Hendrik Groen

Hendrik Groen is the pseudonym of Peter de Smet (born 1954), a Dutch writer. He is the author of the 2014 book Pogingen iets van het leven te maken: Het geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen, 83¼ jaar (The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old), and its 2016 sequel Zolang er Leven is: Het nieuwe geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen, 85 jaar. Both books won the Audience Award for the Dutch Book.

For years, it was unknown who was hiding behind the pseudonym, which caused a lot of speculation, with names ranging from Sylvia Witteman to Arnon Grunberg. In 2016 the Dutch newspapers De Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad published the identity of Groen as 62-year-old Peter de Smet.^[1]

In 2014, Groen published the book Pogingen iets van het leven te maken: Het geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen, 83¼ jaar, which was very successful, selling its foreign rights to over 35 countries, receiving the NS Public Prize 2016, and being adapted to both a stage play and a television series in 2017.^[2][3] The play was directed by Gijs de Lange and had Beau Schneider in the role of Hendrik Groen.^[4] Its sequel, Zolang er Leven is: Het nieuwe geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen, 85 jaar, also became a bestseller after its publication in 2016; in total, his diaries have sold over half a million copies in the Netherlands and Flanders.^[2] Hendrik Groen has been described as "Netherlands' cuddly elderly man" and as "the most beloved senior citizen of the Netherlands".^[5]

• Hendrik Groen at VIAF