Elles van Gelder was born in a small village in The Netherlands. From a young age she realized she wanted to see more of the world then the 6,000 people living there. During her journalism studies in Utrecht, she traveled to South Africa as an exchange student. There, her vision of becoming a foreign correspondent took root.

She graduated with a bachelor degree in journalism at the University of Professional Education Utrecht and a master in Modern History (with distinction) at the University of Amsterdam. Her master thesis focused on how Rwandan media incited Hutu’s to kill during the genocide in 1994. Her work was published in a book on ethnic conflict and genocide in the 20th century.

She moved to South Africa in 2007. Her base is Johannesburg. Her writing has been published in Dutch and international media, including The Telegraph Magazine (UK), Vrij Nederland (The Netherlands), L’Espresso (Italy), dsWeekblad (Belgium), OneWorld (The Netherlands).

Besides writing she has a love for radio. She is the correspondent for Radio Netherlands Worldwide, BNR Newsradio and VRT Radio and also works for Dutch public radio (VPRO).

Believing in the power to merge her skills, she produced and filmed a short multimedia documentary together with photographer Ilvy Njiokiktjien on extreme-right in South Africa. A new multimedia project is planned for this year.