Lilawatie Hélène Ramjiawan (20 February 1952 – 18 June 2021) was a Surinamese children's book author. She became known in the 1990s with her short stories for young readers about the girl "Poek".

Biography

Lilawatie Hélène Ramjiawan was born in Paranam, Suriname on 20 February 1952. Her father Sewcharan Narain worked as a machine operator in the nearby

bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

mines. Her mother Boedhanie (Marie) Ramjiawan was a

dressmaker A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Notable dr ...

. Ramjiawan first worked as a primary-school teacher for one year at the Sacred Heart School in Paranam. She then taught English for six years at the Swami Dayanand

MULO Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (Dutch, "more advanced primary education") was during part of the twentieth century a level of education in the Netherlands, Suriname and the Dutch East Indies. The system was comparable with the junior high school l ...

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

. She had two children from her first marriage, a son and a daughter. Her daughter was the inspiration for her character "Poek". Starting in 1990, Ramjiawan wrote a series of books which were illustrated by Steve Ammersingh. These books, centering around the young girl "Poek", were meant for young children who were learning to read. She also wrote two books of

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

s, and one book for older children (''Avonturen in Nickerie'').

Ismene Krishnadath Ismene Shakuntal Debi Krishnadath (born 25 January 1956) is a Surinamese writer. Biography Krishnadath was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, and, as a child, lived both there and in Utrecht, Netherlands. She studied education at Utrecht University. ...

included two short stories by Ramjiawan in her 1993 anthology of female Surinamese authors. Ramjiawan's short story "The Eye Doctor" was translated into English by

Peter Constantine Peter Constantine (born 1963) is a British-born American literary translator who has translated literary works from German, Russian, French, Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, Italian, Albanian, Dutch, and Slovene. Biography Constantine was born in L ...

and published in a 1996 issue of ''

The Caribbean Writer The University of the Virgin Islands (or UVI) is a Public college, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in the United States Virgin Islands. History UVI was founded as the College of the V ...

''. Ramjiawan and her children moved to the Netherlands in 1994, ending her work as a writer. For five years, she worked as a

cleaner A cleaner, cleanser or cleaning operative is a type of industrial or domestic worker who is tasked with cleaning a space. A janitor (Scotland, United States and Canada), also known as a custodian, Facility Operator, porter or caretaker, is a pe ...

and at a day-care centre until she was able to find a position as a teacher in an

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

school. She continued working there until her retirement in 2013. She married again in 2003, and was widowed in 2019. Ramjiawan died in

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...

in the Netherlands on 18 June 2021, aged 69, from cancer.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramjiawan, Helene Surinamese women children's writers Surinamese children's writers 1952 births 2021 deaths People from Para District Indo-Surinamese people Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands