While Sophia herself is a cheerful person with an overdeveloped sense of humour, most of her stories are marked by a sense of darkness. A cosy ‘happy ever after’ is not usually on the cards.
When she was about sixteen years old the ambition to write first made itself felt. A chronic health condition meant that she was confined to her home with not a lot in the way of future prospects. As if by miracle she discovered genre literature. Especially Michael Moorcock’s books about Elric of Melniboné struck a chord for her. She recognised herself in this eternally ailing albino prince and the books about him made her realise that in genre literature you could talk about serious emotions while disguising them with lots of cool fantasy trappings.
Editors were quick to embrace her as an author, but were not necessarily enthusiastic about the books she was working on. She gave up writing for a few years out of frustration, but then a nightmare made her pick up a pen again in 2014. That was the start of her series ‘De Bloedwetten’.
Over the years she won multiple awards, among which the Millennium Award, two Indie Awards, two Bastaard Fantasy Awards, Edge.Zero and recently a Harland Award.
Even though it’s been nearly forty years since she first put pen to paper she feels like her adventures in writing have only just begun.
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Sophia Drenth loves to write about misfits, because she recognises herself in them. Her stories are usually marked by a sense of darkness, but even in the darkest night there’s always a glimmer of hope.
Photographer: Riske de Vries
