Ilse Josepha Lazaroms (she her hers) is a bilingual writer of fiction and nonfiction based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She is the author of Duet (Cossee 2021, translated into German by Janine Malz for KLAK Verlag 2024) and Elders (Atlas Contact 2024). Oker will be published in October 2025 with Uitgeverij Oevers.

She has received fellowships from Tin House, the Unexpected Shape Community, and the Lighthouse Lit Fest. She writes about literature in translation for De Groene Amsterdammer and the Dutch Review of Books and about Jewish literature for Jewish educational centre Crescas.

Ilse holds an MA in Gender studies from Utrecht University and a PhD in Jewish studies from the European University Institute in Florence. She has held fellowships at Harvard University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Center for Jewish History in New York, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Budapest. Currently, she is an acquisitions editor in the critical humanities at Central European University Press.

Her academic work – at the intersection of feminist and queer studies, literary studies, and Jewish studies – has been published internationally. Her book The Grace of Misery. Joseph Roth and the Politics of Exile was awarded the Victor Adler State Prize from the Austrian Ministry of Science and Education.

Born and raised in the Netherlands, Ilse has lived in Oslo, London, New York, Budapest, Berlin, Jerusalem, Florence, and Cambridge, Mass. Currently, she lives in Amsterdam with her daughter. Find Ilse at @ilsejosepha on Bluesky.

Her creative work has been supported by the Letterenfonds (Dutch Foundation for Literature), Auteursbond, and Amarte Fonds. She has served as a jury member for the J.M.A. Biesheuvelprijs 2023 and the European Literature Prize 2024.