Rihana Jamaludin
(Suriname, 1959) had a career in The Netherlands as a visual artist and teacher of intercultural communication when she decided to become a writer in 2000. After the publication of a number of prize-winning short stories she wrote her first novel in 2009, De Zwarte Lord (The Black Lord). In this historical novel Jamaludin describes the turbulent year 1848. The Dutch woman Regina ends up in Suriname as the nanny of the coloured Walther, and embraces love and life. In a compelling literary style, Jamaludin provides a good impression of relations and slavery in 19th century Suriname. Her novel Kuis (Chaste, 2011) is set in Amsterdam, where people from various cultures struggle with the freedom which the city offers and their self-imposed ideal of chastity. She then wrote two young adult novels: Luchtdanser (Air dancer, 2016) also set in Amsterdam and Geheimen van het tuinhuis (Secrets of the garden house, 2021) an adventure-historical novel about the period in Suriname, around 1870 after the abolition of slavery, of contract labour. For Dat wij zongen (That We Sang, 2022), an anthology about and featuring excerpts from the work of Caribbean authors, she wrote a contribution on writer and poet Bea Vianen.
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Great Expectations for Suriname?
Tessa Leuwsha and Rihana Jamaludin in some sense share a mirrored life: the one grew up in the Netherlands and went to Suriname, the other grew up in Suriname and left for the Netherlands. Both countries not only play an important role in their lives, but in their work too. Which expectations did they have and do they still have about the Netherlands and Suriname? Or what do they expect from the current Dutch and Surinamese (multicultural) society? And how and to what extent do these expectations play a role in their work? Noray Beyer talks to the writers about Suriname, the Netherlands and literature. Dutch spoken.