Renate Dorrestein

(Amsterdam, NL, 1954) wanted to "shake up the world" as a journalist for magazines like Panorama, Opzij, Viva and De Tijd. Her successful debut novel Buidenstaanders (Outsiders) was published in 1983. Her international breakthrough came with 1998's Een hart van steen (A Heart of Stone), which was translated in 15 countries. Dorrestein was called the first Dutch "female gothic" writer because of typical gothic themes like suppressed memories, family secrets, and ghostly apparitions. In her world, evil usually lurks close to home. The balance of power within families is one of her favourite subjects. Her life and work have been strongly influenced by her sister's 1979 suicide, and by the chronic fatigue syndrome from which she suffered for a decade. A report of her correspondence with the Chinese dissident Liu Di, Penvriendin in China (Penpal in China), was published in 2015. Dorrestein was one of the founders of the Anna Bijns Foundation, a biannual prize honouring "the female literary voice.". She died in 2018.