(pseudonym of Jozef Ramin Hardjoprajitno, Désa Lasmborek, Surinam, 1937, died in 2006) worked as a civil servant for amongst others the Department of Internal Affairs. Surianto’s father was born on Java and was part of the second to last group of Javanese immigrants to arrive in Surinam. His grandparents from his mother’s side had arrived in Surinam earlier. Surianto was predominantly focused on Indonesia and was a correspondent member of the writer’s group Sangar Sastra Triwida on East Java. His poems are not written purely in Surinam-Javanese, but rather in ‘a complex mixture of Surinam-Javanese and the Javanese of Middle and Eastern Java.’ In 1986 the bilingual poetry collection Aruming melathi (The smell of Melati) appeared, the first collection in Surinam of Javanese poems. In 1990 followed by the collection : Tetesing un adi (Noble Dew Drops).

(Yogyakarta, 1936) studied sociology in Yogyakarta and attended the Acadamy of Drama and Film. He was the representative for Indonesia from 1961 to 1965 for the Society of Writers from Asia and Africa in Colombo. From 1969 to 1978 he was a political prisoner in Jakarta and on the island of Buru. His has lived in The Netherlands since 1985 where he works as a translator. His poems and essays were published in several magazines.

(Oirschot, 1957) from 1983 to 1987 he worked in Surinam. Van Kempen is the compiler of two extensive anthologies: Spiegel van de Surinaamse poëzie (Mirror of the Surinamese Poetry) (1995) and Mama Sranan. 200 jaar Surinaamse verhaalkunst (Mama Sranan, 200 Years of Surinamese Storytelling) (1999). In 1997 his first novel, Plantage Lankmoedigheid (Plantation Patience) appeared. He also published: Het Nirwana is een lege trein (Nirvana is an Empty Train) (2000) and Pakistaanse nacht (Pakistani Night) (2002). In 2002 he obtained his doctorate with his thesis Een geschiedenis van de Surinaamse literatuur (A history of Surinamese literature). His anthology Noordoostpassanten (Northeast Transients), which he compiled together with Wim Rutgers, was presented at the Winternachten festival in 2005. In 2006 he published the novel Escape Routes.