Writing Fellow Victoria Redel Publishes Novel to Critical Acclaim

October 7, 2025

FAWC faculty, past fellow, and Writing Committee member Victoria Redel (1986-1987) published her highly anticipated novel, I Am You on September 30.

I Am You is an unforgettable love story about sex, art, and politics in 1600s Amsterdam. At age eight, Gerta Pieters is dressed as a boy and put to work in the service of the Oosterwijcks, a genteel Dutch family. When Gerta catches the eye of the young Maria Oosterwijck, Gerta’s asked to accompany her to Amsterdam, where Maria will study under a noteworthy Dutch artist.

Inspired by the little that is known about skilled still life painter Maria van Oosterwijck’s life, I Am You is a love story, a meditation on gender, and an ode to artistic creation. Victoria Redel’s novel brings to life the copious spoils of Amsterdam’s Golden Age, and the perils that lay hidden within them for women like Maria and Gerta.

The book was recently featured on WBUR’s Here and Now and the CBS Morning Show. Redel was also interviewed by Sarah Jessica Parker, who has included I Am You in SJP Lit, a collective focused on publishing sweeping, expansive, thought-provoking, and discussion-driven stories that are inclusive of international and underrepresented voices.

Victoria Redel is a first-generation American author of four books of poetry and six books of fiction, most recently Paradise (2022). Her novel I Am You was published in September 2025. Redel’s work has been widely anthologized, awarded, and translated in ten languages. Her debut novel, Loverboy (2001) was adapted for feature film directed by Kevin Bacon. Redel’s short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in Granta, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bomb, One Story, Salmagundi, O and NOON among many others. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center. Redel is a professor in the graduate and undergraduate Creative Writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York and Utah.

Learn more about Victoria Redel’s work here.

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