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 second historical novel ‘Commandeur van de Kaap’ about Simon van der Stel, commander of the 17th-century Cape of Good Hope and one of the founding fathers of present-day South Africa (LM Publishers), was published in 2022. Both her historical novels on the 17th century have been in included in the Literary Canon of the Netherlands on the reading list about the Dutch East India Company.

Her latest novel ‘Wat wij nalaten’ (What We Leave Behind, 2025 Uitgeverij Doornwater), a moving family story inspired by true events that took place during World War II, also received much praise and was nominated for the Boon Literature Prize.

Bergvelt writes in both English and Dutch, is also a translator (Dutch-English) and she regularly gives lectures on the topics of her historical novels. She is the proud mother of two (great)) adult children and currently lives in Amsterdam.