Margot Vanderstraeten
Born: December 9th 1967
Country :Belgium
Profession: Jounaliste-Writer
Publisher: Atlas Contact Amsterdam
Margot Vanderstraeten is a freelance Belgian writer and journalist. She writes columns, opinion pieces, in-depth articles and interviews for newspapers and magazines.
Studies
Margot Vanderstraeten graduated as a French-Spanish translator at the Higher Institute for Translators and Interpreters in Antwerp.
She largely financed her education herself: it is during that period that she also teaches the Jewish children who play the role in Mazzel tov.
Career overview
After her study she started working as a freelance copywriter and translator for advertising agencies and magazines. Later her in- depth articles and interviews appeared mainly in the leading quality newspapers De Standaard and De Morgen. In addition to her journalistic work so she writes fiction.
In 2009, the writer got a column on the front page of daily newspaper De Morgen, in a roll with Hugo Camps. As a journalist , she earned respect and fame for her in-depth interviews and opinion pieces.
From 2009 to 2016 she was a board member of the Dutch Language Union.
In that period she also taught at the University of Ghent, interviewing skills at the master after Master’s students in Journalism.
Member of the jury of the Librisprize 2016 which was won by Connie Palmen
Wrote the preface of “Great Books”, a collection of international classics, compiled by Koen De Temmerman and Alexander Roose, literature professors at Ghent University. (2016
Wrote the introduction by Jef Geeraerts reissued “Elf Brieven” about Love and Death, published by Manteau. (2017)
Is a member of the “Tijdschriftcommissie” of the Netherlands Fund for Literature (2017-2019) and reviews literary magazines and art magazines.
Literary and journalistic books
Initially she published at publishing Querido, (two novels, “Alle mensen bijten” and “de vertraging”) in 2008 she made the switch to Publishing house: Atlas, at the request of the publisher itself, Emile Brugman. He wanted to combine her interviews with old writers, interviews that all appeared in the newspaper into a book and could count on great acclaim. (book: Writers do not die)
Margot Vanderstraeten is also a ghostwriter
Books under her name :
- 2002 Alle mensen bijten, Querido, ISBN 90 214 84811 novel
- 2004 De vertraging Querido, ISBN 90 214 85028 / NUR301 novel
- 2008 Schrijvers gaan niet dood, Atlas, ISBN 9789045006659 interviewbook
- 2009 Mise and Place Atlas, ISBN 9789045015057, novel
- 2011 Het geweten van onze strafpleiters, Linkeroever Publishers ,ISBN 978905720408 interviewbook
- 2014 Het vlindereffect, Atlas, ISBN 9789025444297, novel
- 2017 Mazzel tov, Atlas Contact, non-fiction , ISBN 9789045033853 novel
- 2018 Het zusje van de buurvrouw, ISBN 9789022334928 , novel
Prizes/awards
- Her third novel Mise en place was nominated for the Halewijnprijs 2008.
- Her non-fiction book Mazzel tov 2017) was awarded the E. du Perronprijs 2017.
- Mazzel tov was awarded the Prize for the best Religious book 2017 from the VUKPP .
- De Belgian Standaard newspaper chose Mazzel tov as the best non-fiction book of 2017.
- The Dutch newspaper NRC put Mazzel tov in second place in the best Dutch-language books of 2017.
Since the publication of Mazzel tov compared to (April 2017), the writer gives numerous lectures in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The book has been in the top10 best-selling books for almost a whole year
Mazzel tov translations:
- Polish, Publisher: Czarne, 2018
- German, Publisher: Piper, 2019
- French, Publisher: Presses de la Cité, 2019
- English, Publisher: Pushkin Press, 2020
Mazzel tov translations in the making:
- Czech, Publisher: Garamond
- Hungarian, Publisher: Europa
Personal
Margot Vanderstraeten is married and lives and works in Antwerp.
Author images for publication you will find here :
Interviews with Margot Vanderstraeten you will find here
Video-interviews you will find here