Beatrice Sylvia Vianen (6 November 1935 in Paramaribo – 6 January 2019) was a Surinamese writer and poet who goes by the name Bea Vianen.[2] Bea Vianen was the first Surinamese woman who had a book published by a Dutch publishing house (Querido).[3]
Bea Vianen | |
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Born | Beatrice Sylvia Vianen 6 November 1935 Paramaribo, Suriname |
Died | 6 January 2019(2019-01-06) (aged 83) Paramaribo, Suriname |
Nationality | Suriname |
Occupation | Writer, poet |
Notable work | Sarnami, Hai (1969) Strafhok (1971)[1] |
Bea Vianen was of both African and Indian ancestry. At the age of eight, her mother died of tuberculosis, and she was put in a Catholic foster home.[4] Vianen went to the Netherlands in 1957 for her Bachelor of Education.[5] Vianen wrote mainly in Dutch, but occasionally in Sranan Tongo,[6] and her writing contained many autobiographical elements.[7] Her first novel was Sarnami, Hai or "Surinam I am" in 1969,[6] a coming of age story of a young East Indian girl in a country torn apart by religious and ethnic differences, and a colonial past.[7] It's a bleak story set in a world without love, but also about a young woman who persists in life.[8]
Vianen also wrote poetry, which has been collected in Liggend stilstaan bij blijvende monumenten (1975).[7] In 1978, she started to work for Avenue for whom she travelled to places like Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. The journeys resulted in many poems, and many personal dramas.[4]
Vianen was an admirer of the Trinidadian novelist V. S. Naipaul.[6] Vianen died in Paramaribo on 6 January 2019 at the age of 83.[3]
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