Cola Debrot (4 May 1902, Kralendijk

Kralendijk

Kralendijk is the capital city and main port of the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. The language spoken in the town is Papiamentu, but Dutch and English are widely used. In Dutch, Kralendijk means "coral reef" or "coral dike". The Papiamentu name for the town is Playa or "beach"...

 - 3 December 1981, Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

) was a writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, medical doctor and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. He was the son of a plantation owner. In 1904 he moved from Bonaire to Curaçao, and then when he was 14 he moved to the Netherlands to gain an education. He went to secondary school and universities in the Netherlands, he studied law and then medicine, where he also started his literary career. His debut Mijn zuster de negerin (1935) is best-known. In the late 1940s, he returned to the Antilles and lived on Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

, where he laid the foundations of Dutch-Antillian literature. Cola Debrot has also been active as a politician. From 1962 to 1970, he was the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles

Governor of the Netherlands Antilles

The Governor of the Netherlands Antilles was the representative of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Netherlands Antilles and the head of the National Government of the Netherlands Antilles....

, the first to be born on one of the islands. In 1970 he moved back to Netherlands to dedicate his time to writing.