Simon(e) van Saarloos (1990, Summit, New Jersey) is a writer and philosopher based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They published several books in Dutch including a novel and a collection of columns. In Enz. Het Wildersproces, Van Saarloos shares a feminist and queer report of the trial against the Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders. To learn a bit more about this book, check out a recent essay on the Gezi Park Trial in Turkey. In Het monogame drama, Van Saarloos critiques monogamous living and false notions of safety, proposing a nonmonogamous love life and a different take on ownership and property. The book was recently translated into English and published by Publication Studio, titled Playing Monogamy. If you want to hear more about their philosophy of nonmonogamy, check out this conversation at the MultiAmory podcast.

Their most recent book, Herdenken herdacht, is a non-fiction work about queer forgetfulness, whiteness and embodied commemoration. You can watch an introduction to this book on IGTV, in a lecture on ‘Rewriting histories’ at The University of The Underground. Dutch (sign language) speakers can view the book launch in Compagnietheater here.

Van Saarloos obtained two bachelor degrees at the University of Amsterdam (Comparative Literature in 2011, Philosophy in 2012) with minors in Journalism and Theatre and an exchange semester at The New School in New York City. In 2018, Van Saarloos audited classes with professors Saidiya Hartman, Tina Campt and Jack Halberstam at Columbia University.  They graduate with a Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design from the Dutch Art Institute (DAI Roaming Academy) in 2020. Their thesis, “Science Without Man: Future Ghosts in a(n) RAtioNAL Space”, is based on an artist residency at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience.