← Back to overview
Arts & Culture
Astrid Roemer
1947
First Surinamese winner of the Prize of Dutch Letters (2016)
Novelist and poet whose work weaves race, gender, colonialism and family into a literary universe of her own.
Astrid Roemer was born in Paramaribo in 1947 and debuted in 1974 with the novel Neem mij terug, Suriname. Her trilogy Gewaagd Leven, Lijken op liefde and Was getekend (late 1990s) placed Surinamese women at the centre of Dutch-language literature.
In 2016 she became the first Surinamese writer to receive the prestigious P. C. Hooft prize and in the same year the Prize of Dutch Letters — the highest literary distinction in the Dutch-language area.
Sources
- DBNL — Astrid Roemer dossier
This biography was compiled from public historical sources. Additions, corrections or suggestions? Contact info@surinameglobalgroup.nl.