Dutch literary honors, including the Anna Blaman Prijs, Beste Rotterdamse Boek, and Dick Scherpenzeelprijs. He has created literary programs for Dutch television and has been noted internationally in The New York Times and BUTT magazine. De Jong participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa (2023) and served as guest writer at UCLA (2024).
Boto Banja
2023
2023
Boto Banja
Boto Banja
Boto Banja was the 2023 Boekenweekessay, the Netherlands’ annual celebration of Dutch literature. Raoul de Jong became the first Black author in its 89-year history. Forty thousand copies were printed and sold for just five euros, and the essay quickly became a #1 bestseller, inspiring bookstores to highlight Surinamese and Caribbean authors, usually tucked away on back shelves.
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The title refers to the “boto banya,” a ritual dance created by enslaved people on Surinamese plantations to tell the story of their forced journey from Africa, their separation on slave markets, and their fight to preserve their identity. De Jong begins his own voyage with a voodoo ritual, honoring the secret powers and gods woven through the works of Surinamese writers and figures from the Harlem Renaissance and Négritude movement. He retraces the path of history, sailing from the Dominican Republic to Curaçao—the same seas once crossed by enslaved people.
On the surface, these writers’ books appear ordinary—but read between the lines, and they reveal secret codes, messages of the same supernatural African powers that once crossed the ocean on slave ships, carrying memory, magic, and resistance.
Original language: Dutch
Also available in French.
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Jaguarman
2020
2020
Jaguarman
Jaguarman
In Jaguarman (2020), Raoul de Jong plunges into the hidden history of Suriname, his father’s homeland—a place whose past is as dense and untamed as the Amazon rainforest that covers it. He follows the legend of one of his ancestors—an enslaved African who could transform into a jaguar—and enters a world most people, including the Dutch themselves, know almost nothing about. Once rumored to hide the mythical city of El Dorado, Suriname was seized by Spaniards, colonized by the French, taken by the British, and traded to the Dutch for the city that would become New York.
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At twenty-eight, after meeting his father for the first time, Raoul begins a seven-day voodoo ritual in his freezing Rotterdam apartment. He hopes to call on the Jaguarman’s power—but what he uncovers is far bigger. Guided by voodoo priests, rebels, and writers of forbidden books, he’s pulled through five centuries and four continents in a story crackling with magic, resistance, and revelation.
De Jong’s quest for his mystical “Jaguarman” ancestor connects to Suriname’s history of slavery, resilience, and hidden heroes, making it a significant cultural touchstone.
Book original language: Dutch
Also available in French, German and English
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Prizes
Jaguarman was shortlisted for The European Union Prize for Literature, De Libris Literatuurprijs, De Boon, De E. Du Perronprijs, De Boekenbonliteratuurprijs, and Le Prix littéraire des lycéens de l’Euregio.
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The greatness
of it all
2013
2013
The greatness of it all
The greatness of it all
In De grootsheid van het al, Raoul de Jong breaks free from the monotony of modern life. After the death of his dog Puck — to whom he had promised to do everything they could no longer do together — he has a strange dream and decides he can no longer stay behind his laptop. He closes his front door in Rotterdam and begins a thousand-kilometer walk across Europe, toward his mother in Marseille. No GPS, no fixed route, no smartphone, no protection — just trust in his dreams, the road and the Holy Spirit of Puck.
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The Greatness of it all, was published in 2013 and has since inspired countless people to quit their jobs or start walking themselves.
Original language: Dutch
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Get in touch
For any questions or requests, please contact Raoul de Jong’s manager: Michaël Roumen at michael@michaelroumen.com