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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