Two young women of mixed origins are breathing new life into Dutch literature. Dutch Jewish writer, Yael van der Wouden’s debut novel, The Safe Keep, was recently shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. While Iranian Dutch writer, Sholeh Rezazadeh’s second novel, There Is a Mountain Waiting For Me, is a laureate for the 2024 European Union Award for Literature. Both of these women draw on their own diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds to produce work that is enjoying critical acclaim far beyond the Netherlands.
Yael van der Wouden spent much of her adolescence and young adulthood battling a strong resemblance to another young Jewish girl who wrote a now world-famous diary in war-time Amsterdam. Yael refused to read Anne Frank’s diary for many years yet her acclaimed debut novel, The Safekeep, grapples with the delicate issue of just how much the fate of many Dutch Jews like Frank can be ascribed to the actions and attitudes of their own countrymen.
The unaffected honesty of Yael’s style includes a wry sense of humour and a willingness to confront her own mixed heritage. As a child, she lived in Israel (her mother’s country) until age nine and then moved to the Netherlands (her father’s country) where she still lives today, in Utrecht. The Safe Keep is set in a small Dutch town, fifteen years after the end of the Second World War. The protagonist, Isabel’s own sexual awakening mirror’s a broader unearthing of a reluctance in post-war Netherland’s to fully acknowledge and address the fate of the Dutch Jews.
Yael credits authors as diverse as Francis Hodgeson Burnett, Zadie Smith and E.M Forster for her love of reading and subsequent desire to become a writer. A visit to her website shows a young writer who is eager to experiment across a range of styles and genres. From creative non-fiction essays to flash fiction, advice columns and novels, Yael embraces diversity in language, sexuality and culture with fearless relish.
Sholeh Rezazadeh arrived in the Netherlands in 2015 and within three years had signed a deal for her debut novel, Heaven is Always Purple. Re-counting the experiences of a young Iranian emigree struggling to adapt to life in the Netherlands, it came to critical acclaim in 2021 with a number of Dutch literary awards. Sholeh initially moved to the Netherlands for a relationship and is now credited with crafting her own poetic style in the language of her adopted country.
There is a Mountain Waiting For Me is Sholeh’s second novel. Published in 2023, it has recently been recognised by the European literary establishment with special mention in this year’s European Union Awards for Literature. Sholeh began her literary career in Iran and has a volume of poetry published in Persian in 2016. She also has a short story collection, Silence Breaks You (2016) published in English. This young writer’s facility with languages has become a hallmark. We look forward to seeing English translations of her two award winning novels soon! Souwie Buis 7th October 2024
