When she lived in Borneo as a child, Karien van Ditzhuijzen developed a strong love for the jungle and those who live there. After wandering the world, she landed back in Asia in 2012 and gave up her career developing ice cream recipes to become a writer. She joined a Singapore charity that supports migrant workers, and the women she met there inspired her first novel, A Yellow House. 

Karien’s favourite workplace is the garden of her jungle house – which looks suspiciously like that of Mia’s – which explains why so many critters crawl onto the pages of her books. She started writing JungleGirl Mia for her own children, who love reading as much as playing in the mud.  

She is currently staying in the Netherlands, where she is plotting ways to get back to Asia soon.