Gerda Blees

Gerda Blees is a Dutch writer. She published her first book in 2017, a short story collection titled Aan doodgaan dachten we niet. In 2018, she published her first volume of poetry, Dwaallichten.
She studied fine arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, and now lives in Haarlem.
Blees won the European Union Prize for Literature in 2021 for her debut novel Wij zijn licht.
The novel – translated into English by Michele Hutchison – was also shortlisted for the 2025 International Dublin Literary Award.