Louise Elizabeth Metaal, (known as Wies) was born on 15 March 1929 in Blangkejeren, Sumatra, in the Dutch East Indies, daughter of a Moluccan mother, Clara Hukom and a Dutch Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) soldier, Barend Nicolaas Jacobus Metaal.

[3] Wies Metaal earned an HBS-A degree and worked in the library of Delft University of Technology for a few years.

She later attended the PABO-Beeldende Vorming and then taught at a number of primary schools in Utrecht before taking early retirement.

[11] The women interviewed were Susette Huwae, Coos Ayal, Jossy Keiluhu, Salomina (Mien) Sapuletej-Lawalata, Anna Bathseba de Fretes-Rehatta, Netty Batawangge-Tamonob, Naomi Lawalata-Usmany, Augustien Souisa, Cisca Pattipilohy, Nona Matulessy, Annet Rahantoknam, Farida Pattisahusiwa, Colette Voorwinde, Fientje de Kock-Hully, Monica Akihary, Johanna Tomasowa-Tapilaha.

[14] In 2010, van Groningen led the publication of Pasar Cerita a new collection of stories with memories not only of Moluccans, but also of people from Indonesia and the Dutch East Indies.

[16] In it she told the life story of her grandmother Louisa Hukom, who earned her living as a seamstress on the Maluku Islands after being abandoned by her husband.

Louisa Hukom's life had previously been described in the story ‘De goede slang’ (The good snake), by Dutch-Indonesian writer Maria Dermoût (1888–1962), whose family she had worked for.

[3] Wies van Groningen spoke several times on Radio Oras, the Moluccan voice in Amsterdam and surroundings in 2021.

[20] The judges wrote: "Met een minimum aan woorden weet de schrijfster sfeervol, poëtisch en suggestief zonder zweverigheid haar verhaal te vertellen.

Haar stijl kenmerkt zich door een bijzondere cadans, bijna bezwerend van uitwerking.