Poems by Louise Wondel

(Suriname, 1971-2014)      

Poet and dancer. In her Secundary School spare time she developed as a dancer. She experimented with classical styles such as the Saramaka bandammba and the Aukan awasa.     

She wrote her first poems in Aukan, which she was allowed to read on the radio. The Ameva Foundation proclaimed her Cultural Activist of the Year in 1996 and Poet of the Year a year later. Her debut Ten (1998) and the collection Leleku fu Mekunu(1998) appeared after the Internal War (1986-1992), when the Maroons fled en masse to Paramaribo. 

Louise Wondel caused a furore  internationally with her impressive presentation. At the Writers’ Congress 2000 in Paramaribo (1997). A year later, as the youngest participant, she rocked Poetry International in Rotterdam with her performance, but especially with the banndamba. In 2000 she performed at Festival Winternachten in The Hague and at the International Poetry Festival in Medellin (Colombia). 

Poetry

Released in-house:

• Ten (Paramaribo 1998).
• Leleku fu Mekunu (Paramaribo 1998).
• Katibo (Paramaribo nd).
• M’Bigi Seefidensi Poema (Paramaribo 2002).

Literature

• Hennah Renfrum and André Reeder, Tori fu Osa / Stories from home (1999) [MTV documentary].
• Anita Twaalfhoven, ‘Ghanaian and Afro-Surinamese children swing at the festival’, Trouw , 6/15/2001.
• Martijn Meijer, ‘Poetry in the language of fled slaves’, NRC , 10-2-2002.
• Michiel van Kempen, A history of Surinamese literature , part 2 (Breda 2003) 1076-1077.
• Charles Chang, ‘Great loss for Suriname and the poetry world’, De Ware Tijd , 7/26/2014.
• Audry Wajwakana, ‘Culture bearers pay tribute to dyadya ndyuka uma’, De Ware Tijd , 7/24/2014.
• Euritha Tjan A Way, ‘About Louise Wondel’, De Ware Tijd , 7/17/2014.