Ys (pronounced EEEs like peace) Goldt writes literary and speculative fiction about the interior cost of being truly seen. Her work is concerned with devotion, psychological transformation, and the particular damage done by people who cannot allow themselves to be known.
Her fiction is precise and unhurried, tracing inner lives shaped by sustained attention — the kind that changes people whether they welcome it or not. She builds worlds with philosophical depth, drawn to the question of what survival costs, and what it means to remain human, or to choose otherwise.
The Work
Across historical and speculative settings, Goldt's fiction inhabits liminal spaces where intimacy becomes unsettling and attention becomes a form of power. Her stories return to the same question: how closely one person can truly know another, and what happens once they do.
Editorial Work
Ys is also the founding editor of nachtljocht, a literary journal for fiction.