Astrid is a USA Today Bestselling and multiple award-winning author, social anthropologist, and transformational life coach. She grew up in South Africa and currently lives in Malmö, Sweden (after having lived in many exciting and interesting places) with her husband and their two children.
Her South African-Bavarian heritage and the experiences of living and integrating into other societies have given Astrid a great deal to think about and process. The training in anthropology has given her the tools to think beyond simple stereotypes and ideological explanations of social interaction, while the understanding she has of the human potential to achieve anything we put our minds to, which underlies her certification as a transformational life coach, allows Astrid to see what is possible and to appreciate the human capacity to achieve success in the face of adversity, no matter the obstacles.
She writes transformation fiction: incorporating transformation principles in novels, rather than writing another self-help book. This is more than Up-lit. Astrid’s books are intended to be uplifting, but also to provoke thought and help people question the situations they find themselves in, as well as to identify how they themselves can transcend their circumstances.
In addition to writing her own fairytales in The Wordmage’s Tales series, Astrid has written a series of retellings, bringing lesser-known fairytales back into public consciousness. To date, Astrid has four novel-length retellings starting with The Siblings’ Tale and multiple short stories available in permanent charity anthologies in the What’s In a Name and Enchanted Anthologies collections supporting global literacy and environmental causes.
Astrid is currently working on a young adult contemporary fantasy series set in Sweden and is co-writing her first children’s book under the pen name, A. Johnsson, with the wonderful children’s book author, Kristi Shimada. For more details about Astrid’s upcoming projects, check out her website at astridvj.com or join her monthly newsletter. By signing up, you also get a free copy of The Sewing Princess, the second book in The Wordmage’s Tales series.