Hi! I’m Ilse. I am the author of two novels, Duet and Elders, and the poetic essay Oker. I am a critic and essayist for publications like De Groene Amsterdammer and The Dutch Review of Books and an editor at Central European University Press. I have a PhD in Jewish Studies and an MA in Gender Studies, and while I chose to leave academia some years ago, I still enjoy being in conversation with the scholarly world. I am also a single parent to my daughter, and together we live in Amsterdam, where I landed after two decades of restless wanderings across the globe. I have a lifelong love for outsiders, truth-tellers, and quiet activists.

As a writer, I examine the inner worlds of lone female narrators traversing the world. As a critic, I write about literature in translation by female, queer or immigrant authors and those in between identities or languages. As an editor, I focus on bringing in junior scholars while expanding the idea of what an academic book can do or sound like. In these roles, my wish is to extend an invitation to others to wander, to feel, and to think. Someone once described my work as “delightfully erudite with a raw edge”, and that resonates with all I do.

My creative work has been supported by Tin House, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, the Unexpected Shape Community, the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Amarte Foundation. I served on the jury of the J.M.A. Biesheuvelprijs, a bi-annual prize for the best short story collection in Dutch, and the European Literature Prize, which celebrates both authors and translators. Currently, I serve on the jury of the Martinus Nijhoff Translation Prize, the largest prize for translators in the Netherlands.

I adore hearing from readers, writers or scholars of all kinds. If something about my work resonates with you, feel free to let me know via the contact page on this website (I am also on Bluesky and Instagram at @ilsejosepha). I really appreciate you being here.