Astrid H. Roemer

Astrid H. Roemer is a Surinamese poet, novelist, and playwright. 

In 1970 Roemer published her first book of poetry Sasa: mijn actuele zijn, under the pseudonym Zamani. At the time she was active in the Black Panther movement, and she chose this Swahili pseudonym to place emphasis on her African heritage. Her first novel, Neem mij terug Suriname (1974), about the displacement of a Surinamese person in the Netherlands, was of unprecedented success in Suriname. Diving into feminist issues, she also achieved widespread recognition in the Netherlands with her second novel Over de gekte van een vrouw (1982). The themes displacement, colonization, and decolonization are present throughout her work, including the novels Gewaagd leven (1996), Lijken op liefde (1997), and Was getekend (1999), which were combined into Roemers drieling; romantrilogie in 2001. In total, Astrid H. Roemer has published seven poetry collections, nine novels, an autobiography, an anthology as well as several novellas, plays, and collections of poems and short stories. 

Roemer’s work is described as unconventional, poetic and lived through. She combines political messages with literary experiment and is exceptionally skillful at infusing personal and human stories with the complexities of a colonial past while commenting sharply on current public debates. To her, works such as Roemers drieling; romantrilogie (2001) are an effort to (re)define and relive her identity as a Surinamese-Dutch woman. 

Astrid H. Roemer has been awarded two of the most prestigious Dutch language literary prizes; the P.C Hooft Prize (2016) and the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (2021). In both cases, she is the first Surinamese author to receive these prizes. In 2025, the English translation by Lucy Scott of Over de gekte van een vrouw, On a Woman’s Madness (2023), was nominated for the International Booker Prize.