About

Winner of the HarperCollins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, Ellen Keith is a Canadian writer and graduate of the University of British Columbia’s MFA program in creative writing. Previously, she completed an undergraduate degree in history (with a focus on WWII/Holocaust studies) at the University of Alberta. She lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New Quarterly and the Globe and Mail. Her debut novel, The Dutch Wife (Patrick Crean Editions) became an instant international bestseller following its publication in April 2018, reaching #1 for Canadian fiction on The Globe and Mail’s bestsellers list and #12 on the Publishers Weekly list in the United States. The Dutch Wife has since been published internationally in the United States (Park Row Books), the Netherlands (Uitgeverij Prometheus), the Czech Republic (Pavel Dobrovský – Beta), Portugal (Editorial Presença), in Serbia (Vulkan izdavaštvo) and Italy (Newton Compton).

Her second novel, The Dutch Orphan, was published in April 2023 in both Canada and the U.S.A. (Park Row Books), and spent 11 weeks on the Toronto Star Bestsellers List for Canadian Fiction, and 10 weeks on the Globe & Mail Bestseller List for Canadian fiction. A Czech edition followed (Pavel Dobrovský – Beta).

Want to get a little more personal? Read on.

More about me:

I’m originally from St. Albert, Alberta.  In my early twenties, I traded in my office cubicle for a camera and a backpack and set off alone on a 11-month trip across South America, which set the stage for a long-term move abroad.

My maternal grandparents are Dutch, and I've always felt really at home in the Netherlands, so there was no question in my mind about settling in Amsterdam. After several years working at a non-profit organization, I turned my full attention to writing.

I speak Dutch and Spanish.

I've travelled to over 60 countries.

I love dancing salsa.

I can't go a day in Amsterdam without cycling.