Gouden Griffel winner Pieter Koolwijk completes series about Gozert with ‘Abort Mission’. A warm plea for fantasy and imagination

A bit out of the blue, Pieter Koolwijk (49) won the Gouden Griffel in 2021 for his book Gozert . He had a small oeuvre to his name, but had not yet really made his breakthrough. De Gouden Griffel changed everything for the writer from Emmen, who still works two days a week as an ICT specialist for the municipality. Never before has a Gouden Griffel winner received so much media attention.

In addition to his striking appearance and eloquence, this undoubtedly also had to do with one of Gozert’s striking themes: child psychiatry. The book can be seen as an indictment of labeling children who are different. Or as Koolwijk, who was diagnosed with ADHD at a later age, puts it himself: “Do not immediately reach for a pill as soon as a child is even a little busy.” According to him, it is the death knell for the fantasy.

‘A head full of fantasy’

After winning the Gouden Griffel, Koolwijk talks indignantly about a mother who was told by her son’s teacher that her child had too much imagination for his age. “How can you say that? What do I have with my 46 years? A head full of fantasy.” The Griffel jury praised Koolwijk for skillfully balancing on the border between fantasy and reality and proving that imagination has a right to a place in reality.

Protagonist Ties from Gozert is such a child with a label. He has a busy head, a lively imagination and is the only one who can see and hear his best friend Gozert. The apparently innocent fantasy friend causes so much unrest that Ties is admitted to the children’s clinic Huize Hoopvol, which Gozert consistently calls Huize Hopeless. At the end of the first part it becomes clear that Gozert is in a sense the personification of Ties’ deceased brother.

Someone who doesn’t actually exist

Koolwijk was not ready yet and wrote a follow-up part entitled Luna . The focus is on the girl of the same name who hears voices and with whom Ties befriends in the clinic. Besides Ties, she is the only one who can see and hear Gozert. The boy and his imaginary friend only play a supporting role in the somewhat disappointing second book, but are back in full swing Abort mission . The final part is even written entirely from Gozert’s perspective. Remember: someone is constantly speaking who doesn’t actually exist and the great thing is that Koolwijk makes you forget that. Gozert is a believable character who in this book undergoes the tragic fate of a fantasy friend: he is needed less and less.

Gozert’s mission seems complete

The title Abort mission refers to the cry that Gozert gives when their imaginative adventures threaten to become too dangerous. The title takes on a new meaning in the course of the book when Gozert finds out that his role in Ties’s life is coming to an end. He makes friends and knows how to hold his own in real life. Due to the reduced attention, the color disappears from Gozert and he shrinks and fades. His mission seems complete. He meets people of his own kind with whom he talks about his right to exist. Does he belong in this world? Before he slowly slips away, he discusses it with Ties and says goodbye in a sweet way.

House Hopeful

In the background is the lawsuit of a group of parents against Huize Hoopvol who demand that the institution take a different tack. There, Koolwijk takes a clear stand against too rapid medicalization of children. Gozert himself has always called Huize Hoopvol a place where fantasy is forbidden and zombies are created. The newly appointed headmistress states that it is no longer the intention that children are cured, but that they must be helped, a subtle but important difference. And she gives a beautiful argument about the usefulness of grief.

Except in that matter, Koolwijk does not put himself in the foreground, but lets Gozert do the work. And illustrator Linde Faas; her impressive prints fit best in this volume. Abort mission is a loving and careful conclusion to a trilogy in which the thin line between crazy and normal is central. And especially the quick judgments about it.