{{Short description|Dutch soprano, author and poet}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
'''Judith Mok''' (1954 in Bergen, North Holland – 26 November 2024 in Dublin, Ireland) was a Dutch soprano, author and poet.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.rte.ie/culture/2024/1202/1484313-judith-mok-remembered-a-true-believer-in-the-power-of-art/ | title = Judith Mok remembered: 'A true believer in the power of art' | last = Ní Churreáin | first = Annemarie | date = 2 December 2024 | website = RTÉ | access-date = 5 October 2025 }}</ref> She moved to Ireland in her 40s and released novels and other works in English.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/obituary-judith-mok-celebrated-soprano-writer-and-vocal-coach-who-worked-with-the-likes-of-grace-jones-and-glen-hansard/a1136681216.html | title = Obituary: Judith Mok, celebrated soprano, writer and vocal coach who worked with the likes of Grace Jones and Glen Hansard | last = Siggins | first = Lorna | date = 22 December 2024 | website = Irish Independent | access-date = 5 October 2025 }}</ref> Her last book is loosely based on family facts, but with a great deal of fiction.
== Early life and education == Judith Mok was born in 1954<ref>{{Cite web |title=The state of dark / Judith Mok. |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/bib287869 |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> in Bergen, North Holland, the daughter of Moses (later Maurits) Mok and Riemke Timmermans, who was not Jewish.<ref name=":1" /> who met after World War II.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=McGuiggan |first=James Camien |date=2023-01-04 |title=So That They are Not Lost |url=https://journalofmusic.com/opinion/so-they-are-not-lost |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=The Journal of Music |language=en |archive-date=18 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240918035803/https://journalofmusic.com/opinion/so-they-are-not-lost |url-status=live }}</ref> Her father was a writer, poet, and translator, and her mother was a housewife and a translator. Mok has an older half-sister who is Dutch and was a pre-adolescent when her grandparents were arrested during World War II.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Ríordáin |first=Clíona Ní |date=2023-05-25 |title=Interview with Judith Mok |url=http://journals.openedition.org/etudesirlandaises/14941 |journal=Études Irlandaises |volume=48-1 |issue=48–1 |pages=103–109 |doi=10.4000/etudesirlandaises.14941 |issn=0183-973X}}</ref>
As a young child, Mok moved back and forth between Bergen and Southern France.<ref name=":1" /> At age 14, she entered the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she was accepted into both the dance and music programs. She eventually studied under Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, a German-born opera soprano who had supported the Nazis and sang at Auschwitz concentration camp . At age 19, Mok published her first short story collection,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Jenny |date=2023-09-25 |title=Dutch soprano and vocal coach to the stars Judith Mok recounts her family's Holocaust losses |url=https://www.irishnews.com/arts/music/2023/09/25/news/dutch_soprano_and_vocal_coach_to_the_stars_judith_mok_recounts_her_families_holocost_loses-3631548/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=The Irish News |language=en}}</ref> then graduated the following year.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Smither |first=Tanis |date=11 May 2021 |title=Interview: Renowned vocal coach Judith Mok discusses Ireland's ever-growing pool of talent |url=https://www.hotpress.com/opinion/interview-renowned-vocal-coach-judith-mok-discusses-irelands-ever-growing-pool-of-talent-22851758 |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=Hot Press |archive-date=18 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240918035803/https://www.hotpress.com/opinion/interview-renowned-vocal-coach-judith-mok-discusses-irelands-ever-growing-pool-of-talent-22851758 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Career == Mok's career included singing soprano with the opera, as well as writing.<ref name=":2" />
She published her first poetry collection at age 19<ref name=":0" /> and published two additional collections.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ireland in, and Europe: cross-currents and exchanges |date=2012 |publisher=Wiss. Verl. Trier |isbn=978-3-86821-421-5 |editor-last=Huber |editor-first=Werner |series=Irish studies in Europe |location=Trier |editor-last2=Mayer |editor-first2=Sandra |editor-last3=Novak |editor-first3=Julia}}</ref> She also published three novels, as well as a memoir, ''The State of Dark'', in which she discussed her family's history related to the Holocaust, including the fact that 163 of her family members were killed.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bolger |first=Dermot |date=2022-10-15 |title=The State of Dark: Powerful memoir gives voice to a family the Nazis tried to silence |url=https://www.businesspost.ie/life-arts/the-state-of-dark-powerful-memoir-gives-voice-to-a-family-the-nazis-tried-to-silence/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=Business Post |language=en-IE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dhuibhne |first=Éilís Ní |date=2022-11-12 |title=The State of Dark by Judith Mok: a memoir beyond the ordinary |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2022/11/12/the-state-of-dark-by-judith-mok-a-memoir-beyond-the-ordinary/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2024-10-01 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |archive-date=3 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203052839/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2022/11/12/the-state-of-dark-by-judith-mok-a-memoir-beyond-the-ordinary/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of her books were written in English and others in Dutch.
Mok began singing professionally when she was 21 years old.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Angulo |first=Sergio |date=2012-09-20 |title=Judith Mok: Spanish is Great for Poetry |url=https://blogs.cervantes.es/dublin/interview-with-judith-mok/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=The Instituto Cervantes |language=}}</ref> She also provided voice coaching to singers.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />
== Personal life == Mok was married to a Frenchman for six months, ending shortly after Mok met poet and critic Michael O'Loughlin in Barcelona. Mok became pregnant with O'Loughlin's daughter, Saar; the couple married in 1988,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Andrea |date=2011-09-18 |title=The never-ending love story |url=https://www.independent.ie/life/the-never-ending-love-story/26772801.html |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=Irish Independent |language=en |archive-date=18 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240918035803/https://www.independent.ie/life/the-never-ending-love-story/26772801.html |url-status=live }}</ref> then moved to Ireland in 2002.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />
She spoke six languages.
== Publications ==
=== Anthology contributions ===
* {{Cite book |title=Scéalta: Short Stories by Irish Women |date=2012 |publisher=Telegram Books |isbn=978-1-846-59159-4 |editor-last=O'Connor |editor-first=Rebecca |chapter=Pirates}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vaupel |first=Angela |title=Ireland in, and Europe: cross-currents and exchanges |date=2012 |publisher=Wiss. Verl. Trier |isbn=978-3-86821-421-5 |editor-last=Huber |editor-first=Werner |series=Irish studies in Europe |location=Trier |pages=161–172 |chapter=Exile, Migration, and 'The Other' in Contemporary Irish Writing |editor-last2=Mayer |editor-first2=Sandra |editor-last3=Novak |editor-first3=Julia}}</ref>
=== Poetry ===
* {{Cite book |title=Sterkwater |date=1985 |publisher=de Prom |isbn=978-9-068-01037-4 |location=Holland |language=nl}} * {{Cite book |title=Materiaal |date=1991 |publisher=de Prom |isbn=978-9-068-01284-2 |location=Holland |language=nl}} * {{Cite book |title=Het Feestmaal |date=1997 |publisher=Meulenhoff |isbn=978-9-029-05564-2 |location=Holland |language=nl}} * {{Cite book |title=Gods of Babel |date=2011 |publisher=Salmon Poetry |isbn=978-1-907-05680-2}}
===Fictional Memoir ===
* {{Cite book |title=The State of Dark |date=2022 |publisher=The Lilliput Press |isbn=978-1-843-51850-1 |location=Dublin}}
=== Novels ===
* {{Cite book |title=Argelozen in het Circus |date=1992 |publisher=Toth |isbn=978-9-068-68040-9 |location=Holland |language=nl}} * {{Cite book |first= |title=De Beul |date=2000 |publisher=Meulenhoff |isbn=978-9-029-05836-0 |language=nl}} * {{Cite book |title=Gael |date=2006 |publisher=Saqi Books |isbn=978-1-846-59193-8 |location=London |language=en}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{Cite journal |last=Jadot |first=Marie |date=2023-11-27 |title=Étrangeté et musicalité dans l'œuvre de Judith Mok |url=https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/311614 |journal=VI Convegno Internazionale di Letteratura e Psicanalisi |publisher=University of Liège|hdl=2268/311614 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mok, Judith}} Category:2024 deaths Category:People from Bergen, North Holland Category:21st-century Dutch novelists Category:Dutch women novelists Category:Dutch women poets Category:Dutch operatic sopranos Category:Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni Category:21st-century Dutch women writers Category:1954 births