Dear Reader,
We are thrilled to announce that On A Woman's Madness has been long-listed for the International Booker Prize 2025.
ON A WOMAN’S MADNESS: first Surinamese title to be longlisted for the International Booker Prize.
by Astrid Roemer, translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott
On a Woman’s Madness tells the story of Noenka, a courageous Black woman trying to live a life of her own choosing. When her abusive husband of just nine days refuses her request for divorce, Noenka flees her hometown in Suriname, on South America’s tropical northeastern coast, for the capital city of Paramaribo. Unsettled and unsupported, her life in this new place is illuminated by romance and new freedoms, but also forever haunted by her past and society’s expectations.
Astrid Roemer, the first Surinamese winner of the prestigious Dutch Literature Prize, carves out postcolonial Suriname in barbed, resonant fragments. Strikingly translated by Lucy Scott, Roemer’s classic queer novel is a tentpole of European and post-colonial literature. Amid tales of plantation-dwelling snakes, rare orchids, and star-crossed lovers, it is also a blistering meditation on the cruelties we inflict on those who disobey.
Who is Noenka? Roemer asks us. ‘I’m Noenka,’ she responds resolutely, ‘which means ‘Never Again’’.
This is a special title for Tilted Axis Press marking an important milestone for us; it is our 40th title, and this year is our 10 year anniversary! The title is among several milestones: the first author from Suriname to receive the Dutch Literary Prize; the first Surinamese work to be a finalist for the National Book Awards for Translated Literature; and now the first Surinamese title to be included on the longlist for the Booker Prize!
*Note this book does not ship to North America.