Moroccan-Dutch writer Khalid Boudou’s debut novel became a best-seller and a very popular Dutch film. Film versions of two more novels are in pre-production. His Radio Books story takes a cinematic approach as well.

Khalid Boudou - 'The City Must Know Everything'

Khalid Boudou was born in Tamsamane, Morocco in 1974 and moved to The Netherlands at the age of four. His award-winning first book 'Het schnitzelparadijs' (The Schnitzel Paradise) was the best selling debut novel of 2001.

In this multicultural comedy, a young Moroccan-Dutch man dismisses his father’s dream of him becoming a doctor. Instead he gets a job washing dishes in a restaurant. It was made into a very successful film breaking Dutch box-office records. 

Politics and asparagus

Boudou describes himself as a kind of “cabaret artist on paper.”  His second novel 'De President' is a witty satiric critique on contemporary politics governed by opportunism, favouritism and the media. In a style compared to Franz Kafka and Jerzy Kosinski, it tells the story of an illegal asparagus picker who unwittingly becomes president of a country called Zapland. He presents his vision of society using metaphors of his work.

‘You cannot find asparagus that you only eat in the summer, or only roll up in ham, or only use in a dish forced upon you in study courses… Those values and norms are flexible. They are not something we possess, stored away in a showcase in a museum. No, values and norms are like deliciously cooked asparagus. You want to serve it to everyone but not ram it down their throats.’

In Boudou’s third novel 'Pizza Maffia' he brings his humorous approach to younger readers in a musical style full of slang, rap and sms-speak. He’s also written for the theatre, and presented a radio column as well as a popular television program.

Human ambulance

In his contribution to Radio Books, Boudou again casts a critical eye on society. Wim Beckman spent his life as a social worker until he was fired. After some years he returns to the streets of the city where he worked and tells his tale to anyone who will listen.

"Outside the window of MEXX, Beckman stops and stares at one of the mannequins. No better metaphor for my life, he thinks. A mannequin, that’s what I was. Always dressed up in other people’s misery… He spent all his time rescuing rebellious adolescents, battered housewives, melancholy immigrants and muddled addicts. Beckman was an ambulance, with the engine always running and the siren always blaring. Always off to care for somebody."

Khalid Boudou’s story ‘The City Must Know Everything’ was translated by Liz Waters. It's read by David Swatling.

The series Radio Books is an initiative of the Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.