{{Short description|Surinamese-Dutch writer and teacher (1947–2026)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox writer | name = Astrid Roemer | image = Astrid heli roemer-1482407552.JPG | image_size = | alt = | caption = Roemer in 2016 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Astrid Heligonda Roemer | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1947|04|27}} | birth_place = Paramaribo, Suriname | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2026|01|08|1947|04|27}} | death_place = Paramaribo, Suriname | resting_place = | occupation = Writer | language = Dutch | nationality = Suriname<br>Netherlands | citizenship = | education = | relatives = | notable_works = ''On a Woman's Madness'' (''Over de gekte van een vrouw'') | awards = P. C. Hooft Award (2016)<br>Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (2021) | signature = | signature_alt = | years_active = | module = | website = | portaldisp = <!-- "on", "yes", "true", etc; or omit --> }}
'''Astrid Heligonda Roemer''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈɑstrɪt ɦeːliˈɣɔndaː ˈrumər}}, 27 April 1947 – 8 January 2026) was a Surinamese-Dutch writer and teacher.<ref name="dbnl">{{cite web |url=http://www.dbnl.org/auteurs/auteur.php?id=roem002 |title=Astrid Roemer |work=Digital Library for Dutch Literature |language=nl |access-date=15 December 2015}}</ref> The Dutch-language author published novels, novellas, drama, poetry and radio plays.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9781978747104.ch-008|title=Astrid H. Roemer|last=De Witte|first=Ben|date=2025|journal=Other Fridas|pages=121-134|doi=10.5040/9781978747104.ch-008|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 2016 she won the P. C. Hooft Award, the most important literary prize in the Netherlands and Belgium.<ref>[http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2015/12/astrid-roemer-wins-prestigious-pc-hooft-literary-award/ "Astrid Roemer wins prestigious PC Hooft literary award"], ''Dutch News'', 15 December 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.afrorepublic.com/2015/12/dutch-caribbean-writer-astrid-roemer.html "Dutch Caribbean Writer Astrid Roemer Wins Prestigious Dutch Literary Award"], ''Afro Republic'', 15 December 2015.</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Peter |last=Jordens|url=https://repeatingislands.com/2016/05/27/author-astrid-h-roemer-receives-2016-p-c-hooft-prize/ |title=Author Astrid H. Roemer Receives 2016 P.C. Hooft Prize|website=Repeating Islands|date=27 May 2016}}</ref> Roemer was the first Surinamese author to win this award.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/nwig/96/1-2/article-p29_2.xml|title=A Central Voice in Caribbean Literature: Media and Memory in the Novels of Astrid Roemer|last=van Dijk|first=Yra|date=2021-12-01|journal=New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids|issue=1-2|volume=96|pages=29-54|last2=Kowsoleea|first2=Ghanima|doi=10.1163/22134360-bja10015|issn=1382-2373|doi-access=free}}</ref> She was also the first Surinamese author to win the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren, which she was awarded in 2021.<ref name="prijs" /> Translations of her work were longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2023 and the International Booker Prize in 2025.
== Life == Roemer was born on 27 April 1947 in Paramaribo, the capital of Surinam, to a Creole family.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://prijsderletteren.org/laureaten/astrid-h-roemer/biografie/|title=Biografie Astrid H. Roemer – Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren|work=Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren |date=12 October 2021 |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Citation|title=Policies of Repair in “Black” Female Poetics: Nancy Morejón and Astrid Roemer|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/poetics-of-race-in-latin-america/policies-of-repair-in-black-female-poetics-nancy-morejon-and-astrid-roemer/939B34A3903C1817101B9D558FC16D70|publisher=Anthem Press|work=Poetics of Race in Latin America|date=2022|access-date=2025-11-30|isbn=978-1-83998-477-8|pages=61–74|first=Ineke|last=Phaf-Rheinberger|editor-first=Mabel|editor-last=Moraña}}</ref> She attended the city's Kweekschool (Surinaams Pedagogisch Instituut or SPI), a teaching college. In 1965, she was discovered as a poet at that college.<ref name="vk">{{cite news|url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/boeken/p-c-hooftprijs-toegekend-aan-schrijfster-astrid-roemer~a4208020/|title=P.C. Hooftprijs toegekend aan schrijfster Astrid Roemer|date=15 December 2015|work=De Volkskrant|language=Dutch|access-date=15 December 2015}}</ref> Roemer travelled to the Netherlands the following year, and spent the next few years traveling back and forth between Suriname and the Netherlands (she also lived in The Hague) until the 1970s.<ref name="Fortuin">{{cite news|url=http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2015/12/15/p-c-hooftprijs-2016-naar-astrid-h-roemer|title=P.C. Hooftprijs 2016 naar Astrid H. Roemer -|last=Fortuin|first=Arjen|date=15 December 2015|work=NRC Handelsblad|language=Dutch|access-date=15 December 2015}}</ref> She began publishing in Suriname in the early 1970s,<ref name=":2" /> but then quickly took up permanent residence in the Netherlands in 1975, after being fired from her teaching job for refusing to celebrate the Sinterklaas celebrations, which include a blackface character named Zwarte Piet.<ref name="vk" />
Her only known political affiliation was from 1989 to 1990, when she was a member of the Green Party.<ref name=":2" /> During her affiliation with this party, known as the GroenLinks party in the Netherlands, she spent time in the city council of The Hague, but quickly left after a dispute with the party.<ref name="vk" /> Although she lived primarily in the Netherlands during this period, Roemer spent short amounts of time all across Europe, and she lived for short periods of time in Scotland, Belgium, and Italy.<ref name=":0" /> She returned to Suriname in 2006.<ref name="vk" />
From the 2000s, Roemer published little,<ref name="vk" /> although she remained a large-looming figure within the zeitgeist of post-colonial literature in the Caribbean.<ref name=":1" /> In fact, Roemer disappeared entirely from the public eye and travelled the world for 15 years, with her "cat, laptop, and backpack". Her first public appearance in a long time was planned for the 2015 premiere of ''De wereld heeft gezicht verloren'', a biographical documentary by Cindy Kerseborn.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stdem.org/event/de-wereld-heeft-gezicht-verloren/|title=Filmpremière: Astrid H. Roemer, De wereld heeft gezicht verloren|date=7 December 2015|publisher=Stichting Democratie en Media|language=Dutch|access-date=15 December 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222134939/http://www.stdem.org/event/de-wereld-heeft-gezicht-verloren/|archivedate=22 December 2015|df=dmy}}</ref> Kerseborn looked for Roemer on the Scottish island of Skye but finally found her in a Belgian monastery. Roemer did not show up for the premiere but sent a text message urging people to love one another.<ref name="Fortuin" />
Roemer died on 8 January 2026, at the age of 78.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Schrijfster Astrid Roemer overleden |url=https://www.starnieuws.com/index.php/welcome/index/nieuwsitem/90055 |access-date=2026-01-09 |website=Starnieuws |language=nl}}</ref>
== Career == In 1970 in Suriname, Roemer published her first book of poetry, ''Sasa mijn actuele zijn''. Four years later, she published her first novel, ''Neem mij terug Suriname'' (''Take Me Back Suriname'').<ref name="Fortuin" /> This novel became incredibly popular in its titular country, and put her on the map as a popular Surinamese writer.<ref name=":1" /> It was later rewritten as ''Nergens ergens'' in 1983 ("Nowhere somewhere").<ref name="bel">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKDyxjdELaEC&pg=PA195|title=Women's Writing from the Low Countries 1880–2010: An Anthology|pages=195–97|last1=Bel|first1=Jacqueline|last2=Vaessens|first2=Thomas|year=2010|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-9089641939}}</ref> Her breakthrough novel once she moved to the Netherlands was the fragmentary novel ''Over de gekte van een vrouw'' ("On the madness of a woman"),<ref name="Fortuin" /> a work investigating identity and the oppression of women.<ref name="Parool">{{cite news|url=http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/26/BOEKEN/article/detail/4208062/2015/12/15/P-C-Hooft-prijs-2016-voor-Astrid-Roemer.dhtml|title=P.C. Hooft-prijs 2016 voor Astrid Roemer|date=15 December 2015|work=Het Parool|language=Dutch|access-date=15 December 2015}}</ref> This novel established her as a feminist writer and made her a role model for lesbians.<ref name="Fortuin" /> It also addressed the pains and abuse endured by women in Suriname, with a focus on the physical form, and received much praise.<ref name=":1" />
=== Roemer as a Surinamese writer === Between 1996 and 1998, she published a trilogy that is now among the best-known of her works,<ref name="vk" /> though it is no longer in print: ''Gewaagd leven'' (1996), ''Lijken op liefde'' (1997) and ''Was getekend'' (1998).<ref name="Fortuin" /> The novels were published together as ''Roemers drieling'' ("Roemer's triplets", 2001).<ref name="Parool" /> They are also known by the name of the series, the ''Onmogelijk moederland'' trilogy.<ref name=":1" /> The German translation of ''Lijken op liefde'' was awarded the LiBeratur Prize.<ref name="bel" />
It is widely noted that Roemer's writing acts as political commentary on the state of Suriname after its liberation from the Netherlands in 1975,<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|url=http://proxy.binghamton.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/creole-tori-waterkant-ethics-nation-cynthia/docview/215057310/se-2?accountid=14168|title=Creole tori, the Waterkant, and the Ethics of a Nation: Cynthia McLeod and Astrid Roemer on Suriname|last=Phaf-Rheinberger|first=Ineke|date=2003|journal=Matatu|volume=27|pages=399-416|via=ProQuest}}</ref> and the political strife that followed: A military dictatorship<ref name=":3" /> marked by the grisly December murders that sent a shockwave through Suriname<ref name=":2" /> which led to a civil war that lasted until 1992.<ref name=":3" /> This period marked a significant period in Roemer's life, and the ''Onmogelijk moederland'' reflects that by tying current violent events to the creation of Suriname as a colony. It paints the new nation with a history of violence that stretches back hundreds of years prior to its independence.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
=== Roemer as a Caribbean writer === In addition to the previously mentioned significance of Roemer's works as political commentary, scholars such as Ineke Phaf-Rheinberger make the claim that Roemer is working to create a space of "repair" in post-colonial Suriname through her writing, as a way for the people of Suriname to feel a sense of connection over and remembrance of their violent origins and move forward in the construction of their nation.<ref name=":2" />
It is also often discussed that Roemer's works fit into a larger conversation happening in the literary realm about Black Diaspora and how that shapes the "postcolonial perspective" in and about the Caribbean.<ref name=":0" /> It has been noted that because Roemer writes her novels and poems in Dutch, she is writing in the language of the colonizer, but she deconstructs that language by using the grammatical structures of the native Surinamese language of Sranan. Amongst her other important roles within the literary field of Caribbean writing, she is known for using the colonizer's language to advocate for the previously-colonized.<ref name=":3" />
=== Later career === Roemer's literary output slowed with the turn of the century.<ref name="vk" /> Her autobiography, ''Zolang ik leef ben ik niet dood'' ("As long as I'm living I'm not dead"), appeared in 2004, and a collection of love poems called ''Afnemend'' ("Diminishing") was published in 2012, in only 125 copies.<ref name="vk" /> She also published an autobiography in 2016 centered on her time living nomadically between various locations in Scotland and the Netherlands entitled ''Liefde in tijden van gebrek'', or, in English, Love in times of shortage.<ref name=":2" /> Most recently, Roemer's 2024 novel ''Off-White'', translated from the Dutch by Lucy Scott and David McKay, was described by ''Publishers Weekly'' as "a thought-provoking portrait of a fraught familial and colonial history".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781949641257|title=Off-White|website=Publishers Weekly|date=25 January 2024|access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref>
== Awards == Roemer won the P. C. Hooft Award for 2016<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pchooftprijs.nl/xhtml/pchprijs.php?laureaat_id=122&jaar=2016|title=P.C. Hooft-prijs 2016|language=Dutch|publisher=P. C. Hooft Award|access-date=15 December 2015|archive-date=22 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222093726/http://www.pchooftprijs.nl/xhtml/pchprijs.php?laureaat_id=122&jaar=2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> over the favored candidate, Arnon Grunberg,<ref name="vk" /> becoming the first Caribbean author to win the Dutch award.<ref name="Fortuin" /> According to the jury, Roemer's novels are a literary imagining of the history of Suriname, a history that is not very well known in the Netherlands outside of the topics of slavery and the December murders but is "inextricably intertwined with the history of our country...and thus, by way of Roemer's unique oeuvre, with our literature". The jury added, "political engagement and literary experiment go hand in hand with Roemer".<ref name="Parool" /> In 2021, Roemer received the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren, becoming the first Surinamese winner.<ref name="prijs">{{Cite web|title=Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren voor Surinaamse auteur Astrid Roemer|url=https://nos.nl/l/2373436|access-date=2021-04-18|website=nos.nl|date=20 March 2021 |language=nl}}</ref> The jury's nomination states: "With her novels, plays and poems Astrid H. Roemer occupies a unique position in the Dutch literary landscape. Her work is unconventional, poetic and lived through. Roemer succeeds in connecting themes from recent national history, such as corruption, tension, guilt, colonization and decolonization, with small history, the story on a human scale."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren - Astrid Roemer|url=https://prijsderletteren.org/2021_persbericht_uitreiking/|access-date=2021-04-18|website=prijsderletteren.org}}</ref>
In September 2023, the English translation of ''On a Woman's Madness'', by Lucy Scott (published by Two Lines Press), was longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-2023-national-book-awards-longlist-translated-literature |title=The 2023 National Book Awards Longlist: Translated Literature |access-date=September 14, 2023 |date=September 13, 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/books/booksupdate/astrid-roemer-off-white.html|title=You Know Marlon James and Edwidge Danticat. Now Meet Astrid Roemer|first=Anderson|last=Tepper|newspaper=The New York Times|date=7 April 2024|access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref> In 2025, it was longlisted for the International Booker Prize.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Marshall |first1=Alex |title=Short Novels Dominate International Booker Prize Nominees |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/books/international-booker-prize-longlist.html |access-date=25 February 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=25 February 2025}}</ref> The gap between the original-language publication of this work in 1982 and its International Booker longlisting in 2025 is 43 years, the longest in the award's history.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Creamer |first1=Ella |title=All 13 writers on International Booker longlist are first-time nominees |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/25/all-13-writers-on-international-booker-longlist-are-first-time-nominees |access-date=2 April 2025 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=25 February 2025}}</ref>
== Publications == === English translations === * ''A Name for Love. Novel''. Translated by Rita Gircour. Amsterdam: In de Knipscheer (courtesy ed.), 1994. {{ISBN|90-6773-018-1}}.<ref>Extract in Margaret Busby (ed.), ''Daughters of Africa'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1992, pp. 725–32.</ref> * ''The Order of the Day. A novella''. Translated by Rita Gircour, with an introduction by Michiel van Kempen. Amsterdam: In de Knipscheer (courtesy ed.), 1994. {{ISBN|90-6773-017-3}}. * ''On a Woman's Madness''. Translated by Lucy Scott. San Francisco, CA: Two Lines Press, 2023. {{ISBN|978-1-949641-43-1}}. * ''Off-White''. Translated by Scott and David McKay. San Francisco, CA: Two Lines Press, 2024. {{ISBN|978-1949641257}}.
=== In Dutch === The works of Roemer based on her Digital Library for Dutch Literature profile:<ref name="dbnl"/>
* 1970: ''Sasa mijn actuele zijn'' (Sasa my present being) * 1974: ''Neem mij terug, Suriname'' (Take me back, Suriname) * 1975: ''De wereld heeft gezicht verloren'' (The world has lost face) * 1982: ''Over de gekte van een vrouw'' (On the madness of a woman) * 1983: ''Nergens ergens'' (Nowhere somewhere) * 1985: ''En wat dan nog?!'' (And so what?!) * 1985: ''Noordzee Blues'' (North Sea Blues) * 1987: ''Levenslang gedicht'' (Lifelong poem) * 1987: ''Waarom zou je huilen mijn lieve, lieve...'' (Why would you cry my dear, dear...) * 1987: ''Wat heet anders'' (What is so different) * 1988: ''De achtentwintigste dag'' (The twenty-eighth day) * 1988: ''De orde van de dag'' (The order of the day) * 1988: ''Het spoor van de jakhals'' (The trace of the jackall) * 1989: ''Alles wat gelukkig maakt'' (All that makes happy) * 1989: ''Oost West Holland Best'' (East West Holland Best) * 1990: ''Een naam voor de liefde'' (A name for love) * 1991: ''Dichter bij mij schreeuw ik'' (Closer to me I'll scream) * 1993: ''Niets wat pijn doet'' (Nothing that hurts) * 1996: ''Gewaagd leven'' (Daring life) * 1997: ''Lijken op liefde'' (Looks like love) * 1997: ''Suriname'' (Suriname) * 1998: ''Was getekend'' (Signed) * 2001:'' 'Miauw' ''('Meow') * 2004: ''Zolang ik leef ben ik niet dood'' (As long as I live I'm not dead) * 2019: ''Gebroken wit'' (Off-White) * 2023: ''DealersDochter''
==See also== * Surinamese literature
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{OL author|OL57450A}} * Karen Gu, [https://www.catranslation.org/feature/interview-off-white-astrid-roemer/ "A conversation with ''Off-White'' author Astrid H. Roemer"], Center for the Art of Translation, 13 October 2023. * [https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/astrid-roemer-and-lucy-scott-interview-on-a-womans-madness "An interview with Astrid Roemer and Lucy Scott, author and translator of On a Woman's Madness"], The Booker Prizes, 14 March 2025.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roemer, Astrid}} Category:1947 births Category:2026 deaths Category:20th-century women writers Category:Autobiographers Category:Dutch women novelists Category:Dutch-language poets Category:Dutch-language writers Category:International Writing Program alumni Category:Municipal councillors of The Hague Category:P. C. Hooft Award winners Category:People from Paramaribo Category:Surinamese dramatists and playwrights Category:Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Category:Surinamese novelists Category:Surinamese poets Category:Surinamese women dramatists and playwrights Category:Surinamese women novelists Category:Surinamese women poets Category:Surinamese women writers Category:Women autobiographers