About me

Welcome to my website!

My name is Maria Groot and I’m an independent journalist based in Dublin

I am curious

When I was about fifteen years old, I spent a month asking all the elderly people at my bus stop what it’s like to be old.

I quickly lost my interest in ageing but continued to ask questions. Over the years, I followed my curiosity into a wide range of topics, from fake organs to migrant smuggling. That’s how you become an all-round journalist.

I am currently fascinated by man-made meat, aka lab-grown meat. I report on this topic on my LinkedIn page Cultivated Meat

I write and talk

My work has appeared in Slate (US), Courrier International (FR), De Groene Amsterdammer (NL), De Standaard (BE), Roads & Kingdoms (US), MO* (BE), Reader’s Digest (US), Apache (BE) and Internazionale (IT).

I was a guest on Dutch and Belgian national radio programs Reporter Radio, Interne Keuken and composer Rob Zimmerman made a soundtrack for my short story ‘Het Gat’ (‘The Hole’) which was broadcasted on NPO Radio 4

I have restless legs

I was born in The Netherlands in 1983. In my twenties, I moved to Belgium where I lived for a decade before I moved to Sicily in 2017. Since 2019, I live in the land of Guinness.