The Magic of Stories

Books and writing have been part of Marlies Slegers’ life for as long as she can remember. By the time she arrived at JIS for Grade 11, she had already decided to write her own stories to read, but it was Mrs. Barbara Mathis’ English Literature class that really deepened her love of storytelling.

She’s now a prolific children’s book author who has churned out an astounding 43 titles in her 17-year writing career, one of which has been published in over 25 countries. Her latest book, Briefjes for Pelle (Letters for Pelle), beat out some tough competition to win third place for Mooiste Bookomslag 2020, or Best Book Cover of 2020, at Dutch online bookstore Libris.nl.

Though Marlies writes in Dutch, she hopes her stories and the messages they carry can shine through the language barrier.

“I want my stories to appeal to every child, not just Dutch children, because the magic of stories is so universal,” she says.

Marlies credits her experience growing up in Indonesia — between the ages of 9 and 17 — and being a student at JIS for instilling in her the open-mindedness and curiosity for other people that are crucial to being a writer. 

“Living in Indonesia has been really important to me [...] Indonesia continues to inspire me, as some of my stories are set against that background, and I try to go to Bali at least once a year to write there for a few weeks,” she says. “I even wrote about the 2018 Dragon reunion in one of my books, and I visit international schools in Europe and Southeast Asia by invitation to teach children how to write and tell them about being a writer and my time in Indonesia.”

To JIS students and young people with aspirations to become authors, she tells them to just keep writing — however and whenever they can. 

“Keep a journal, write short stories, poems, fiction, non-fiction. See what feels good in finding your own ‘writing voice’. Always believe in yourself and never stop dreaming about that first book or story being published.”