In today’s episode, Astrid Roemer sits down with Allie Salazar Gonzalez, Development Manager at Freedom Reads, and Dempsey, Resident Creative Writer at Freedom Reads. Following a reading from her novel On a Woman’s Madness, first released in 1982 and translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott, Roemer talks about feminism and the power of her words. On a Woman’s Madness was shortlisted for the 2025 Inside Literary Prize, the first major US literary prize awarded exclusively by incarcerated judges. The novel follows Noenka, a Black, queer, woman in Suriname as she seeks freedom from an abusive marriage. Through relationships with Ramses, her male lover, and an older woman named Gabrielle, Noenka explores her deepest desires and liberates herself from societal expectations of women.
Astrid Roemer is the author of many novels including, On a Woman’s Madness, Off-White, DealersDochter, and more. At 19 years old, Astrid emigrated from Suriname to the Netherlands. Astrid won the P.C. Hooft Award in 2016 and the Dutch Literature Prize in 2021. Originally published in Dutch in 1982, On a Woman’s Madness was translated into English by Lucy Scott and shortlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2023. On a Woman’s Madness was recently longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
