Ragini Werner
Photo: Leonie Kuizenga

Hi there! I’m Ragini Werner, a lesbian author from the Netherlands

As a lesbian author, I’m devoted to writing sapphic fiction and love crafting relatable, coming-of-age stories centered on positive depictions of queer characters.

I live in a rose-clad cottage in a cozy little village in the far north of the Netherlands with my cheeky little dog Chino, short for Cappuccino (guess my favorite brew). I grew up in Aotearoa / New Zealand which is why I love living here: that grand vista beyond my garden reminds me of the wide open spaces of NZ. Although I was born Dutch, as a late arrival to NL I’ll never be as Dutch as my passport says I am.

Anyway, I’ve been writing since the year dot, stories that I’ve been lucky to have published all over the place, and for years I worked as a journalist in Amsterdam, editing the magazine Elsevier Science World. After that, I set up as a freelance English language editor for Dutch academics, writing only in my spare time, and subsequently published Revealing Philippa. Besides writing for fun, I run a Writers Club and give Short Story Workshops. And go for long walks with little Chino in the lovely Dutch landscape.

If you’re wondering how to say my name, it’s with a hard ‘g’ as in reggae, which funnily enough derives from the same source. Ragini has nothing to do with regina, Latin for queen. It means melody in Sanskrit and is the feminine of raga, the name of the music made famous by Ravi Shankar, sitar guru to George Harrison of the Beatles, and father of Norah Jones.

 

My latest book

Becoming Janice

In my latest sapphic novel, Becoming Janice, I take readers along on a a young lesbian’s journey of self-discovery set against the vibrant backdrops of 1980s London and Amsterdam. This coming-of-age tale follows Janice as she navigates the intricate maze of queer love, friendship, and personal growth.

In writing this novel, I aimed for an easy-to-read style,wanting to draw readers into Janice’s emotional world with both humor and sensitivity.

As an experienced lesbian writer, I’m offering all readers—no matter where your place is on the spectrum—a fresh perspective on the lesbian fiction genre, reframing conventional sapphic romance in relatable journeys to womanhood in a pivotal era for LGBTQIA+ rights and visibility.

My Bashful Blagger blog

Finding a Fiction Editor

So, you’ve finished your masterpiece. You’ve had it reviewed. You’ve revised it, polished some more, and at last you feel ready to release it to . . . no, not the world! What you need next is an editor. Here guest blogger Arlene Prunkl from PenUltimate Editorial...

Always an Ally

Em Buckman is the award-winning author of Bent Is Not Broken (LGBTQIA+ history/memoir). She is currently working on a new novel, Women Of Note (historical fiction). In this guest blog, Em explains why she—a cis-het person—is an outspoken ally of our demonised,...

Five Fresh Ways to Beat Writer’s Block

If you’ve never been hit by writer’s block, either by luck or because you’re stuck in… a river in Egypt, this blog is not for you. For the rest of us, read on! Here some survivors of the block, writers found mainly on Facebook, share their thoughts on how to beat it....

A Taste of Janice

Do you have music on while you work? I usually play instrumental stuff cos I find lyrics distracting. Either way, as editor or author, I’m focused on language and the Wernicke’s area in my brain can’t handle both spoken (sung) and written words at the same time....

Psst… Wanna buy a book?

Hey indie author, do you suck at selling your book? Come on, be honest. You’re a writer so, ipso facto, selling is not your favorite pursuit. If you’re like me, you’d rather get on with writing instead of faffing about on social media, desperately trying to make...

The “guildy” pleasures of writing groups

One of my favorite advertising slogans is The Economist’s “Great minds like a think.” I like it not only because it’s clever wordplay, but also because the familiar phrase it plays with applies to a great bunch of likeminded writers. We call ourselves the Writers...

Making SENSE of gobbledygook

Back when I was editor of eSense, a magazine-style newsletter published by SENSE, the society for English-language professionals based in the Netherlands, one of my colleagues posted a question on the SENSE forum. “I need to crowdsource a copywriting term,” she wrote....

CAPital pleaSURE or PUNishment?

One capital pleasure of my real life is the license my day job—English language editor for Dutch academics—gives me to goof off on Google. Or, to put it in terms the taxman will accept: the time I spend online looking up terminology is justified. For sad nerdlings...

Q&A – Lara Zielinsky on editing the pitfalls of sapphic fiction

Lara Zielinsky has been a journalist, technical writer, educator, and fiction editor for more than 30 years. A member of the LGBTQ+ community, Lara is also an award-winning author of five sapphic novels. When I chanced upon her business site, LZ Edits, I knew her...

Two rogues recommend thumping good reads

Please join me this week in giving a warm welcome to a couple of newcomers to the Rogues’ Gallery of Janice Readers. First up is Ineke Sterringa. Her snapshot shows her relaxing in her garden in the far north of the Netherlands with a somewhat caustic companion,...

Me, in a nutshell 

Ragini Werner
Photo: Leonie Kuizenga
  • My name: Ragini Werner
  • Job title: Lesbian author, Sapphic writer
  • Description: Ragini Werner was born in Indonesia and grew up in New Zealand before moving to the Netherlands. She writes sapphic coming-of-age novels.
  • Place of birth: Jakarta
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Lives in: The far north of the Netherlands
  • Member of: International Welcome Center North (IWCN), located in Groningen, the Netherlands
  • Founder of: The IWCN Writer's Club and Short Story Workshops
  • Author of:
    • "Becoming Janice" (Published: , Publisher: Iguana Books, Description: A sapphic coming-of-age novel set in Amsterdam and London in the 1980s.)
    • "Revealing Philippa" (Published: , Description: A novel exploring lesbian love and friendship against the backdrop of New Zealand community theater.)