A writer’s life consists of a thousand lives, and that is what Fien Veldman is working on: through stories, she can explore theoretical realities, alternative ways of living, possible world-turning events and hypothetical relationships. Perspective is key in Veldman’s work. She inquires into all imaginable perspectives and experiments a lot with points of view. This means that the style and tone of her work can vary greatly. However, Veldman’s writing is always characterized by a fascination with social ranks and hierarchies, emancipatory narratives, feminist perspectives and a sense of humor.

Her poetic work influences sometimes find their way into her stories. Veldman’s poems are narratives about young women’s lives, their views on the world, their struggles, courage, and strengths and their ways of having fun.

Being from the Netherlands and having lived in Syria, Canada, and France, the subjects of identity, newness, an ‘outsider’s perspective’ and language often find their ways into her work. With regards to style and tone, her fiction is often rhythmic and influenced by the act of storytelling. Veldman’s background as a musician – specifically, a drummer and songwriter in an all-women indie band – often has its effects on her writing technique.

See a writing sample of Fien Veldman’s work here: Fien Veldman writing sample (‘The Dive’. Short story, to be published in the Stockholm Review of Literature Dec 2017)