Manon Uphoff to be Leiden University’s new ‘writer in residence’
The author Manon Uphoff from Utrecht will be Leiden University’s new ‘writer in residence’ from autumn 2025. As the writer in residence, Uphoff will contribute to several courses on writing offered by the BA Dutch Language and Culture programme.
Manon Uphoff (1962) is an author, screenwriter and visual artist. In 2020 she was awarded the Charlotte Köhler Prize for her extensive literary oeuvre, comprising not only novels but also novellas and stories. She made her debut in 1995 with the short story collection Begeerte (‘desire’), which was nominated for the AKO Literature Prize, the Anton Wachter Prize and the ECI Prize. The title story won the Rabobank Spring Prize for Literature. Her novel Vallen is als Vliegen (2019; Falling is like Flying) was shortlisted for the 2019 BookSpot Literature Prize and the 2020 Libris Literature Prize, selected as the best Dutch-language novel of 2019 by NRC Handelsblad and Humo, and in 2025 proclaimed as the second-best novel of the 21st century by NRC Handelsblad and De Standaard.
Uphoff’s work has been translated into English, Hungarian and Spanish. Falling is like Flying (translated by Sam Garrett) was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and included in the Times Literary Supplement’s best books of the year in 2024. Her new short story collection, Laat me binnen (‘let me in’), was published in 2025.
The art of writing
Since 2017, Uphoff and her daughter Iris van Vliet have been giving courses, masterclasses and workshops on ‘the art of writing’ and ‘the art of looking’. They also offer individual coaching for writers. As the 2025-2026 writer in residence, Uphoff will contribute to several courses on writing offered by the BA Dutch Language and Culture programme. She will play an important role in the Creatif schrijven (‘creative writing’) course and will work with the students on investigating what writing means in a world where radicalism, fake news and generative AI are increasingly prevalent. She will do this in and around the new courses Schrijven en AI (‘writing and AI’), Schrijven voor een breed publiek (‘writing for a wide audience’) and Wetenschap in het publieke debat (‘scholarship in public debate’).
Albert Verwey Lecture
The writer’s residency includes a public lecture, the Albert Verwey Lecture, which Uphoff will give in November 2025 . For more information, keep an eye on the university’s writer’s residency page.
Writer’s residency
Leiden University has had a writer’s residency since 1985. This is a partnership between the university and the NRC newspaper.
Gerard Reve was the first writer in residence. He was followed by writers including Judith Herzberg, Frans Kellendonk, Adriaan van Dis, Joost Zwagerman, Anna Enquist, Renate Dorrestein, Arnon Grunberg, P.F. Thomése, Joke van Leeuwen, Tom Lanoye, Karin Amatmoekrim, Bibi Dumon Tak, Antjie Krog and Nicolien Mizee and, in 2024, Ronald Giphart.