Michaël Henricus Gertrudis (Michiel) van Kempen (born 4 April 1957) is a Dutch writer, art historian and literary critic.

In Suriname he also worked as a teacher in literary criticism and creative writing at the Academie voor Hoger Kunst- en Cultuuronderwijs, as well as coordinator of the Literature Section of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

He made special issues for the literary magazines Deus ex Machina (1987), Preludium (1988), De Gids (1990) en Armada (1999).

Van Kempen was co-editor of two collections of scientific essays: Tussenfiguren (1988, Writers in between) en Wandelaar onder de palmen (2004, Walker under the palm trees).

With photographer Michel Szulc-Krzyzanowski Van Kempen published two photobooks: Woorden die diep wortelen (1992; also published in English as Deep-rooted words) on writers and storytellers in Suriname, and Woorden op de westenwind (1994; Words on the West Wind) on Surinamese writers outside their homeland.

In the novel Plantage Lankmoedigheid (1997; Plantation Indulgence) this problem is thematized in a Surinamese setting in the years of the “revolution” and repression following the coup of 1980.