Writer Astrid H. Roemer receives the Prize of Dutch Literature 2021 in October. She is the first author from Suriname to be awarded the prestigious literature prize.
“Her work is unconventional, poetic and lived”, says the jury report. “Roemer succeeds in connecting themes from recent major history, such as corruption, tension, debt, colonization and decolonization, with the small history, the story on a human scale.”
Astrid Heligonda Roemer was born on April 27, 1947 in Paramaribo. The highlight in her oeuvre is the trilogy Daring life (1996), Look like love (1997) and Was signed (1998).
Themes such as migration, sexual orientation, racism and emancipation play a major role in her work. In 2016 she received the PC Hooft Prize for her entire oeuvre.