About Sanne Bloemink

After having worked as an attorney-at-law in Amsterdam and New York, I decided to follow my true passion: writing. Since 2008 I have authored four books and innumerable articles and pieces for several newspapers and magazines, mostly for the Dutch news weekly De Groene Amsterdammer.

My topics vary widely: from failing psychiatric classifications to the challenges of the energy transition, from new ways of viewing our relationship with nature to trying to understand the importance of quantum physics (and explaining it to a wider audience), from the limitations of the Dutch system of education to collective behavior of ant colonies and bee hives; my interests are broad, but are always characterized by the appreciation of nuance and complexity.

In my most recent book ‘Pijn - een expeditie naar onbestemd gebied’ (Pain - an expedition to indeterminate places), 2023, I reached similar conclusions: without appreciating emergent properties, interrelatedness of symptoms and the importance of interdisciplinary research, there is no way we can truly understand chronic pain. 

About her Journalist Residency at IAS

My residency will result in a series of long reads for De Groene Amsterdammer, perhaps even in a book about complexity. However I have not decided on the exact topics for the long reads yet, as for now I would like to stay open to listen, observe, learn and be inspired by the community.

I am beyond excited to start this residency and getting to know the fellows and residents at IAS. I cannot wait to engage in stimulating conversations and meetings with the community, talking about their work, thoughts and ideas, both in the official realm of publications and conferences as in the unofficial setting of informal interviews and chats over coffee.