Hella S. Haasse (1918 – 2011) was born in Batavia, modern-day Jakarta. She moved to the Netherlands after secondary school. In 1945 she debuted with a collection of poems, entitled ‘Stroomversnelling’ (Momentum). She made her name three years later with the novella given out to mark the Dutch Book Week, ‘Oeroeg’. As with much of her work, this tale of the friendship between a Dutch and an Indonesian boy has gained the status of a classic in the Netherlands.
