Katrien Vanderschoot (born 1967) is a Belgian journalist working for VRT NWS.
When you mention Katrien Vanderschoot, you're also mentioning Africa. More specifically, she has reported on historical events and deeply moving human stories in the Great Lakes region for the VRT news service since 1994. Katrien has been captivated by the testimonies of Africans themselves ever since. She has interviewed everyone from presidents and farmers to herders, women who have been raped and outraged young people, as well as aid workers and local nurses. Humanism is her main driving force: she gives a voice to those who are voiceless, whose stories are all too often not heard in Flemish living rooms.
She wrote 'Graven in Rwanda' (WPG Uitgevers, 1998) about the Rwandan genocide in 1994. In May 2022, she published 'De kinderen van Oost-Congo. Bevrijden met wapens of woorden' (Pelckmans), a work of literary non-fiction and a personal retrospective on 25 years of revolution in the Congo. Through the stories of former child soldier Isaac and human rights activist Rebecca, Katrien Vanderschoot provides a concrete and haunting insight into the recent history of the Congo.
She holds a degree in German Studies from KU Leuven (1989) and a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Hull (1990). She is a journalist at VRT NWS, working across radio, television and online media. Katrien won the Belfius Press Prize for radio journalism in both 2014 (Serialised Stories) and 2017 (End of Kabila’s Term).
