35-year-old author Blondeau passes away

The Belgian author and journalist Thomas Blondeau died at the weekend of a suspected aortic rupture, his publisher De Bezige Bij announced yesterday. The 35-year-old wrote widely in the Flemish and Dutch press, including De Morgen, De Standaard, Klara.be and NRC Handelsblad.

Blondeau was born in Poperinge, West Flanders, but moved to the Netherlands to study in 1998 and lived in Amsterdam. His third novel Het West-Vlaams versierhandboek (The West Flanders Seduction Handbook) was published in September.

In an interview published last Saturday, he said that he had “become Dutchified, obviously. The last time I was on a book jury, I was the one who talked the most. But I will always be the child of my parents, and of my area.”

“We can hardly grasp that he’s not there any longer,” his publisher said in a statement. “We have lost a very dear and very warm human being, an extraordinarily talented author and a great hope for the future.”

Flemish culture minister Joke Schauvliege issued a statement in which she said that Blondeau “was rightly considered one of the major literary talents in Flanders, who was also read with pleasure in the Netherlands. He had a great deal more to say to us.”

According to a report in De Standaard, his death was caused by a ruptured aorta, the body’s largest artery. Blondeau was known to be taking beta-blockers, used to control high blood pressure. The funeral is due to take place in private in Poperinge on Saturday.