Great Expectations for Suriname?

Tessa Leuwsha and Rihana Jamaludin in some sense share a mirrored life: the one grew up in the Netherlands and went to Suriname, the other grew up in Suriname and left for the Netherlands. Noraly Beyer talks to the writers about Suriname, the Netherlands and literature. In Dutch.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 22 January 2011 20:00 tot 21:00 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - kleine zaal

Tessa Leuwsha and Rihana Jamaludin in some sense share a mirrored life: the one grew up in the Netherlands and went to Suriname, the other grew up in Suriname and left for the Netherlands. Both countries not only play an important role in their lives, but in their work too. Which expectations did they have and do they still have about the Netherlands and Suriname? Or what do they expect from the current Dutch and Surinamese (multicultural) society? And how and to what extent do these expectations play a role in their work? Noray Beyer talks to the writers about Suriname, the Netherlands and literature. Dutch spoken.

Noraly Beyer

(Curacao, 1946), born to Surinamese parents, was an editor/newsreader on Dutch TV (1985-2009) and the Dutch World Service (1983-2008). She had roles in theatre productions such as Ajax, Hemel boven Berlijn (Sky Above Berlin), MedeaThe Vagina Monologues and De Afscheidsmonologen (The Farewell Monologues) as well as writing plays herself. In addition, she regularly hosts debates and writes columns. In 2009 she received the Cosmic Award for her advocacy for more diversity in Dutch media. A memoir of her youth in Curaçao, De Antillen en ik (The Antilles and Me), was chronicled by John Leerdam. In 2018 she played the role of storyteller in The Passion.
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Tessa Leuwsha

(Netherlands, 1967) is a fiction and non-fiction author, documentarian and critic. In 1995 she emigrated to Surinam as a freelance journalist and in 1997 published Reishandboek Suriname, a cultural travel guide. Her first published short story Voor William (For William) won the incentive prize of the Kwakoe literary awards. In 2005 her novel debut de Parbo-blues appeared, followed in 2009 by the novel Solo, een liefde (Solo, a love) about the ambition of two lovers in colonial Surinam who desire a better life. Her non-fictional Fansi's stilte, een grootmoeder en de slavernij (Fansi's Silence, a Grandmother and Slavery, 2015) tells the life of her grandmother. In Plantage Wildlust (2020), she describes life on a Surinamese plantation in the early 20th century, during the period of contract labour, through various characters. De wilde vaart (Tramp Trade, 2022) recounts, in text and image, a boat journey in which Leuwsha and her husband travel Surinamese waters in search of their own core and the resilience of a people. Leuwsha is cultural attaché of the Dutch Embassy in Paramaribo, and writes columns, articles and reviews for various Surinamese media.
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Rihana Jamaludin

(Suriname, 1959) had a career in The Netherlands as a visual artist and teacher of intercultural communication when she decided to become a writer in 2000. After the publication of a number of prize-winning short stories she wrote her first novel in 2009, De Zwarte Lord (The Black Lord). In this historical novel Jamaludin describes the turbulent year 1848. The Dutch woman Regina ends up in Suriname as the nanny of the coloured Walther, and embraces love and life. In a compelling literary style, Jamaludin provides a good impression of relations and slavery in 19th century Suriname. Her novel Kuis (Chaste, 2011) is set in Amsterdam, where people from various cultures struggle with the freedom which the city offers and their self-imposed ideal of chastity. She then wrote two young adult novels: Luchtdanser (Air dancer, 2016) also set in Amsterdam and Geheimen van het tuinhuis (Secrets of the garden house, 2021) an adventure-historical novel about the period in Suriname, around 1870 after the abolition of slavery, of contract labour. For Dat wij zongen (That We Sang, 2022), an anthology about and featuring excerpts from the work of Caribbean authors, she wrote a contribution on writer and poet Bea Vianen.
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