Mariët Meester spent her childhood in
Veenhuizen, a secluded prison village in the
north of Holland, nicknamed Dutch Siberia.
She studied at the Minerva Academy of Fine
Arts in Groningen. During the internship year
she traveled in a self-built gypsy caravan
through France, together with Jaap de Ruig.
She published the travelogue Een spoor van
paardemest (A Trail of Horse Dung).
After working for a while as a visual artist and
free-lance journalist, she published in 1990
her first literary novel Sevillana, situated in
Andalusia, Spain. A young woman, longing
for spiritual deepening, submerges herself in
Sevilla's Holy Week.
The same year she went for the first time to
Romania, where she stayed with Roma (gypsies).
In 1991 she stayed again with her Roma-friends,
which led in 1992 to the book De stilte voor het
vuur (The calm before the fire). In this non-fiction
book her compassion is visible on every page.
In 1994 Bokkezang (Bucksong) was published.
This poetical novel tells the story of two lovers,
one of them representing art, the other nature.
Bokkezang has been translated into Russian by
Irina Michailova and was published by Amphora,
St. Petersburg. Passages of this book have been
translated into English, German, Spanish and
Portuguese.
In 1997 the novel De eerste zonde (The First Sin) appeared. The main
character, a girl of twelve, lives in the Dutch prison village Veenhuizen.
Because of her concern with an escapee, she inevitably loses her innocence.
This bright and colourful novel has been reprinted five times.
In 2000 Meester was invited to participate in the Literaturexpress, a train
journey from Lisbon via St. Petersburg to Berlin, with more than a hundred
European authors as passengers. After the Literaturexpress she wrote a
short story which has been translated into German and Spanish. (Photo:
Mariët Meester with Flemish author Kamiel Vanhole. © Oliver Möst)
In the same year the
author collected travel
stories about Romania,
Mali and India in De
verdwaalde nomade (The
Nomad Who Got Lost).
Read an interview about
one of these stories.
Being a special guest at
the World PEN-congress
2002 in Ohrid, Macedonia, she wrote the essay Oblomov as a woman
(translation Alissa Leigh). It was published in the Macedonian literary
magazine Blesok, both in English and Macedonian.
In 2003 the novel De overstroming (The Flood) was published. This strong
and touching book deals with a young woman who survives a big flood in
modern Holland together with five other people. They are all living on a
man-made hill in the typical Dutch polder landscape. In her diary the
woman describes how their mutual relations are changing. A sample of this
novel has been translated into English, German and Spanish.
Mariët Meesters novel De volmaakte man (The Perfect Man) appeared in
November 2005. Two young people buy an apartment in Amsterdam. The
owner (and their neighbour) is an eccentric old Jewish lady who has
survived World War II in Veenhuizen, the secluded prison village where they
both come from. Watch the video (English subtitled).
In May 2006 Mariët Meester
finished a non-fiction volume in
which she included everything she
has written about Roma in
Romania, Sla een spijker in mijn
hart - Roemeense Roma na de
revolutie (Drive a Nail through my
Heart - Romanian Roma after the
Revolution). This book was
reprinted in 2007. Watch the video
(English spoken). For Italian readers a passage of the book has been
translated. See: Piantami un chiodo nel cuore - I Rom Rumeni dopo la
rivoluzione.
October 2009 a new novel has been published, Liefdeslied van een reiziger
(A Traveller's Love Song). Watch the English video on YouTube.
In January 2012 De mythische oom (The
Mythical Uncle) appeared. The American
uncle of Mariët Meester suffered from
leukemia, but survived thanks to a stem cell
transplant, of which his brother – the father of
the writer – was the donor. In De mythische
oom she immerges herself in the pioneer life
of her uncle in the U.S., his religious ideas and
his extraordinary healing. A bilingual essay
about the misunderstandings that arose
around this book appeared in Asymptote
Journal.
In 2011 Mariët returned for sixteen months to the prison colony where she
grew up, and stayed in a historic rectory. It resulted in two books: Koloniekak.
Leven in een gevangenisdorp, 2012 (Colony Posh, Life in a prison village) and
the novel Hollands Siberië, 2014 (Dutch Siberia). Both books found a large
audience.
Together with visual artist Jaap de Ruig Mariët Meester lives in Amsterdam
and in a wooden caravan in the polder. They also spend a lot of time in the
Spanish city of Málaga. Meesters latest non-fiction book is set in this city. In
De tribune van de armen, 2017 (The Tribune Of The Poor) she examines in a
personal way the annual release of a detainee during an Easter procession.
The book was translated into Spanish by Inge Luken en appeared in January
2019 as La Tribuna de los Pobres.
Motivated by a personal wish for a different way of dealing with materials
and in accordance with the theme of the book, Meester decided to publish
her latest novel ‘Pingping’ (Shiners) in an edition of only a thousand
numbered and signed copies. The carefully designed book was published as
a hardcover with dust jacket and ribbon at publishing house Caprae in 2020.
The website 'Literair Nederland' called it 'a small work of art'.
In 2022, the long-awaited memoir about the
author's childhood in the prison village of
Veenhuizen, Koloniekind (Colony Child), was
published. During her childhood the lives of the
residents and the inmates were so intertwined, that
little Mariet went to kindergarten in a bus with
barred windows.
For an overview of the books, click here.
Mariët Meester spent
her childhood in
Veenhuizen, a secluded
prison village in the
north of Holland,
nicknamed Dutch
Siberia. She studied at
the Minerva Academy of
Fine Arts in Groningen.
During the internship
year she traveled in a self-built gypsy
caravan through France, together with
Jaap de Ruig. She published the
travelogue ‘Een spoor van paardemest’ (A
Trail of Horse Dung).
After working for a while as a visual artist
and free-lance journalist, she published in
1990 her first literary novel ‘Sevillana’,
situated in Andalusia, Spain. A young
woman, longing for spiritual deepening,
submerges herself in Sevilla's Holy Week.
The same year she
went for the first time
to Romania, where she
stayed with Roma
(gypsies). In 1991 she
stayed again with her
Roma-friends, which
led in 1992 to the book
‘De stilte voor het vuur’
(The Calm Before The
Fire). In this non-fiction book her
compassion is visible on every page..
In 1994 ‘Bokkezang’ (Bucksong) was
published. This poetical novel tells the
story of two lovers, one of them
representing art, the other nature.
Bokkezang has been translated into
Russian by Irina Michailova and was
published by Amphora, St. Petersburg.
Passages of this book have been
translated into English, German, Spanish
and Portuguese.
In 1997 the novel ‘De eerste zonde’ (The
First Sin) appeared. The main character, a
girl of twelve, lives in the Dutch prison
village Veenhuizen. Because of her
concern with an escapee, she inevitably
loses her innocence. This bright and
colourful novel has been reprinted five
times.
In 2000 Meester was invited to participate
in the Literaturexpress, a train journey
from Lisbon via St. Petersburg to Berlin,
with more than a hundred European
authors as passengers. After the
Literaturexpress she wrote a short story
which has been translated into German
and Spanish. (Photo: Mariët Meester with
Flemish author Kamiel Vanhole. © Oliver
Möst)
In the same year the author collected
travel stories about Romania, Mali and
India in ‘De verdwaalde nomade’ (The
Nomad Who Got Lost). Read an interview
about one of these stories.
Being a special guest at the World PEN-
congress 2002 in Ohrid, Macedonia, she
wrote the essay Oblomov as a woman
(translation Alissa Leigh). It was published
in the Macedonian literary magazine
Blesok, both in English and Macedonian.
In 2003 the novel ‘De overstroming’ (The
Flood) was published. This strong and
touching book deals with a young woman
who survives a big flood in modern
Holland together with five other people.
They are all living on a man-made hill in
the typical Dutch polder landscape. In her
diary the woman describes how their
mutual relations are changing. A sample
of this novel has been translated into
English, German and Spanish.
Mariët Meesters novel ‘De volmaakte
man’ (The Perfect Man) appeared in
November 2005. Two young people buy
an apartment in Amsterdam. The owner
(and their neighbour) is an eccentric old
Jewish lady who has survived World War II
in Veenhuizen, the secluded prison village
where they both come from. Watch the
video (English subtitled).
In May 2006 Mariët Meester finished a
non-fiction volume in which she included
everything she has written about Roma in
Romania, ‘Sla een spijker in mijn hart -
Roemeense Roma na de revolutie’ (Drive
a Nail through my Heart - Romanian
Roma after the Revolution). This book was
reprinted in 2007. Watch the video
(English spoken). For Italian readers a
passage of the book has been translated.
See: Piantami un chiodo nel cuore - I Rom
Rumeni dopo la rivoluzione.
October 2009 a new novel has been
published, ‘Liefdeslied van een reiziger’ (A
Traveller's Love Song). Watch the English
video on YouTube.
In January 2012 ‘De
mythische oom’ (The
Mythical Uncle)
appeared. The
American uncle of
Mariët Meester
suffered from
leukemia, but
survived thanks to a
stem cell transplant,
of which his brother – the father of the
writer – was the donor. In De mythische
oom she immerges herself in the pioneer
life of her uncle in the U.S., his religious
ideas and his extraordinary healing. A
bilingual essay about the
misunderstandings that arose around this
book appeared in Asymptote Journal.
In 2011 Mariët returned for sixteen months
to the prison colony where she grew up,
and stayed in a historic rectory. It resulted
in two books: ‘Koloniekak. Leven in een
gevangenisdorp’, 2012 (Colony Posh, Life
in a prison village.) and the novel
‘Hollands Siberië’, 2014 (Dutch Siberia).
Both books found a large audience.
Together with visual artist Jaap de Ruig
Mariët Meester lives in Amsterdam and in
a wooden caravan in the polder. They also
spend a lot of time in the Spanish city of
Málaga. Meesters latest non-fiction book
is set in this city. In ‘De tribune van de
armen’, 2017 (The Tribune Of The Poor)
she examines in a personal way the
annual release of a detainee during an
Easter procession. The book was
translated into Spanish by Inge Luken en
appeared in January 2019 as ‘La Tribuna
de los Pobres’.
Motivated by a personal wish for a
different way of dealing with materials
and in accordance with the theme of the
book, Meester decided to publish her
latest novel ‘Pingping’ (Shiners) in an
edition of only a thousand numbered and
signed copies. The carefully designed
book was published as a hardcover with
dust jacket and ribbon at publishing
house Caprae in 2020. The website
'Literair Nederland' called it 'a small work
of art'.
In 2022, the long-
awaited memoir
about the author's
childhood in the
prison village of
Veenhuizen,
Koloniekind (Colony
Child), was
published. During
her childhood the
lives of the residents
and the inmates were so intertwined, that
little Mariet went to kindergarten in a bus
with barred windows.
For an overview of the books, click here.