Doeschka Meijsing

Maria Johanna Meijsing (21 October 1947 – 30 January 2012) was a Dutch novelist. She won the AKO Literatuurprijs in 2000 for her novel De tweede man, and in 2008 the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs for her novel Over de liefde. Doeschka Meijsing is the older sister of writer Geerten Meijsing and philosopher Monica Meijsing.

Meijsing was born in Eindhoven, on 21 October 1947. When she was three years old Meijsing moved to Haarlem. She studied Dutch Language and Literary Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Meijsing was a teacher at the St. Ignatius Gymnasium from 1971 to 1976. Following this, she held a position as a scientific assistant at the Institute for Dutch Studies at the University of Amsterdam until 1978. In 1978 Meijsing became editor for the book supplement of the influential Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland and in 1989 she became literary editor of another influential Dutch magazine, Elsevier.

From 1969 Meijsing published work in literary magazine Podium, and later she also published in De Revisor De Revisor. Hence her work has been referred to as being in thethe Revisor style. In 1974, her first collection of short stories De hanen en andere verhalen was published. The guest lectures she gave at the University of Groningen have been collected in Hoe verliefd is de toeschouwer?(1988). Meijsing also wrote poetry (Paard Heer Mantel, 1986). In 1997 she won the Opzij Literature Prize (which was then called the Annie Romein Prize).

Major themes in Meijsing's work are the relationship between imagination and reality, the fascination of an admired person - and consequential jealousy - and time. Her main characters are vulnerable outsiders who flee into fantasy.

Meijsing was lesbian and had several relationships with women. Her latest novel Over de liefde in 2008, which was awarded with the AKO Literature Prize, the F. Bordewijk Price and the Opzij Literature, was inspired by her relationship with Xandra Schutte. This relationship ended because her partner had left her for someone else.

Meijsing died at the age of 64 from complications of major surgery. She lived until her death in Amsterdam, where she lived in an apartment above her ex-partner.