Joya: AiR / Emma van Meyeren / NDL

‘I came to Joya: AiR to delve deeper into my first work of fiction. Responding to the 1986 novel Mystiek lichaam by Frans Kellendonk I am interested in the embodied experiences of queer people in the Netherlands during the 80s. Arriving for a stopover in Granada first, I was pleasantly surprised to walk into several processions. Catholic excess is a big theme in Kellendonks work so it was interesting to see some rituals I had not experienced since childhood. Later, in the quiet surroundings of Joya, I found the peace to combine walks through the hills with contemplation on the lives I am trying to convey in my novella’.

Emma van Meyeren

Emma van Meyeren’s background is in Literary Studies, completing a BA at Utrecht University and an MA at the University of Amsterdam. She has published extensively in Dutch magazines and websites such as vice.com, De Groene Amsterdammer and the Dutch Review of Books. This year her work was awarded with the Prijs voor de Jonge Kunstkritiek (prize for young art criticism). She published her first book in 2020 with the Feminist Press Chaos, it was titled 'Ook ik ben stukgewaaid' and contained essays about grief and its rituals. She continues to work on this topic with the Read My World festival, where she organizes and teaches diary writing workshops on various feminist subjects.