Joyce Bergvelt

Dutch-born Joyce M. Bergvelt (1963) left Holland for Japan at the age of ten, her nomadic childhood later taking her to England and finally, Taiwan, where she took up studying Chinese. She returned to England to embark on a degree in Chinese Studies at the University of Durham, which brought her to Beijing for a year at the Peoples’ (Renmin) University of China.

In Sydney she studied Freelance Journalism and in Dubai she worked for a Dutch magazine. 'Formosa, voorgoed verloren' is her literary debut, which was longlisted for the Hebban Debut prize 2016 and was awarded three stars by the Dutch quality newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The original English edition of the book was published under the title Lord of Formosa (Camphor Press, April 2018). The book was well received in Taiwan by both readers and the press, and was runner-up for the Asian Books Blog Book of the Year award 2019. The Chinese (trad.) translation appeared at Avanguard/Qianwei Publishing House in March 2023.

Her latest (Dutch) novel 'Commandeur van de Kaap' about the 17th century Dutch East India commander Simon van der Stel of Cape of Good Hope appeared in June 2022. Both her books are included in the Literary Canon of the Netherlands on the book list about the VOC. Bergvelt writes in Dutch and in English. She is the proud mum of two (great) adult children and currently lives in Amsterdam.