Portal:Suriname/Selected biography/3

Cynthia McLeod (b. 4 October 1936 in Paramaribo) is a Surinamese novelist.

McLeod was born in Paramaribo as Cynthia Ferrier; she is the daughter of Johan Ferrier, the first President of Suriname.

She completed her secondary school education in Suriname and continued her education in the Netherlands, where she studied to become a teacher in Child Care and Education. She married Drs. Donald McLeod whom she met in the Netherlands. In 1962 they went to Suriname, where McLeod studied for a teaching degree in Dutch Language and Dutch Literature. From 1969 to 1978 she taught Dutch Language and Literature in pre-university education in Paramaribo. Her husband, Donald McLeod, was appointed in 1978 as Suriname’s Ambassador to Venezuela. Then he became Suriname’s Ambassador to Belgium and the United States of America. Abroad McLeod started writing and especially during her stay in Belgium she had the opportunity to do research in the archives of The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Emmerich, and Köln.