Rutger De Vries was born in 1985 in Utrecht and studied architectural history and Dutch cultural heritage at the University of Amsterdam. After cataloging maps in the Special Collections of Leiden University, he spent several years as a night porter on the Wadden Islands, where foghorns, salt wind, and lighthouse stairs crept into his notebooks. He lives in Nijmegen with his partner and an indignant black cat named Draad, restores secondhand bicycles, and volunteers with a local reading program.
Rutger De Vries writes folkloric fantasy and quietly uncanny fiction rooted in the Low Countries, braiding found-family warmth with brackish myths, workaday magic, and the stubborn geometry of polders and ports. His debut novel, De Vlam van Onzichtbaarheid (2024), introduced readers to his blend of maritime folklore and intimate stakes, and If Not Now extends his fascination with coastal hauntings, civic duty, and maps that refuse to stay where they're drawn.
