|
  |
Participants of the Third Annual St. Martin Book Fair June 2 – 4, 2005 Carolyn
Alford is a former police officer and teacher. She currently
manages Solo Records, the recording label of her son Tyraun McCoy.
The lover of hip-hop and rap writes poetry and works with singers
and rappers between the ages of 14 and 28. Originally from Brooklyn,
New York, Alford resides in the County of Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Fabian
Adekunle Badejo, MA
(University of Navarra). The author and former Nigerian diplomat
directed the St. Maarten Council on the Arts in the early 1980s
and was the motor behind the landmark arts festival SMAFESTAC. Badejo
is the author of Claude - A Portrait of Power (1989) and
Salted Tongues Modern Literature in St.Martin (2003); and
wrote profiles for St. Martin Massive! A Snapshot on Popular
Artists (2000). He has produced concerts by kaisonian Mighty
Dow and humorists/storytellers Paul Keens Douglas and Fernando Clark.
He has directed plays and monologues in St. Martin and abroad and
presented scholarly papers on the islands literature at regional
conferences. In 2003, Badejo conducted the New Forms of Writing
course for House of Nehesi Publishers Creative Writing Program.
Badejo is the news director for Today newspaper and producer/host
of the weekly PJD-2 radio program Culture Time. Bola
Badejo, BA (Ahmadu Bello University), is a fashion designer
and a former fashion model. She is the owner of Unibol International,
an interior design company based in Abuja, capital of her native
Nigeria. Badejo has been living in St.
Martin since 2003. Michaela Angela Davis is the executive fashion and beauty editor for Essence magazine. The former editor-in-chief of Honey and founding fashion editor at Vibe, Davis has contributed fashion features to Mirabella and Vanity Fair. She is a frequent commentator on Metro TV and Womens Entertainment Televisions Full Frontal Fashion. The author of Beloved Baby (1995), a scrapbook/journal for alternative families, she writes poetry and is developing another book, Anatomy of a Fly Girl. Davis has lent her image-making prowess to personalities such as Bjork, Prince, Oprah Winfrey, Maxwell, Ashanti, Alicia Keys, Laurence Fishburne, Diana Ross, Tyrese, Mary J. Blige, LL Cool J, Macy Gray, and Pink. Born in Germany, raised in Washington, D.C., Davis attended New York University and studied acting at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts as a National Arts Scholar. She has trained at Stella Adler Acting Conservatory and the world renowned Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. Davis lives with her daughter in Brooklyn, New York. Kwame Dawes is a distinguished poet and Bob Marley scholar. He is
the author of 18 books of poetry, plays, short stories, essays,
and music and literary criticism. His publications include I
saw your face (2005), Bob Marley Lyrical Genius (2002),
and Midland (2001). An English professor at the University
of South Carolina (USC) since 1992, Dawes is the director of the
South Carolina Poetry Initiative. His poems have appeared in the
London Review of Books, Poetry Review, Obsidian
III, Calalloo, Indiana Review, Ariel, West
Coast, Wasafiri, and The Caribbean Writer. His
essays and literature reviews have appeared in World Literature
Today, Essence Magazine, Emerge, World Press
Review, The Washington Post, African Affairs: The
Royal Society of African Studies, The Atlanta Review,
and the Journal of Caribbean Literatures. He has recited
his poetry in the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. Awards include
the Individual Artist Fellowship (South Carolina Arts Commission)
and the Pushcart Prize (2001). Dawes is the programmer for the Calabash
International Literary Festival in Jamaica. Bernadette
Hassell is a mother who believes that parents are firstly
responsible for their childrens education
and that reading forms
an integral part of self-development. An avid reader since childhood,
Hassell
is currently the micro-projects coordinator at SUNfed, St. Martins
NGO funding umbrella organization. Her after-school tutoring program
has been helping students since 1994, with reading, language arts,
and mathematics. In early 2003, Hassell completed
the six-month House of Nehesi Publishers Creative Writing Program.
In September of that year, she started the Readers Circle, a book
club for children ages 9 to 16. Nidaa
Khoury
was born in the Upper Galilee village of Fassota, Israel,
in 1959. She has published seven books of poetry, several of which
have been translated from Arabic to other languages. The Barefoot
River (1990) was published in Arabic and Hebrew. The Bitter
Crown (1997) was censored in Jordan and reprinted as Rings
of Salt in 1998. A leading Palestinian and Middle East poet,
Khoury has participated in the Conference of Arab Poets (Amsterdam),
the Conference of Human Rights and Solidarity with the Third World
(Paris), Poetry Africa, (Durban), and the International Poetry Festival
of Medellin (Colombia). Other books of poetry by Khoury include
The Prettiest of Gods Cry (2000), The Culture of Wine
(1993), The Belt of Wind (1990), Braid of Thunder
(1989), and Declaring My Silence (1987). House
of Nehesi Publishers has scheduled Khourys new poetry collection
for publication by 2006, which could make her the first important
Middle East author to publish in the Caribbean.
Patricia
Lourens-Philip
holds a post-graduate diploma in Education (University of
London) and a Project and Program Management certificate (Management
Development Foundation, The Netherlands). While at the St. Maarten
Academy high school, where she served as principal for 14 years,
Lourens wrote the introduction for Images of Me (1993), the
second collection poems by Ingrid Zagers. In 2001, Lourens was appointed
head of the Innovations Bureau, an educational agency of the island
government in Philipsburg. In 2004, she became program manager at
the governments Bureau for Educational Research, Policy, Planning
and Innovations. A dedicated educator for over 30 years,
Lourens teaches World Civilization at the University of St. Martin.
She is a member of ASCD International and its St. Martin affiliate. Alcy RC Montesquieu is a concept artist. The commercial art graduate of the International
Fine Arts College works at Pandemic Studios in California, USA.
As a concept artist, he has designed characters, vehicles, buildings,
and graphic interface menus for the Full Spectrum Warrior
video game for Xbox and PC. He is currently working on projects
for Xbox and Xbox 2. While at Liquid Entertainment (2001-2003) as
a concept artist/3D modeler/texture artist/animator, he created
Low-Poly game art from concept to animation video games such as
Battle Realms, Winter of the Wolf (Expansion) and
War of the Rings (Lord of the Rings game). His illustration
and design jobs clients-list include Florida Panthers Hockey Team,
MTV, Murals, BattleTech, Rug-Rats, Marvel Comics and Image Comics.
Born in New York, USA, and proud of his Caribbean blood, Montesquieus parents
are from the Dominican Republic. Etina
Mussington-Arnell is a high school teacher at the Lycée
Professionnel des Iles du Nord, Marigot, St. Martin. She
is a graduate of LUniversité des Antilles-Guyane (1984) and
obtained her teaching diploma in 1990.
In 2002, Mussington organized The Caribbean Week at her
school. The successful display of Caribbean literature, music, dance,
and history drew scores of students, teachers, parents, authors
and artists. Her seminal essays on St. Martins national identity
are in the development stage. Mutabaruka
was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He is a leading Jamaican recording
and published poet of international repute. Following the late 1960s
and early 1970s upsurge of Black Awareness in his country, Mutabaruka
emerged as one of the first well-publicized voices of the new wave
of poets. His first book, The First Poems (1980) and his
CD Melanin Man (1994) are among this revolutionary poets
captivating, searching, and even prophetic works. He regularly
performs his poems, such as the tough Columbus Ghost and
the moving Haiti, in the Caribbean, North America, Africa,
and Europe. His new book, The Next Poems/The First Poems, was published in March 2005 in Jamaica.
Francis
Urias Peters is a Grenadian playwright and winner of
the drama award for his one-man play Sentence to Hang (1996).
As a youth, he participated in the Easter and Christmas concerts
of the Berean Bible Church. In 1984, Peters received the OAS Fellowship
to study drama-in-education and theater arts at the Jamaica School
of Drama. On his return to Grenada, Peters founded the Family Theatre
Company. Clara
Reyes, MFA (SUNY College at Brockport) is a dancer and
choreographer. She is the founder of the Imbali Center for Creative
Movement, where she teaches dance and the philosophy and love for
dance. Her masters thesis is the first study of the Ponum, St.
Martins national dance. Reyes choreographed the national dance
for the Ponum documentary film, which is still in production at
House of Nehesi Publishers. In 2003, she staged In the Company
of Women dance-theater and Ponum the Musical St. Martins
Dance of Liberation at Philipsburg Community and Cultural Center
and at the Sandy Ground Cultural Center. In 2003, Reyes, a teacher
at the St. Maarten Academy high school, was a recipient of the Conscious
Lyrics Foundation Personality of the Year Award. 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. Max
Rippon, author, poet, and storyteller, was born in Marie-Galante,
Guadeloupe. He has been writing about the history and culture of
his native island since 1987. A strong advocate of Kwéyòl as a popular
and literary language, Rippons books Le Dernier Matin (2000),
Marie La Gracieuse (2002), and Debris de Silences (2004),
are taught in schools in Guadeloupe and St. Martin. He is featured
in the just-published collection of poems Hurricane, Shouts of
Islanders/Hurricane, Cris dInsulaires
(2005) among authors such as Aime Cesaire, Derek Walcott,
Suzanne Draciu,s and Nabile Fares. This is Rippons third
participation in the St. Martin Book Fair. Akiba Solomon is the health editor of Essence magazine. The Howard University graduate originally hails from west Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She has written for the Washingtonpost.com, Jane, and The Source magazine where she specialized in hard and political news for young readers. Her writing has appeared in Vibe, POZ, Suede, and BET.com. Solomon has co-edited the forthcoming anthology of essays and oral memoirs, Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips and Other Parts. Mathias S. Voges was born in Philipsburg, St. Martin in 1943. He obtained his bachelors in social science in Aruba from the Leraren-opleiding (1976). After working as the general director of the Milton Peters College high school, Voges became the executive director of Catholic education in St. Martin, Saba, and St. Eustatius in 1991. He is the author of Zusters Dominicanessen van Voorschoten 100 jaar op St. Maarten 1890-1990 (1990) and a co-author of Geonant, geografie van de Nederlandse Antillen (1979). The former president of the University of St. Martin Board of Directors is an Acting Lt. Governor of the Island territory of St. Maarten. Awards include Officer in the House of Orange-Nassau (1993) and the Pro Eclessia Et Pontifice (1996). House of Nehesi Publishers is publishing Vogess Cul-de-sac & Its People in 2005. Yolanda Yo-Yo Whitaker is a Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist and an actress. An early 1990s rap queen from the US west coast, Yo-Yo has released five albums, including Make Way For The Motherload, Total Control, and Ebony. She is the founder of the International Organization for Women and Children (IBWC). A student of the legendary Lee Strassberg Theatre Institute, Yo-Yo has been featured in movies such as Boys in The Hood, Sister Act II, Panther, and 3 Strikes. She has appeared on television in Martin, Moesha, and The Robert Townsend Show. Yo-Yo is working on a CD of her music for release in 2005. Cecil
Alfred Blazer Williams, M.Sc. (University of London),
LLB. (Holborn College), is a barrister at law and a leading playwright
of St. Vincent and The Grenadines. Among his 10 staged plays are
The Critics, Drawing Room, The Bedroom is Not for
Sleeping, and Delusions. He also writes short stories.
The legal advisor to the Carnival Development Committee was a jury
member of the prestigious Casa de Las Americas Literary Award in
1981. Williams served as the East Caribbean theater representative
at the Popular Theatre Dialogue in Bangladesh in 1983. He coordinated
the Caribbean contingent to Canadas Popular Theatre Festival in
1985. His essays and lectures throughout the Caribbean address topics
such as Pan and Society, National Mobilization through Cultural
Activities, and Identity and Independence. In
1988, Williams was awarded the NAM Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cultural Development.
In The Mind, a second volume of poetry by Williams, was published
in May 2005. Williams is an authority on the works of St. Vincents
legendry poet and national hero Shake Keane. Xu Xi, MFA (University of Massachusetts at Amherst), is a leading Hong Kong novelist. The New York Times named her as a pioneer writer in Asia to establish a voice in English. The publication of Xis first novel, Chinese Walls (1994, 2002), was hailed by Far Eastern Economic Review as a welcome new voice into the field of Asian fiction writers. Her collection of short stories, Daughters of Hui, was named a 1996 Best Book by Asiaweek magazine. She is also the author of Overleaf Hong Kong: Stories and Essays of the Chinese, Overseas, the novels Hong Kong Rose and The Unwalled City, and Historys Fiction, Stories from the City of Hong Kong. The works of the award-winning author has been featured on the BBC World Service. A Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, Xi quit corporate life after 18 years in international marketing and management in favor of the writing life. She currently teaches fiction at Vermont College, USA. Isidore Mighty Dow York is a musician, kaisonian, and steelpan maestro. He is the 1995 and 2005 St. Martin calypso king and the 1982 and 1983 roadmarch king. With some 18 musical recordings to his credit, Dow is probably still best known for his super 1986 hit St. Maarten Rumba. In 1987, he performed the rumba to over 100,000 people at the Festival de Música del Caribe, Cartegena, Colombia. In 1990, Dows rumba was nominated for Best Song of the Year in the Billboard-sponsored Premio lo Nuestro a la Música Latina. In 1991, he founded the Ebony Steel Orchestra and has since taught more than 100 students to play that essential Caribbean instrument, the steelpan. The book St. Martin Massive! A Snapshot on Popular Artists (2000), features Dow as one of the nations most popular artists at the turn of the century. In 2004, the music hall at the John Larmonie Center for Creative Arts was named in honor of Isidore Mighty Dow York. |
|
Mutabaruka and Kwame Dawes at
3rd St. Martin Book Fair Marigot/Great Bay (May 3, 2005) Popular recording poet Mutabaruka and award-wining author Kwame Dawes are participating in the 3rd annual St. Martin Book Fair, June 2 4, 2005, said Shujah Reiph. The high-profiled Mutabaruka will conduct the Book Fairs poetry workshop, sharing his craft, said Reiph, spokesman for the Book Fair Committee. Muta will also sign his new book, The Next Poems/The First Poems, for the book fair public. The much sought after Jamaica poet just took part in Guadeloupes book fair. Kwame Dawes will deliver the Book Fairs opening address, based on this years theme, The national book, a universal offering , said Reiph. Dawes, a distinguished poet and Bob Marley scholar, is the author or editor of 18 books of poetry, plays, short stories, essays and music and literary criticism. Dr. Dawes will also address one of the book fairs general sessions and workshop with high school teachers of literature and English. The professor of English at the University of South Carolina, USA, has seen produced some 15 of his plays in the Caribbean and Canada. The St. Martin Book Fair will host some nine dynamic authors, poets, novelists, playwrights, scholars, and a movie/video game animator from St. Martin, the wider Caribbean, USA, the Middle East, and Asia. At least four of our invited authors will take part in book signings, said Reiph. Dawes most recent books, I saw your face (poetry, 2005) and Bob Marley Lyrical Genius (essays, lyrical criticism, 2002), would be available. The St. Martin Book Fair
opens on June 2, 2005 at the Maison des Entreprises (Chamber of
Commerce Building) in Spring Concordia, Marigot. The book exhibitions, sales,
signings, and workshops will be at the University of St. Martin
in Philipsburg, St. Martin, on June 3 and June 4. The fairs main book launch
features The Angel Horn, the long awaited anthology of poems
by the late Shake Keane of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).
Keane is a national hero of SVG and one of the grand men of Caribbean
literature. The book fair launch and closing ceremony will be held
at Great Bay Beach Hotel on June 4. |
Third
annual St. Martin Book Fair for June 2 - 4
Marigot/Great Bay (April 2, 2005)The third annual St. Martin Book Fair is set for June 2 - 4, 2005, according to the organizers.
Conscious Lyrics Foundation (CLF) and House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP) organize the St. Martin Book Fair, in collaboration with the University of St. Martin (USM) -- offering three exciting days of Caribbean books, literature and culture and authors from around the world.
The fair will open on Thursday, June 2, 2005 at Maison des Entreprises (Chamber of Commerce Building) in Spring Concordia Marigot.
We are continuing to promote the Book Fair as a St. Martin event, alternating the opening between both capitals of our island, said Shujah Reiph, CLF president.
The book fairs exhibitions and workshops will be held at USM campus.
We are already inviting the entire St. Martin public to join us for a good and inspiring time, said Reiph.
Our friends from throughout the
Caribbean, especially from the neighboring islands, are also invited to
hop over for a few days for what promises to be a unique St. Martin Book
Fair 2005.
Top of the page