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Book Fair 2007 Participants  Rhoda
Arrindell heads the Language Division at the University
of St. Martin, where she lectures in English Composition, Caribbean Literature,
and Elements of Literature. Arrindell holds a master’s in education
administration (University of the Virgin Islands) and a propaedeuse diploma
in law (University of the Netherlands Antilles). Arrindell is a doctoral
candidate in linguistics, with a specialization in Creole languages at
the University of Puerto Rico. From 1994-1998, she was the coordinator
for Turning Point, a drug rehabilitation foundation. She was an editor
for The Progressive in the late 1980s and copy editor for The
Chronicle in the late 1990s. The current editor of EnviroNews
magazine is the senior freelance editor for House of Nehesi Publishers
(HNP). In 2003, she was an instructor for the HNP Creative Writing Program.
Arrindell has presented scholarly papers on St. Martin’s literature
and culture at regional conferences. The mother of two is the founder
of the United Volleyball Club Youth Program. Camille
Aubaude was born on October 13, 1959, in Paris, France.
She studied and taught at the University Paris III, Sorbonne, and holds
a docteur es lettres in French literature. Her research created
a “nouveau mythe littéraire,” wrote Claude Pichois,
a Gérard de Nerval scholar. Early in her literary career, Aubaude
began writing poetry. In 1993, she published Lire les Femmes de Lettres,
an important essay on women writers. Her titles include Le voyage
en Egypte de Gérard de Nerval (1997) and Nerval Et Le
Mythe D’Isis (1997). Her book, Ivresses d’Égypte
(2003), established Aubaude among notable contemporary writers as “une
impressionnante aventure intellectuelle et personnelle,” wrote Julia
Kristeva. She has taught in Egypt, Algeria, the USA, and in Jordan at
the Yarmouk University. Aubaude has participated in literary conferences
and poetry festivals in France (Sorbonne, “Maison de la Poésie”),
Israel, Mexico, Dominican Republic, USA, Syria, and Jordan. Awards include
a research grant from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Fabian
Adekunle Badejo is the author of Claude - A Portrait
of Power (1989) and Salted Tongues – Modern Literature
in St.Martin (2003). He wrote profiles for St. Martin Massive! A
Snapshot on Popular Artists (2000) and served as a consultant on the book
GEBE Through The Years – Power To Serve (2006). His paper,
“Negritude in the forgotten territories: Lasana Sekou and Aimé
Césaire,” was presented at the Senghor Colloquium (UWI-Cave
Hill) in 2006. Badejo has produced concerts by kaisonian Mighty Dow and
humorists/storytellers Paul Keens Douglas and Fernando Clark. He has directed
plays, monologues and film documentaries in St. Martin and abroad and
presented scholarly papers on the island’s literature at regional
conferences. In 2003, Badejo conducted the “New Forms of Writing”
course for HNP’s Creative Writing Program. Between 1989 and 2005,
the former Nigerian diplomat was managing director/editor, publisher and
news director respectively of The St. Maarten Guardian, St. Martin
Business Week, and Today newspapers. Badejo is the producer/host
of Culture Time (PJD-2) and editor of avsnewsonline.com. Marion
Bethel is from The Bahamas.
The Cambridge University graduate is an attorney and writer of poetry,
short stories, and essays. She has been published in journals such as
Lignum Vitae, The Massachusetts Review, Callaloo and
Moving Beyond Boundaries; and has edited the Poetry from
the Bahamas feature for The Caribbean Writer (Vol. 13, 1999).
Bethel’s work has been published in From The Shallow Seas
and Junction, anthologies of Bahamian prose and poetry. The James
Michener Fellow has been a guest writer at the Miami International Book
Fair, the Caribbean Women Writers Series, Duke University, the XVI International
Poetry Festival of Medellin, and the International Writers Workshop, Hong
Kong. In 1994, Bethel won the prestigious Casa de las Americas Prize (Poetry)
for Guanahani, My Love. In 1997, the author was awarded
the Alice Proskauer Poetry Fellow at the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute
of Radcliffe College, Harvard University. She is working on a new poetry
collection and a novel. Kamau
Brathwaite, Ph.D. (University of Sussex), was born in
Barbados in 1930. Co-founder of Caribbean Arts Movement (CAM) in the UK,
he has lived and worked in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and the USA.
Brathwaite has served on the board of directors of UNESCO’s History
of Mankind project since 1979, and is cultural advisor to the Barbados
government. The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy (1973), X/Self (1987),
Middle Passages (1992), Words Need Love Too (2000), and Born to Slow Horses
(2005) are among Brathwaite’s books that have maintained his international
standing as a distinguished writer, poet, and dramatist. The former University
of the West Indies lecturer lives in Barbados and New York, and teaches
comparative literature at New York University. Awards and honors include
the Fulbright Fellowship, Bussa Award, and Casa de las Americas Prize
for Literary Criticism. In 2006, Brathwaite won the International Griffin
Poetry Prize (Canada) and the USM President Award (St. Martin Book Fair). Stéphane
G. Brooks was born in St. Martin and studied in Jamaica
at the University of the West Indies and the United Theological College
of the West Indies. He is a minister of the Gospel in the Methodist Church
in the Caribbean and the Americas. Minister Brooks has visited and worked
in various countries and territories in the Caribbean, where he ministered
with hundreds of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. He believes
that the Church, through its community gatherings, is called heal individuals,
communities and nations. The husband and father of three, pastors the
Guadeloupe mission of the Methodist church. Minister Brooks is the coordinator
of the NGO Chrétiens et Sida (Christians and AIDS), Guadeloupe.
He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in business management from
ESSEC School of Management. HIV/AIDS – A Christian Perspective
of Healing for the Caribbean is his first book. Gény
Cointre, educational psychologist, poet, is a native of
Guadeloupe. She settled in St. Martin in 2003. Her self-published collections
are Poems in Rainbow (1999) and New Rainbow (2002). The latter
title has a companion CD of poems recited in Creole.
 Wendy-Ann
Diaz is a social studies teacher at Addelita Cancryn Junior
High School in St. Thomas, USVI. Born in the Republic of Trinidad and
Tobago, she attended Charlotte Amalie High School in St. Thomas. Diaz
holds a BA in history and another in psychology from Florida State University.
Well known as an academic and civic activist, particularly for the improvement
of student life and scholastic achievement, Diaz has initiated or organized
the CORE Reading Program, Hands Across the Campus, Students School Improvement
Committee (SSIC), and the Tshwane 3D Intervention Program at Addelita
Cancryn. With a number of nominations for Teacher of the Year and the
Heath Award (VI Humanities Council), she is a Women Pioneering the Future
for Children awardee. Claude’s Adventure, first book from
this writer of songs, poetry, plays, and stories was published by House
of Nehesi Publishers in 2007. Bernadette
Hassell, coordinator of “In The Children’s
Room” workshop for the St. Martin Book Fair. The founder of Readers
Circle, a book club for children ages 9 to 16, have been involved with
after-school tutoring for students since 1994.
 Dr.
Jay B. Haviser has been the Archaeologist for the Netherlands
Antilles since 1982. He received his doctorate in Archaeology from Leiden
University, Netherlands, in 1987. His books include, The First Bonaireans
(1991), African Sites Archaeology in the Caribbean (1999), and
African Re-Genesis (2006). Dr. Haviser has been the president
of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology for eight years.
He is the senior regional representative for the Caribbean in the World
Archaeological Congress past-president of the Museums Association of the
Caribbean. Dr. Haviser is the director of a Youth and Science program
in St. Martin (SIMARC). Kendel
Hippolyte was born in St. Lucia in 1952. During the 1970s,
Hippolyte lived in Jamaica as a student and then teacher. This period
of radical politics and Black consciousness had, according to him, “A
lasting influence on my life, though if the choice had to be made between
going on a political rally or theatre rehearsal, it was usually the latter.”
The poet, dramatist, and co-founder of the Lighthouse Theatre Company
lives in St. Lucia. His work has been published in The Penguin Book
of Caribbean Verse, Voiceprint, Caribbean Poetry Now, Heinemann
Book of Caribbean Poetry, and The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse.
Hippolyte’s books of poetry are Bearings (1986), Birthright
(1997), and Night Visions (2006).
Jocelyne Illidge, banking officer, Banque Française Commerciale (BFC), St. Martin.  F.
Abiola Irele born in Nigeria,
and teaches at Harvard. The expert in French and comparative literatures,
who was Professor of French and Chair of the Modern Languages Department
at the University of Ibadan, studied in Africa and Europe. He obtained
his Ph.D. at the University of Paris (Sorbonne). His publications include
The African Experience in Literature and Ideology and annotated
editions of Selected Poems by Leopold Sedar Senghor and Aimé Césaire’s
Cahier d’un retour au pays natal. Irele co-edited The
Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature with Simon
Gikandi and was a contributing editor to the Norton Anthology of World
Literature. When Oxford University Press published Prof. Irele’s
The African Imagination: Literature in Africa and the Black Diaspora,
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., wrote, “Abiola Irele is not only one of
the most prominent African critics writing today, but an intellectual
figure of commanding importance in an international frame.” Earl
Lovelace (b. 1935, Toco, Trinidad), novelist, playwright,
short-story writer, essayist. Among his books are the novels While
Gods Are Falling (1964), The Schoolmaster (1986), The
Dragon Can’t Dance (1979), and The Wine of Astonishment
(1982); the collections Jestma’s Calypso And Other Plays
(1984) and A Brief Conversion and Other Stories (1988); and Growing
in the Dark (Selected Essays) (2003). The challenges of building
a new nation in the aftermath of colonialism is addressed in his award-winning
novel Salt (1997). Awards and honors include the British Petroleum
Literary Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Commonwealth Writers Best
Book Prize, Pegasus Literary Award “for outstanding contribution
to the Arts in Trinidad and Tobago,” and the Chacoma Medal (Gold)
by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago. In 2002, he was awarded an
honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies. According to
the Encyclopedia of Caribbean Literature (2006), Lovelace “is
considered one of the major twentieth-century Caribbean writers.” Greta
Marlin was born in Barbados and has lived in St. Martin
for nearly 30 years. Her first book, A Job Well Done, Memories for
a Lifetime (2005), is a collection of uncommonly personal and hilarious
stories about the airline industry and travel experiences. Marlin’s
second title, a children’s book, Hoppy Bunny and the Hopping
Competition, was published in 2006.
 Wilma
E. Reverón-Collazo is an attorney practicing employment,
civil rights and family law in Puerto Rico. The graduate of the University
of Puerto Rico School of Law (UPR) is a former vice president of the Puerto
Rico Bar Association (2000-2002) and president of the Commission for Human
Rights of the Puerto Rico Bar Association (1998-2000). She is a member
of the Commission on Constitutional Development of the Puerto Rico Bar
Association. Reverón-Collazo is the president of the Committee
of Puerto Rico at the United Nations, dedicated to work on the decolonization
of Puerto Rico before the United Nations Committee on Decolonization.
The attorney has made presentations before the United Nations Decolonization
Committee, special tribunals on issues of Human Rights on the struggle
to oust the US Navy from the Island of Vieques, and at conferences on
civil rights, repression and decolonization both in Puerto Rico and the
USA. She has taught the history of law and the constitutional history
of Puerto Rico and the United States at UPR and Brooklyn College. Reverón-Collazo
articles have appeared in Claridad and El Nuevo Día
newspapers in Puerto Rico.
 Clara
Reyes, MFA (SUNY College at Brockport) is a dancer, choreographer
and teacher. She is the founder of the Imbali Center for Creative Movement,
where she teaches dance and “the philosophy and love for dance.”
Her master’s thesis is the first study of the Ponum, St. Martin’s
national dance. Reyes choreographed the national dance for the Ponum documentary
film, which is in production at House of Nehesi Publishers. Reyes is a
recipient of the Conscious Lyrics “Personality of the Year Award”
and a teacher at the St. Maarten Academy. In 2004, the John Larmonie Center
for Creative Arts named one of its dance halls in honor of this first
lady of St. Martin dance. Her staged works include Emancipation, In
the Company of Women (2003), Ponum the Musical – St. Martin’s
Dance of Liberation (2003), and St. Martin Is My Home (2006)
 Max
Rippon, Marie Galante, Guadeloupe, is the author of nine
books of poems, essays on tourism, and narratives. His titles include
Pawòl naïf (1987), Agouba (1993), Le
Dernier Matin – Récit (2000), and Six virgule trios
– Secousses à Terre-de-Bas (2007). His books are taught
in Schools in St. Martin and Guadeoupe. Rippon is a strong advocate of
Kwéyòl as a popular and literary language.
 Emilio
Jorge Rodríguez, Cuban essayist and literary critic.
He has been a researcher with Casa de las Américas’ Center
of Caribbean Studies (1979-2000); director of the Center of Caribbean
Studies (1994-98); and founder/editor of the academic journal Anales
del Caribe (1981-2000). Rodríguez coordinated the Caribbean
research group for Diccionario Enciclopédico de las Letras
de América Latina (1996); and served as a member on the board
of advisers of the Encyclopedia of Caribbean Literature (2006).
Among his books are Literatura caribeña; bojeo y cuaderno de
bitácora (1989); (coordinator) Religiones Afroamericanas
(1996); and Acriollamiento y discurso escrit/oral caribeño
(2001). Awards include a Fundación Nicolás Guillén
Fellowship (2001) and the Latin America and Caribbean Third Millennium
Essay Prize (2001).
 Angelo
Rombley, founder, Big Eye Opener Studios, Inc.. The award-winning
senior graphics designer has worked with Fortune 500 and leading graphic
design companies. Rombley is also a digital artist whose work has been
exhibited at the Artists’ Corner, Marigot, St. Martin and the New
York State Museum, NY, USA.
 Jacqueline
A. Sample, founder, JAL Creations; immediate past-president,
Black Dimensions in Art, Inc. (BDA), New York; president, House of Nehesi
Publishers Foundation.
 Juliette
Sméralda, Ph.D., sociology, was born in Martinique
and lives in France. She is a professor and associate researcher at the
University of Marc Bloch, Strasbourg II. Sméralda’s research
and articles on sublects such as “crossbreeding” in slave
societies and resulting the lack of social cohesion in Martinique; prostitution
in the Caribbean; the aesthetic preferences of Black men when searching
for a female partner; and the affect of skin color on interracial couples
have been published in journals, books, and presented at conferences.
Sméralda is the author of Peau noire, cheveu crépu l’histoire
d’une alienation (Black Skin, Frizzy Hair – A History of Alienation)
(2005).  Rueben
J. Thompson, project manager, Love the Lagoon Project,
Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC). He holds a Bachelors
degree in Environmental Science and Management and has worked with Nature
Foundation and served as an environmental consultant to NGOs in St. Martin.
Thompson is a Rotaract member who loves to “meet people and contribute
to the community.”
Gregory Thomson, MS, consultant, All Basic Services Foundation  Sherezada
“Chiqui” Vicioso is an essential poet, playwright
and essayist of the Dominican Republic. Her master’s in education
and post-graduate studies in cultural administration were obtained, respectively,
from Columbia University and Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil.
Vicioso has worked for various agencies of the UN as a consultant. She
is currently Ambassador for Women, Children and Adolescent issues at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of her country. Chiqui Vicioso has authored
19 books, including the seminal poetic biographies of the writers Julia
de Burgos of Puerto Rico, and Salomé Ureña and Aída
Cartagena Portalatín of the Dominican Republic; and a biography
of a Bolivian female urban guerrilla. Awards and honors include the Anacaona
de Oro (literature) and the Premio Casandra for the play Salomé
U: cartas a una ausencia. Eva/Sion/s (2007, House of Nehesi Publishers)
is the first book by this important Caribbean author to be published simultaneously
in three languages.
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Welcome Sponsors:
Organizers: Conscious Lyrics Foundation & Contact Information Book Fair Coordinator Shujah Reiph Addresses Conscious Lyrics foundations P.O. Box 774 Philipsburg, St. Martin Caribbean House of Nehesi Publishers P.O. Box 460 Philipsburg, St. Martin Caribbean Tel. (590.690) 30.73.66 Fax (599) 542.4435 consciouslyrics@yahoo.com nehesi@sintmaarten.net |
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Funso
Aiyejina was born in Nigeria and is a Professor
of Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies
(UWI)-Trinidad. As UWI’s Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Humanities
and Education, he headed the Symposia of CARIFESTA (2006). Best known
as a poet, Aiyejina’s first book, A Letter to Lynda and
Other Poems, was awarded the Association of Nigerian Authors’
prize (1989). His poems have appeared in journals and anthologies, including
The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry, in which he was described
as “one of Nigeria’s finest satirists.” His stories
and plays have been read and dramatized over the radio in Nigeria and
England. Aiyejina’s first short stories book, The Legend of
the Rockhills, won the Best First Book for Africa in the 2000 Commonwealth
Writers competition. Dr. Aiyejina is the author of I, The Supreme
and Other Poems (2004) and Self-Portraits: Interviews
with Ten West Indian Writers and Two Critics (2003); editor
of Earl Lovelace: Growing in the Dark (2003); and co-editor of Caribbean
Literature in a Global Context (2006). The Fulbright lecturer
wrote the introduction to The House That Jack Built and Other
Plays (2003) by Louie Laveist.
Sidonia
Hodge is a St. Martin poet who started writing poetry
in elementary school. Her poems often reflect on the social ills facing
the St. Martin society. Hodge has been a high school Social
Science teacher for the past six years; and has headed the vocational
college St. Maarten Institute for Hospitality & Technology (SMITH).
In 2002, she delivered the Conscious Lyrics (CLF) annual Black History
Celebration lecture. In March 2007, Hodge recited her poetry at the
Caribbean edition of the Winternachten international literature festival.
