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Shadows in Suriname by Margaretta Pos

Some places stay in the shadows. Suriname is such a place. Located on the northeast shoulder of South America, this once rich, now poor, former Dutch plantation colony is little known. Its people are a complex mix, descended since the 17th century from African slaves, Dutch Christians, Portuguese Jews, indentured Asians, and indigenous Amerindians.

 

This collection of stories moves between Tasmania where the author was born and Suriname, where her father’s family has lived for 200 years, telling tales of exploration, discovery, romance and death. They cast some light into the shadows, but in the unravelling, things aren’t always what they seem.

About the book: Margaretta Pos’ first book, Mrs Fenton’s Journey: India and Tasmania 1826 – 1876, published in 2014, began as one project in tandem with Shadows in Suriname as she researched her maternal and paternal ancestors. The diversity of her family background naturally fell into two very distinct stories – both of them rich in cultural complexity and redolent of their historical period.

About the author: Margaretta Pos is a writer who lives in Hobart. She has worked for The Mercury as a reporter, the Australia Council for the Arts in Sydney as a project officer, the University of Tasmania (UTAS) as an Asian History tutor, and Motilal Banarsidass Publishers in Delhi, India, as an English editor. Margaretta has a B.A. from UTAS and an M.A. Area Studies (South Asia) from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Margaretta Pos brings all her skills as an investigative journalist to her portrait of a little known country and its rich and diverse culture. In exploring her own and her father’s history, Pos suggests the subtle underlying connections that bind us together in unexpected ways. These stories are a revelation. Amanda Lohrey

Margaretta Pos,
Shadows in Suriname
Forty South Publishing – New Release
November 2016
RRP $25.00
ISBN 978-0-9954082-0-3
Categories Memoir
History:  Launch was in Fullers Bookshop, Hobart, Australia, 11 November, 5.30pm

 

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