Johanna van Veen

Johanna van Veen is a Dutch-Canadian author of gothic horror fiction. She won the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel for My Darling Dreadful Thing (2025), her debut novel. The book is a gothic psychological horror story about obsession, desire, and the violence that can lurk beneath the surface of intimate relationships. Van Veen was born in the Netherlands and lives in Canada. My Darling Dreadful Thing was praised for its lush prose, its Victorian gothic atmosphere, and its exploration of female psychology and complicity. The novel draws on traditions of nineteenth-century ghost stories and psychological studies. She continues to write gothic horror and is considered a significant new voice in the genre.