Astrid Vogel de Johnsson is a South African author and anthropologist now residing in Sweden. In early childhood, she showed an interest in reading and languages—interests which her family encouraged. Astrid started writing her first novel at age 12 and now writes high fantasy, exploring her passion for cultures and languages. She is fluent in five European languages. She is happily married with two adorable children. When she isn’t writing, Astrid likes to read, take walks in nature, play silly games with her children, do embroidery, and play music.
Astrid writes transformational fiction: incorporating transformation principles in novels, rather than writing another self-help book. Astrid is also interested in minority group questions, considerations on social standards of beauty and the negative consequences these have, and would like to make the fantasy genre accessible to people of non-white, non-Christian backgrounds. Astrid feels the fantasy genre has become too restrictive with limited representations of race, ethnicity and culture. She seeks to explore other paths on this writing journey, incorporating her background in anthropology and psychology to create engaging experiences which also provide food for thought on the diverse topics she finds most important, such as: racism, minority rights, cultural diversity, culture change, intolerance, humanity’s environmental impact and much more.
