Nel Benschop

[1] Benschop was born in The Hague and grew up in a strictly religious Dutch Reformed family.

She followed the "Mulo" (advanced elementary education) and after that the "kweekschool" (teacher training college), graduating in 1937.

After that, she worked as a teacher of Dutch and French at a Mulo in Arnhem and a "lyceum" (grammar school) in Veenendaal.

She debuted in 1967 by Kok Publishers in Kampen with the volume Gouddraad uit vlas ("Gold thread from flax").

The publisher almost didn't dare to bring it out, but the volume was an enormous success,[2] and was reprinted sixty times.