Foundation Reading And Writing

TESSA LEUWSHA (Amsterdam, 1967) lives in Suriname, South-America, since 1996. She followed a two-year management course in tourism and studied English in Amsterdam. She wrote the guidebook Wereldwijzer Suriname (Elmar), which from 1997 up to now has been published in several revisions. In 2002 she was awarded the incentive Kwakoe Literature Award for her story For William. Her debut novel, de Parbo-blues (Augustus, Amsterdam-Antwerp), was well received by the media. De Parbo-blues was nominated for the Dutch Women & Culture Award in 2006 and the Debutant Award 2006 Tessa Leuwsha’s second novel Solo, een liefde (Augustus, 2009) on ambition and desire in colonial Suriname was well reviewed by distinguished media in the Netherlands, such as NRC Handelsblad, the VPRO-gids and HP/De Tijd. Solo, een liefde was nominated for the Black Magic Woman Literature Award 2009. Tessa Leuwsha has written columns, articles and book reviews for various media in Suriname. She took part in several international literary festivals, including the Winternachten festival in The Hague and the festivals Werelden in Ontmoeting en Boekids in Paramaribo. The Foundation Reading and Writing, for which Tessa Leuwsha is chairman, seeks cooperation with other organizations in promoting literature among young people in Suriname. For more information, see Wikipedia (Dutch version).