Joanna Werners

Joanna Werners (born 1953) is a Dutch writer of Surinamese origin.[1] She is considered a pioneer of Surinamese lesbian literature.[2][3]

Joanna Werners in 1987.

Biography

Werners was born in 1953 in Paramaribo, Suriname. She attended the city's Algemene Middelbare School. At age 18, she moved to the Netherlands, where she worked as a physical education and economics teacher.[2]

Her debut book was the autobiographical novel Droomhuid, released in 1987. The book tells the story of a woman who is torn between her love for a black man and a white woman. The novel is considered the first work of lesbian-feminist literature in the history of Suriname.[2][4]

Droomhuid was followed by the novels Vriendinnenvrouwen (1994), Amba, vrouw van het Surinaamse erf (1996), Zuigend moeras (1990), and Schaamteloze warmte (2002), all of which deal with black women, their social and psychological emancipation, and lesbianism.[1] Her work has also dealt with such issues as unwanted pregnancy and old age.[5] In 2007, Werners released her poetry collection Sluimerende schaduwen as part of the poetry series De Windroos.[6]

Selected works
  • Droomhuid (1987)
  • Zuigend moeras (1990)
  • Vriendinnenvrouwen (1994)
  • Amba, vrouw van het Surinaamse erf (1996)
  • Amba, je was toch allemaal vrouw (1996)
  • Schaamteloze warmte (2002)
  • Sluimerende Schaduwen (2007)

References
  1. "Joanna Werners". Suriname View (in Dutch). 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  2. Kempen, Michaël Henricus Gertrudis van (1989). Surinaamse schrijvers en dichters (in Dutch). De Arbeiderspers. ISBN 90-295-2511-8. OCLC 493230342.
  3. Tinsley, Omise’eke Natasha (2014), McCallum, E. L.; Tuhkanen, Mikko (eds.), ""This Sudden Silence": A Brief History of the Literature of Caribbean Women Who Love Women", The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 363–377, doi:10.1017/cho9781139547376.025, ISBN 978-1-107-03521-8, retrieved 2020-09-18
  4. Rutgers, Wim (2007). De brug van Paramaribo naar Willemstad : Nederlands-Caribische en Caribisch-Nederlandse literatuur 1945-2005. ISBN 978-99904-2-202-3. OCLC 742418910.
  5. "Joanna Werners". Writers Unlimited. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  6. "Joanna Werners - Sluimerende schaduwen. 2007". Nederlandse Poëzie Encyclopedie (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-09-18.
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