Surinamese Love-Poetry from the Lowlands

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Information

Date and time Saturday 19 January 2002 21:35 tot 22:20 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - kleine zaal

Our climate doesn't stop Surinam and Antillean poets from writing poems about love. With poets John Leefmans, Raj Ramdas and Soegiman Kromopawiro. Dutch spoken.

Raj Ramdas

(British Guyana, 1953) left for Surinam at an early age. In 1974 he moved to The Netherlands to study English and Comparative Literature at the Free University in Amsterdam. He works as a teacher, teaching Dutch as a second language. He writes his poems in Sarnami (Surinam-Hindustan language), but he writes his prose in Dutch. He has been published in various magazines and anthologies. In the spring of 2003 his bilingual poetry collection Kahán hai u (Where is she) appeared, published by Maya in Rotterdam.
WIN2004

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John Leefmans

(Nieuw-Nickerie, 1933) is a Dutch diplomat, literary critic and poet of Surinamese descent. Leefmans went to the Netherlands in 1948 and studied law in Leiden. He worked as a diplomat in Dutch service, posted in Madrid, Brussels, Abidjan, Santiago de Chile, Oslo, Quito and Port of Spain. Leefmans was cofounder and editor of the Surinamese magazine Mamjo (1962), published in Leiden, in which he wrote penetratingly on Surinamese literature. Under the penname Achilles he wrote for the Surinamese daily De Tijd and for the Ware Tijd he wrote literary essays under the penname Telemachus. He published two volumes of poetry under the pseudonym Jo Löffel: Intro (1981) and Terugblikken zonder blozen (1984) (Looking Back without Blushing). Using his own name he published Retro in 2001. Leefmans poetry is non-nationbound and playfully student-like, ironical and humoristic. Sporadically Leefmans published prose, e.g. the story Etsen (Etchings) in the anthology Mama Sranang (1999). Leefmans devotes himself for among other things the Surinamese Musical Collective which intends to publish classical music by Surinamese composers, and the Surinamese Forum, which aims at discussing Surinamese/Dutch relations.
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Michiel van Kempen

(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.
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Soegiman Kromopawiro

(Surinam, 1956) is a poet and prose writer. He also publishes under the name Mas Janor. He writes in Surinam-Javan, sometimes accompanied by a Dutch translation. Two poetry collections have been published (one of them Kreteg (A Bridge, 1990) and a collection of stories Wesisan (At once, 1995) published he published privately. He also writes for several magazines. Soegiman Kromopawiro lives in Hoogezand.
WN 2001
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