Antoine de Kom

His grandfather was Anton de Kom, the famous Surinamese resistance fighter and anti-colonialist.^[1] In 1966 the family moved to Paramaribo, Suriname, where he spend his formative years.^[1] In 1971, de Kom studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam after which he specialised in psychiatry. He started his career as a forensic psychiatrist at the Pieter Baan Centre.^[2]

In 1981, he made his debut under the pseudonym Raymond Sarucco with Palmen in the magazine De Gids.^[1][3] The poems expressed de Kom's connection to the Caribbean and his fascination for their past and present.^[1] His first collection Tropen (1991) was nominated for the C. Buddingh'-prijs.^[4]

As a forensic psychiatrist, de Kom published Het misdadige brein: over het kwaad in onszelf (2012) in which he described fictitious conversations with historic criminals and despots.^[2]

In 2013, Antoine de Kom gave the third Cola Debrot Lecture about slavery.^[5] In 2014, Antoine de Kom was awarded VSB Poetry Prize for Ritmisch zonder string (2013).^[6] When asked whether de Kom considered his writings Surinamese literature, de Kom replied that he could not answer that; he is just as much an outcast as his grandfather.^[7]

• Antoine de Kom at Poetry International
• Antoine de Kom at Digital Library for Dutch Literature (in Dutch - De kilte in Brasilia available for free download)