De gelukkige huisvrouw

Heleen van Royen

Heleen van Royen is a Dutch novelist and columnist. Her novel De gelukkige huisvrouw was the best-selling Dutch novel of 2010. The candid descriptions of sexuality found in her books and her columns have drawn considerable attention, as have her personal revelations about sexual fantasies, even to the point of ridicule: Dorine Wiersma won the Annie M.G. Schmidt award for best theatrical song for "Stoute Heleen", a crude pastiche of van Royen's depictions of her own sexuality. Two of van Royen's novels were adapted for film, De gelukkige huisvrouw, and De ontsnapping. She has two children, daughter Olivia and son Sam. In November 2006, van Royen posed in the nude for Playboy.