{"id":398,"date":"2015-04-26T05:39:50","date_gmt":"2015-04-26T05:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/?page_id=398"},"modified":"2016-04-26T17:33:08","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T17:33:08","slug":"book-reviews","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/book-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image admin_label=”The frock banner” src=”http:\/\/www.houseofnehesipublish.com\/images\/ads\/thefrock.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” animation=”left” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image admin_label=”fete banner” src=”http:\/\/www.houseofnehesipublish.com\/images\/ads\/fete_28726.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” animation=”left” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Book Reviews title” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

Book Reviews<\/strong><\/h1>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Because of Prayer” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"BOP_Cover\"Felecita T. Williams<\/span>
\nBecause of Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2010. $20
\nISBN: 0-913441-68-6<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nicolaas, Quito<\/strong>. “Leven met hoop.” Caribe. 10 Sept. 2010.<\/span>http:\/\/caribemagazine.nl\/bloggen\/literatuur\/leven-met-hoop.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Sovereignty” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"sovereignity\"George Lamming
\n<\/span>Sovereignty of the Imagination \u2013 Conversations III<\/strong><\/span>
\nLanguage and the Politics of Ethnicity<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2009. 96 pages $15
\nISBN: 978-0-913441-46-6<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ledgister, F.S.J<\/strong>. “A region for itself.” The Caribbean Review of Books. 23 Sept. 2010.<\/span>http:\/\/caribbeanreviewofbooks.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Badejo, Ade Fabian<\/strong>. \u201cSovereignty of the Imagination<\/em> \u2013 Bearing the honour of many men.\u201dThe Daily Herald<\/em> (Weekender) 6 June 2009: 4+. <\/span>www.houseofnehesipublish.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Outar, Lisa<\/strong>. Introduction of George Lamming. George Lamming Reading and Book Signing.Caribbean Studies Association 34th Annual Conference<\/em>. Jamaica. 4 June 2009.www.houseofnehesipublish.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Paquet, Sandra<\/strong>. \u201cThe burden of authorship, and what it means to bear witness.\u201d Introduction to the book launch. 7th annual St. Martin Book Fair<\/em>. St. Martin. 6 June 2009.www.houseofnehesipublish.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Singh, Rickey<\/strong>. “‘Conversations’ of George Lamming.” Trinidad & Tobago Express<\/em> 2 Aug 2009. <\/span>www.trinidadexpress.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Singh, Rickey<\/strong>. “OUR CARIBBEAN: Lamming’s inspiring Conversations.” Nation News<\/em> 31 July 2009. <\/span>www.nationnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Singh, Rickey<\/strong>. “Race, Politics, & Culture.” Jamaica Observer<\/em> 2 Aug 2009.<\/span>www.jamaicaobserver.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Singh, Rickey<\/strong>. “Race, Politics, & Culture – ‘Conversations’ of George Lamming.” Guyana Chronicle<\/em> 2 Aug 2009. <\/span>http:\/\/www.guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com\/commentary\/rsingh.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Guanahani” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"guanahani\"Marion Bethel<\/span>
\nGuanahani, My Love<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2009. 72 pages $15
\nISBN: 978-0-913441-96-1<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Campbell, Christian<\/strong>. “Born Again – Marion Bethel’s Guanahani, My Love.” Montague<\/em> 1 May 2010. <\/span>http:\/\/mtmkobbe.blogspot.com\/2010\/05\/guest-feature-by-christian-campbell.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Campbell, Christian<\/strong>. \u201cBorn Again \u2013 Marion Bethel\u2019s Guanahani, My Love.\u201d Offshore Editing Services<\/em>. June 2009.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Salt Reaper” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"saltreaper-cd\"Lasana M. Sekou<\/span>
\nThe Salt Reaper \u2013 selected poems from the flats <\/span><\/strong><\/span>(Audio CD)<\/span>
\nMusic mix by Angelo Rombley<\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, Mountain Dove Records\/HNP
\n2009. Audio CD, Spoken Word\/Poetry $15
\nISBN: 978-0-913441-94-7<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Reyes, Clara<\/strong>. \u201cIs Lasana Sekou writing St. Martin\u2019s story? A fresh look at The Salt Reaper poetry\/music CD.\u201d The Daily Herald<\/em> (Weekender) 23 May 2009: 1+.<\/span>www.houseofnehesipublish.com<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”I Believe” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"iHoward A. Fergus<\/span>
\nI Believe<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2008. 88 pages $15
\nISBN: 978-0-913441-95-4<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI Believe<\/em>.\u201d The Caribbean Review of Books. Aug. 2008: 55.<\/span>http:\/\/www.meppublishers.com\/online\/crb\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Rahim, Jennifer<\/strong>. \u201cI Believe<\/em> \u2013 Searching for an indigenous voice and aesthetic.\u201d
\nIntroduction to the Book launch. 6th annual St. Martin Book Fair<\/em>. St. Martin. 7 June 2008.\u00a0www.houseofnehesipublish.com<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Love Labor” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"lovelabour\"<\/a>Howard A. Fergus<\/span>
\nLove Labor Liberation in Lasana Sekou<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2007. 184 pages $15
\nISBN: 978-0-913441-87-9<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Badejo, Adekunle Fabian<\/strong>. \u201cHoward A. Fergus\u2019 Love, Labor, Liberation in Lasana Sekou.\u201dThe Arts Journal<\/em> (Vol 5: 1-2) Mar. 2009: 113.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLove, Labour, Liberation in Lasana Sekou.\u201d The Caribbean Review of Books<\/em>. Feb. 2008: 57.\u00a0http:\/\/www.meppublishers.com\/online\/crb\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Nowak, Mark<\/strong>. \u201cLabor Love.\u201d Harriet. Poetry Foundation<\/em>. 2008.\u00a0http:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/harriet\/2008\/07\/labor-love\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Eva\/Si\u00f3n\/Es” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"eva\"Chiqui Vicioso<\/a>
\nEva\/Si\u00f3n\/Es \u2022 Eva\/Sion\/s \u2022 \u00c9va\/Sion\/s<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Spanish, English, and French edition<\/span>
\nPhilipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2007. 112 pages $15 <\/span>
\nISBN: 0-913441-67-8<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Candelier, Rosario Bruno<\/strong>. Del yo al nosotras \u2013 El fondo metaf\u00edsico de eva\/sion\/es\u201d, de Chiqui Vicioso. DarioLibre.com<\/em> 28 de Junio 2009.<\/span>http:\/\/www.diariolibre.com\/noticias_det.php?id=200198<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEva\/Si\u00f3n\/Es<\/em>, de Chiqui Vicioso, logra buena acogida internacional.\u201d Diario Libre<\/em> \u2013 Revista 11 de Julio del 2007. http:\/\/www.diariolibre.com\/app\/article.aspx?id=112441<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEva\/Si\u00f3n\/Es<\/em> de la poeta dominicana Chiqui Vicioso bien recibido desde M\u00e9xico hasta Hong Kong.\u201d Caribseek News<\/em> (2007).<\/span>http:\/\/news.caribseek.com\/Sint_Maarten\/article_52094.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEva\/Si\u00f3n\/Es<\/em>.\u201d The Caribbean Review of Books. Nov. 2007: 44.<\/span>http:\/\/www.meppublishers.com\/online\/crb\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez, Jorge Emilio<\/strong>. \u201cEva\/Zion\/s in the Paradise of the Unusual.\u201d Cubanow.net 19 Mar. 2008.\u00a0 <\/span>http:\/\/listas.cult.cu\/pipermail\/cubanowdigital\/2008-March.txt<\/a><\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez, Emilio Jorge<\/strong>. \u201cPresentation Eva\/Sion\/s.\u201d Introduction to the Book Launch. 5th annual St. Martin Book Fair. St. Martin. 2 June 2007. www.houseofnehesipublish.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Vaders, Hans<\/strong>. \u201cPrachtige dichtbundel Chiqui Vicioso \u2013 \u2018Zand zonder stranden\u2019.\u201d Amigoe<\/em>(\u00d1apa) 29 Mar. 2008.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Brotherhood” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"spurs\"Lasana M. Sekou<\/span>
\nBrotherhood of the Spurs<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nPhilipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2007, 1997. 192 pages $15
\nISBN: 978-0-913441-86-2<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nCombie, Valerie<\/strong>. “Brotherhood of the Spurs<\/em>.” The Caribbean Writer 13<\/em> (1999): 273-274.\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.thecaribbeanwriter.org\/nofr_REVdetail.php?volsec=13100<\/a><\/p>\n

Gross, Andy<\/strong>. “Special Book Review: In Our Stories Begin Our Reality.” The St. Maarten Guardian<\/em> 1 Dec. 1997: 10-11.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hodge, Charles Borromeo<\/strong>. “Brotherhood of the Spurs <\/em>– A Synopsis.” St. Martin Newsday<\/em>20 Mar. 1998: 5+.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kobbe, Montague<\/strong>. “The Prose of Diction: Lasana Sekou’s Short Stories.” The Daily Herald<\/em>(Weekender) 29 Nov. 2009. <\/span>http:\/\/mtmkobbe.blogspot.com\/2009\/11\/prose-of-diction-lasana-sekous-short.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Ward, Rochelle<\/strong>. “Sekou’s nine stories birthing a St. Martin nation – Discoveries and still more questions.” The Bajan Reporter<\/em> 9 Mar 2010. <\/span>http:\/\/bajanreporter.com\/?p=8880<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Somebody Blew” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"somebody\"Amiri Baraka<\/span>
\nSomebody Blew Up America & Other Poems<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2010, 2007, 2004, 2003. 82 pages $15
\nISBN: 978-0-913441-79-4<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Horton, David Harrison<\/strong>. “Amiri Baraka, Somebody Blew Up America<\/em>.” Union Herald 25 Sept. 2005. <\/span>http:\/\/unionherald.blogspot.com\/2005_09_01_archive.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Gwiazda, Piotr<\/strong>. \u201cThe Aesthetics of Politics\/The Politics of Aesthetics: Amiri Baraka\u2019s \u2018Somebody Blew Up America\u2019.<\/span> \u201dContemporary Literature<\/em>, 45:3 (2004 Fall): 460-85.<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson, Cedric<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cBlack radical enigma. and Black Power Politics.\u201d <\/span>Monthly Review<\/a><\/em> Dec. 2004.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody Blew Up America, Amiri Baraka.\u201d Rain Taxi<\/em> Vol. 9 No. 1, Spring 2004 (#33).<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”The Essence” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"essencereparations\"Amiri Baraka<\/span>
\nThe Essence of Reparations<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2007, 2003. 64 pages $15
\nISBN: 978-0-913441-92-3<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson, Cedric<\/strong>. \u201cBlack radical enigma. and Black Power Politics.\u201dMonthly Review<\/em> Dec. 2004. <\/span>http:\/\/www.findarticles.com\/p\/articles\/mi_m1132\/is_7_56\/ai_n9505450<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"Skin\"Drisana Deborah Jack<\/span>
\nSkin<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2006. 71 pages $15<\/span>
\nISBN: 0-913441-78-3<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Allen-Agostini, Lisa<\/strong>. \u201cSkin.\u201d The Caribbean Review of Books<\/em>. Aug. 2007: 33.\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.meppublishers.com\/online\/crb\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Cooke, Melville<\/strong>. \u201c\u2018Skin\u2019 saves most feeling for women.\u201d The Sunday Gleaner<\/em> 16 Nov. 2008: F10.<\/p>\n

Rutgers, Wim<\/strong>. \u201cPersoonlijk dichterschap van Drisana Deborah Jack \u2013 History seeking remembrance.\u201d Amigoe<\/em> (\u00d1apa) 19 Aug. 2006: 11.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”37 Poems” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"37poems\"Lasana M. Sekou<\/span>
\n37 Poems<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2005, 64 pages $15<\/span>
\nISBN: 0-913441-74-0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Price, Richard and Sally<\/strong>. “Bookshelf 2005\/2006 – 37 Poems<\/em>.” <\/span>http:\/\/www.kitlv-journals.nl\/index.php\/nwig\/article\/viewFile\/3589\/4350<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Review of Kingdom of the Empty Bellies<\/em>, by Kei Miller & 37 Poems<\/em> by Lasana M. Sekou.Journal of West Indian Literature<\/em> (Spring 2008).<\/span><\/p>\n

Allen-Agostini, Lisa<\/strong>. \u201cS\u2019maatin poems.\u201d The Caribbean Review of Books<\/em>. Feb. 2006: 17.<\/span>http:\/\/www.meppublishers.com\/online\/crb\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Cooke, Mel<\/strong>. \u201cA poem per square mile.\u201d Jamaica Gleaner<\/em> 20 Oct. 2005.
\n<\/span>http:\/\/www.jamaica-gleaner.com\/gleaner\/20051020\/ent\/ent1.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Lansana, Quraysh Ali<\/strong>. \u201c37 Poems.\u201d Black Issues Book Review<\/em> 1 Mar. 2006: 20.http:\/\/www.encyclopedia.com\/doc\/1P3-1061610601.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Angel Horn ” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"angelhorn\"Shake Keane<\/span>
\nThe Angel Horn Shake Keane (1927-1997) \u2013 Collected Poems<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, T. M Sartin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2005. 184 pages $18
\nISBN: 0-913441-66-X<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nPrice, Richard and Sally<\/strong>. “Bookshelf 2005\/2006 – The Angel Horn: Collected Poems 1927-1997<\/em>.”<\/span> http:\/\/www.kitlv-journals.nl\/index.php\/nwig\/article\/viewFile\/3589\/4350<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cooke, Mel<\/strong>. \u201cLifetime of poetry from Shake Keane.\u201d Jamaica Gleaner<\/em> 18 Nov. 2005.<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris, Mervyn<\/strong>. \u201cShake the Poet.\u201d The Caribbean Writer 21<\/em> (2007): 230-233. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nanton, Philip<\/strong>. \u201cAll that jazz \u2013 On The Angel Horn:<\/em> Collected Poems, by Shake Keane.\u201d
\nThe Caribbean Review of Books<\/em> Nov. 2005.\u00a0<\/span>www.meppublishers.com\/online\/crb\/nov05\/index.php<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Salt Reaper” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"saltreaper\"<\/a>Lasana M. Sekou<\/span>
\nThe Salt Reaper \u2013 poems from the flats<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2005, 2004. 130 pages $15
\nISBN: 0-913441-73-2<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Price, Richard and Sally<\/strong>. “Bookshelf 2005\/2006 – The Salt Reaper: Poems from the Flats<\/em>.”\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.kitlv-journals.nl\/index.php\/nwig\/article\/viewFile\/3589\/4350<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Allen-Agostini, Lisa<\/strong>. \u201cS\u2019maatin poems.\u201d The Caribbean Review of Books<\/em>. Feb. 2006: 17.\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.meppublishers.com\/online\/crb\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrendell, Francia<\/strong>. \u201cLasana Sekou pone en circulaci\u00f3n The Salt Reaper.\u201d El Nuevo Hispano<\/em>
\n8 Nov. 2004: 7.<\/p>\n

Beck, Ervin<\/strong>. \u201cLasana M. Sekou. The Salt Reaper: Poems from the Flats<\/em>.\u201d World Literature Today <\/em>Mar. 2006: 58.<\/p>\n

Cooke, Mel<\/strong>. \u201cSalt of the earth finds voice.\u201d Jamaica Gleaner <\/em>17 Mar. 2006. http:\/\/www.jamaica-gleaner.com\/gleaner\/20060317\/ent\/ent4.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Cooper, Carolyn<\/strong>. \u201cPond Salt Rhymes: African Diasporic Knowledge in Lasana Sekou\u2019s The Salt Reaper.\u201d Introduction to the book launch. St. Martin. 6 Nov. 4004.<\/p>\n

De Weever, Pedro<\/strong>. \u201cThe Salt Reaper \u2026 The invitation is on the table.\u201d The Daily Herald<\/em>(Weekender) 2<\/em>5 Nov. 2006.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hanna, Mary<\/strong>. \u201cSekou writes with \u2018erotic power\u2019.\u201d Jamaica Gleaner<\/em> 5 Nov. 2006.\u00a0http:\/\/www.jamaica-gleaner.com\/gleaner\/20061105\/arts\/arts4.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Salt Reaper: Poems from the flats.\u201d Caribbean Quarterly<\/a><\/em> 1 Dec. 2006.\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.encyclopedia.com\/doc\/1P3-1273697561.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Misani<\/strong>. \u201cPoetry of a divided island.\u201d The New York Amsterdam News<\/em> 13-19 Apr. 2006: 19.\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.ruthie-ackerman.com\/clips\/snapjudgements.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Unigwe, Chika<\/strong>. \u201cThe Salt Reaper: Poems from the Flats.\u201d Postcolonial Text<\/em>, Vol 2, No 3 (2006).\u00a0http:\/\/postcolonial.org\/index.php\/pct\/article\/viewFile\/470\/316<\/a><\/p>\n

Van Enkevort, Maria, Dr<\/strong>. \u201c\u2018I\u2019 the female, \u2018I\u2019 the white outsider, looking at The Salt Reaper by Lasana M. Sekou.\u201d The Daily Herald<\/em> (Nov. 2004).\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.thedailyherald.com\/news\/daily\/h153\/book153.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Salted Tongues” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"saltedtongues\"Fabian Adekunle Badejo<\/span>
\nSalted Tongues<\/strong><\/span>
\nModern Literature in St. Martin<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2003. 88 pages $15
\nISBN: 0-913441-62-7<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Haviser, Jay, Dr<\/strong>. \u201cFabian Adekunle Badejo\u2019s book \u2018Salted Tongues: Modern
\nLiterature in St. Martin\u2019.\u201d Introduction to the book launch. Second International Conference on Publishing in the Caribbean. Curacao. 29-31 Oct. 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rutgers, Wim<\/strong>. \u201cLiteraire Renaissance in Sint-Maarten \u2013 Salted Tongues: Caribbean Culture is One and Indivisible.\u201d Amigoe<\/em> (\u00d1apa) (2004?).<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Jack Built ” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"housejackbuilt\"Louie Laveist<\/span>
\nThe House That Jack Built and Other Plays <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2003. 97 pages $15
\nISBN: 0-913441-28-7<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

D\u2019Aguiar, Fred<\/strong>. \u201cThe House That Jack Built and Other Plays.\u201d The Caribbean Writer<\/em> 18 (2004): 295-297<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Same Sea” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"samesea\"Cynthia Wilson<\/span>
\nSame Sea \u2026 Another Wave<\/strong><\/span>
\nA collection of stories <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2001. 72 pages $15
\nISBN: 0-913441-53-8<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nGilkes, Michael<\/strong>. \u201cWaving, not Drowning.\u201d St. Martin Business Week<\/em> 21-27 Jan. 2002: 24.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott, Roland B<\/strong>. \u201cTransportation to a Caribbean Past.\u201d The Caribbean Writer<\/em> 16 (2002): 254-256.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Words Need ” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"wordsneed\"Kamau Brathwaite<\/span>
\nWords Need Love Too<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2000. 90 pages $15
\nISBN: 0-913441-47-3<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nBadejo, Adekunle Fabian<\/strong>. \u201cAnd the Word Was Made Flesh.\u201d St. Martin Business Week<\/em> (Pt. I) 8-14 Apr. 2002; 20; (Pt. II) 15-21 Apr. 2002: 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bobb, June D<\/strong>. \u201cGiving Life a Tongue: Kamau Brathwaite\u2019s Words Need Love Too.\u201d TheCaribbean Writer<\/em> 15 (2001): 181-183.\u00a0http:\/\/www.thecaribbeanwriter.org\/RevMainFrame.php?volsec=15070<\/a><\/p>\n

Dawes, Kwame<\/strong>. \u201cKamau Brathwaite \u2013 Words Need Love Too.\u201d World Literature Today<\/em> 76.1 (2002): 118-119.<\/p>\n

Pagnoulle, Christine<\/strong>. \u201cThe Reality of Brathwaite\u2019s Words: A Dialogue Between Genres.\u201dPostcolonial Text<\/em> Vol. 1, No. 1 (2004).
\n
\nSavory, Elaine<\/strong>. \u201cJourney from Catastrophe to Radiance: a review essay locating Kamau Brathwaite\u2019s Words Need Love Too (2000) in the context of his life and work. Transition Issue 99<\/em> (2008): 126-147.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Coming Home” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"cominghome\"George Lamming<\/span>
\nComing, Coming Home \u2013 Conversations II<\/strong><\/span>
\nWestern Education and the Caribbean Intellectual<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nEnglish, French and Spanish editions<\/span>
\nPhilipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2000, 1995. 112 pages $15
\nISBN: 0-913441-48-1<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Holder, Gladstone<\/strong>. \u201cUnchanging Change.\u201d Barbados Advocate<\/em> 15 Sept. 1995.<\/span><\/p>\n

McCormick, Jr., Robert H<\/strong>. \u201cGeorge. Coming, Coming Home: Conversations II.\u201d World Literature Today<\/em> 73.3\/4 (2001): 115.<\/p>\n

Mohr, Eugene V<\/strong>. \u201cGeorge Lamming. Coming Coming Home: Conversations II.\u201d The Caribbean Writer 10<\/em> (1996): 205-207.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez, Emilio Jorge<\/strong>. On George Lamming\u2019s Home Return. Cubanow.net 10 Mar. 2008.\u00a0http:\/\/listas.cult.cu\/pipermail\/cubanowdigital\/2008-March.txt<\/a><\/p>\n

Singh, Rickey<\/strong>. \u201cOur Caribbean: On Lamming and Mills.\u201d Weekend Nation<\/em> (Barbados) 15 Nov. 1995.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Republic of St. Martin” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"republicofstmartin\"Joseph H. Lake, Jr.<\/span>
\nThe Republic of St. Martin<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n2000. 90 pages $15
\nISBN: 0-913441-44-9<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Wescott-Williams, S.A<\/strong>. \u201cLaunching: The Republic of St. Martin by Joseph H. Lake, Jr.\u201d Introduction to the book launch. St. Martin. 3 June 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”The Rainy Season” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"TheDrisana Deborah Jack<\/span>
\nThe Rainy Season<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n1997, 108 pages $15<\/span>
\nISBN: 0-913441-23-6<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nGross, Andy<\/strong>. \u201cGuerrilla Poetess Bares Her Soul in Startling \u2018Rainy Season\u2019.\u201d\u00a0The St. Maarten Guardian<\/em>, 5 June 1997.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Pass It On” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"PassJennie N. Wheatley<\/span>
\nPass It On! A Treasury of Virgin Islands Tales <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers
\n1996. 91 pages $10
\nISBN: 0-913441-26-0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Parris, Trevor<\/strong>. \u201cJennie N. Wheatley, Pass It On! A Treasury of Virgin Islands Tales.\u201d The Caribbean Writer 12<\/em> (1998): 266-267.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Quimb\u00e9 ” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"quimbe\"Lasana M. Sekou<\/span>
\nQuimb\u00e9 \u2013 Poetics of Sound <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi
\n1991. 136 pages $20
\nISBN: 0-913441-14-7<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nBrice-Finch, Jacqueline, Dr<\/strong>. \u201cLasana M. Sekou. Quimbe<\/em>.\u201d Shooting Star Review<\/em>. 7.i (April 1993): 46-48.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fergus, Howard, Dr<\/strong>. \u201cSekou\u2019s work called the cultural \u2018Miracle\u2019 of St. Martin.\u201d St. Maarten\/St. Martin Newsday<\/em> 15-21 Nov. 1991: 5-6.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peters-McKenzie, Joyce<\/strong>. \u201cQuimb\u00e9, in which Sekou is a poet of the world.\u201d St. Maarten\/St. Martin Newsday<\/em> 22-28 May 1992: 6+.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Independence Papers” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"TheLasana M. Sekou, ed.<\/span>
\nThe Independence Papers<\/strong><\/span>
\nReadings on a New Political Status for St. Maarten\/St. Martin, Volume 1<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Maarten, House of Nehesi
\n1990. 256 pages $20
\nISBN: 0-913441-09-0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

De Roo, Jos<\/strong>. \u201cBundel over onafhankelijkheid \u2013 Lasana Sekou: \u2018St. Martin is ondemocratisch\u2019.\u201d Amigoe<\/em> (\u00d1apa) 5 Oct. 1991: 5.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Love Songs” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"Love-Sekou\"Lasana M. Sekou<\/span>
\nLove Songs Make You Cry <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Maarten, House of Nehesi
\n1989. 104 pages $10
\nISBN: 0-913441-07-4<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Casimir, Nel<\/strong>. \u201cZevende boek Lasana Sekou: Liefde voor S\u2019maatin.\u201d Amigoe<\/em> 13 Aug. 1990.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kobbe, Montague<\/strong>. “The Prose of Diction: Lasana Sekou’s Short Stories.” The Daily Herald<\/em>(Weekender) 29 Nov. 2009. <\/span>http:\/\/mtmkobbe.blogspot.com\/2009\/11\/prose-of-diction-lasana-sekous-short.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Peters-McKenzie, Joyce<\/strong>. \u201cLove Songs Make You Cry stirs emotions that lie too deep for tears.\u201d St. Maarten\/St. Martin Newsday<\/em> 15-16 Sept. 1989.<\/p>\n

Ten Holt, Asila<\/strong>. \u201c\u2018Love Songs Make You Cry\u2019, by Lasana Mwanza Sekou. Part 1.\u201d La Prensa<\/em>
\n10 Aug. 1990: 10; \u201cLove, Labor, Liberation.\u201d (part 2) La Prensa<\/em> 17 Aug. 1990: 10.<\/p>\n

Ward, Rochelle<\/strong>. “Sekou’s nine stories birthing a St. Martin nation – Discoveries and still more questions.” The Bajan Reporter<\/em> 9 Mar 2010. <\/span>http:\/\/bajanreporter.com\/?p=8880<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Nativity” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"Nativity\"Lasana M. Sekou<\/span>
\nNativity and Monologues for Today <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Maarten, House of Nehesi
\n1988. 96 pages $20
\nISBN: 0-913441-04-X<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fergus, Howard, Dr<\/strong>. \u201cNew Caribbean Identity Born.\u201d Caribbean Contact<\/em> Oct. 1988: 15.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowles, Roberta Q<\/strong>. \u201cLasana M. Sekou, Nativity and Dramatic Monologues for today.\u201d The Caribbean Writer 3<\/em> (1998). http:\/\/www.thecaribbeanwriter.org\/RevMainFrame.php?volsec=3054<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Masquerade” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"Masquerade\"Ian Valz <\/span>
\nMasquerade<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Martin; House of Nehesi
\n1988. 70 pages $10
\nISBN: 0-913441-06-6<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nKnowles, Roberta Q. \u201cIan Valz, Masquerade.\u201d The Caribbean Writer 3 (1988).\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.thecaribbeanwriter.org\/RevMainFrame.php?volsec=3055<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Born Here” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"bornhere\"Lasana M. Sekou<\/span>
\nBorn Here<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Philipsburg, St. Maarten, House of Nehesi
\n1986. 168 pages $10
\nISBN: 0-913441-05-8<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nFergus, Howard<\/strong>. \u201cSekou: A Poet of Protest.\u201d Caribbean Contact Jan. 1987.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeffry, Daniella<\/strong>. \u201c\u2018Born Here\u2019, a turning point in Sekou\u2019s development.\u201d St. Maarten\/St. Martin Newsday. 29 Aug. 1986.<\/p>\n

Pereira, Joseph<\/strong> (J.P.). \u201cA maturing voice from St. Maarten.\u201d The Sunday Gleaner<\/em> 30 Nov. 1986: 3C.<\/p>\n

Smith, WyCliffe<\/strong>. \u201cBorn here.\u201d Amigoe<\/em> (\u00d1apa) 13 Sept. 1986.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Journal of Caribbean” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

The following review has also appeared in Calabash \u2013 A Journal of Caribbean Arts and Letters<\/em>, 1.2 (2001): 65-71. <\/span>www.nyu.edu\/projects\/calabash<\/a><\/p>\n

Modern Literature in English in the Dutch Windward Islands: A Brief Introduction1<\/span>Fabian Adekunle Badejo<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Background<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The very definition of the geographical location of the three Caribbean islands that comprise the so-called Dutch Windward Islands indicates that things are not what they may seem to be. This is true also for the literature that is produced on the three territories \u2014 Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Martin.2<\/sup> The three tiny islands actually lie leeward and should consequently have been known as the Dutch Leeward Islands. However, with the Dutch West India Company headquartered in Cura\u00e7ao, the view from down there was obviously different. Similarly, the fact that they are Dutch colonies would logically lead to the assumption that the literature produced there would be in Dutch. As a matter of fact, literature in Dutch on the three islands is virtually non-existent, although among new arrivals from Cura\u00e7ao and Holland in particular, have been some writers dedicated especially to producing children\u2019s books. Nevertheless, it can safely be stated that there is no current writer of any repute writing in the Dutch language on any of the three islands. The language issue, as we shall later see, plays a central role in the creative output of those engaged in any form of literary production on the islands.<\/span><\/p>\n

In historical terms, literature in the Dutch Windward Islands has roots in the oral tradition of the territories in a manner similar to what obtains in the wider Caribbean. However, Wycliffe Smith (1981) notes that \u201cvery little has been done to preserve the oral literature of the Windward Islands.\u201d Twenty years later, nothing has changed substantially with regards to that observation. He similarly warned that \u201cimpinging cultural forces from abroad are slowly eroding the cultural heritage\u201d of these territories.<\/p>\n

The \u201ccultural forces from abroad\u201d to which Smith alludes include the pervasive influence of American pop culture via music (radio and lately MTV and BET on cable television) as well as movies and Cable TV sitcoms and soap operas. But according to Smith, those forces also come from the rest of the Caribbean. \u201cOver the years,\u201d he notes, \u201cthe folk literature of the (Dutch) Windward Islands has become more and more imbued by West Indian and American influences. The calypso, reggae music, and of late the Rastafarian movement have transformed the lifestyles of particularly the youth. The American way of life, brought about by tourism and the mass media, is very evident in fashion, music and consumer goods on the islands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without diminishing the impact of these influences, Smith\u2019s view however presupposes that the islands had once been immune to such outside influences. This is, however, historically inaccurate. From their very birth, the three islands have indeed attracted foreigners from all parts of the globe. As I have noted elsewhere with regards to St. Martin, the \u201copen-shore, open arms acceptance of foreigners forms a fundamental aspect of the character of the island. Being an island of immigrants who, in turn have known the sweet and seamy sides of emigration, tolerance of foreigners has become connatural to the inhabitants.\u201d3<\/sup> Foreign influences have therefore not been inimical to the development of an authentic culture in the Dutch Windward Islands, nor have they stultified the growth of this, as Smith seems to suggest, but rather have been (and continue to be) the very strands from which an autochthonous culture has been woven (and continues to be woven).<\/p>\n

The difficulty in finding a body of literature that can be easily identified as being peculiar to St. Martin and the other two Dutch Windward Islands is, in part, due to the erroneous approach of trying to sift out those \u201ccultural forces from abroad.\u201d In other words, all attempts to define St. Martin culture as something essentially separate and distinct from Caribbean culture is doomed to remain an exercise in futility. It is, however, curious to note that, despite centuries of Dutch and French domination, European influence continues to be minimal in comparison to the American and Caribbean influences Smith observed.<\/p>\n

With regards to literature, it is also noteworthy that a tradition of literary criticism has not fully developed on the islands, with Smith being a lone pioneer in this area, although strictly speaking he can be better classified as a literary historian. The development of literature has been inhibited by this, although there are several capable critics on the island such as Daniella Jeffry, Napolina Gumbs, Rhoda Arrindell, Alex Richards, Alain Richardson, etc. whose incisive critical comments have served as introductions to several of the publications of House of Nehesi Publishers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Language Issue<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But a more important constraint has been the language question, linked inexorably to the colonial educational policies pursued on the islands. Although it can be said that virtually all the languages spoken in the Caribbean can be heard on St. Martin, St. Martiners themselves are not really polyglots, even though they are often multi-lingual. They normally speak English at home, study in Dutch (or French) at school, and often socialize in Spanish and\/or Papiamento, which many of them have learned as a result of having been born in Aruba or Cura\u00e7ao, or having had to pursue further studies on those Papiamento-speaking islands. Their command of these languages is, however, quite often suspect, while the fact that their mother-tongue is not the official language of instruction at school often undermines their self-confidence in expressing themselves especially in written English.4<\/sup> As a result, they do not really speak nor write any of these languages confidently enough nor at a very high level of proficiency to enable them to express themselves creatively. It is no wonder then that those who have produced any tangible and noteworthy body of literary work mainly studied in the United States of America. These include \u201cveteran\u201d writers like Smith himself, who has written two volumes of poetry, the late Charles Borromeo Hodge and younger writers such as Lasana M. Sekou and Drisana Deborah Jack.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is another group of writers who, notwithstanding the educational system imposed on them, have added their voices to the literature of the Dutch Windward Islands. These include the short story teller and artist, Ruby Bute, who has published two volumes of poetry; actor-drummer and poet Ras Changa; actor-director-playwright Louie Laveist and journalist-poetess Esther Gumbs. The two groups of writers use language quite differently, with the first exhibiting a great measure of self-assurance, while the latter\u2019s works have apparently undergone quite a lot of editing, especially for syntax and grammar. It is consequently understandable that out of the two groups, only Sekou, a trained journalist and former editor of the island\u2019s oldest newspaper,\u00a0Newsday<\/em>, and Smith, an educator and former president of the University of St. Martin, have consistently written prose. Sekou has two volumes of short stories and a collection of dramatic monologues to his credit, apart from numerous newspaper and other scholarly essays and articles, while Smith has published the pioneering survey of poetry in the Dutch Windward Islands, Windward Islands Verse<\/em> (1981).<\/p>\n

The language issue is certainly one of the most important reasons why the majority of the published authors write mainly poetry. Many of them shy away from prose obviously because of the language factor. They can quickly claim \u201cpoetic license\u201d in their verse, when in fact it could be \u201clicentiousness\u201d \u2014 a lack of adequate command of the English language that admittedly results sometimes in a felicitous usage. In addition, the discipline, proficiency, and craft needed to write short stories, plays or full-length novels may be lacking in some authors of poetry.<\/p>\n

Recent educational changes have resulted in the use of English in a number of primary and secondary schools as the language of instruction. Though slow in materializing, these changes, coupled with a greater awareness of the role of language in the development of culture, as well as the growth of the print media in the last two decades, have given rise to quite a lot of literary activity on the islands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Publishing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But what has without doubt contributed to what can be referred to as a \u201cliterary renaissance of sorts\u201d particularly in St. Martin, is the establishment of the small publishing outfit, House of Nehesi Publishers, which has published every one of the writers mentioned above, with the exception of Smith.5<\/sup> For the first time in the history of the island, a professional publishing house, under the leadership of Sekou, has been able to gain the confidence of budding writers. Quickly establishing a reputation for itself as a serious publisher of quality books, House of Nehesi has become the major catalyst in the development of literature on the islands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although plays of Caribbean masters such as Derek Walcott (who has family links to St. Martin) and Trevor Rhone, have had lasting influence on the local playwrights and theater-goers, only a couple of playwrights have had their works published.6<\/sup> For example, plays by Smith, Linda Richardson, and Louie Laveist, all of St. Martin, and Miriam Schmidt in St. Eustatius, have not yet been published, although some of them have been performed with great success on the islands and abroad. Only Guyanese-born playwright-actor-director Ian Valz, who has made St. Martin his home, has published an award-winning full-length play, Masquerade<\/em>(1988).7<\/sup> This does not mean however that theater is not popular on the island. As a matter of fact, it has enjoyed quite some vibrant periods, especially with the works of Valz, Laveist, Sekou and this writer, as well as the immense contributions of theater groups such as the Cole Bay Theater Company, the Independent Theater Company, Theater International, the United Theater Company, Qualichi Players, et al, some of them now dormant or defunct, but all of which staged plays of both local and foreign writers that were well-received by audiences on the islands and beyond.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Classification<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In general, the writers can be grouped in terms of their political commitment and ideological inclinations or in terms of their style. Smith in Winds Above the Hills<\/em> (the first and to date, only published anthology of Dutch Windward Islands verse) classified the authors thematically: those who wrote about nature, those who wrote \u201cpatriotic\u201d or \u201cnationalistic\u201d verse, and those who wrote religious and love poems. In addition, he identified \u201cidentity\u201d poetry. However, most of these authors defy being pigeonholed \u2014 they tackle all kinds of themes, though they often show a predilection for a particular style. Most of them write in free verse, avoiding rhymes and relying more on rhythm and imagery to convey their messages.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Charles Borromeo” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

Charles Borromeo Hodge<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hodge is perhaps the most notable exception to this general tendency, often employing classic rhyme patterns in his poetry. He can also be considered the island\u2019s nature poet par excellence. In \u201cGreen Hills of St. Martin\u201d he extols the natural beauty of the hills, but laments that they are being defaced by excessive quarrying. For him, apparently only Divine intervention would be able to put an end to such \u201cdesecration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h3>\n

The green hills of St. Martin rise
\nIn regal splendor to the skies,
\nVeiled by the mists of dawning day
\nAs light and shadow dance and play
\nAcross the eternal slopes serene
\nAnd golden valleys in between
\nOblivious to the noisy flow
\nAnd struggle of man\u2019s world below<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh Lord by whose supreme decree<\/span>
\n These hills once reared untouched and free<\/span>
\n We pray that Thou may grant some sense<\/span>
\n To those who wreak this vile offense,<\/span>
\n And stay the all-destroying hand<\/span>
\n That desecrates this noble land,<\/span>
\n So that her riches may adorn<\/span>
\n Her generations yet unborn.8<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

Hodge\u2019s rhymes become less labored, less stilted, as he turns his talents to singing the praises of several island beauties in his love songs. Sylvina Gumbs is the \u201cfairest rose that ever blossomed\/From nature\u2019s loving toil.\u201d Gracita (Arrindell\u2019s) smile and eyes are all he can recollect from the hard-fought 1994 constitutional referendum campaign.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried but cannot recollect
\nWhich option won the prize,
\nYet every moment brings to mind
\nGracita\u2019s dancing eyes.9<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

And of the youthful Leslie Bharath, he sings:<\/p>\n

If classic beauty, youth, and grace,
\nAre but a woman\u2019s curse,
\nThen Leslie bears a burden which
\nBy far outweighs the worse.10<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

But beauty, charm and grace can rip open the jealous vein of the poet as when he writes about a lost love in \u201cHeartbreak\u201d:<\/p>\n

Somewhere beneath a star-swept tropic sky
\nSome brute\u2019s vile heart against her own is pressed,
\nAnd his rude ears rejoice to hear her sigh
\nWith passion burning in her panting breast;
\nSomewhere my princess dreams beneath her palms
\nLulled by the music of the wind and sea,
\nWhile I afar bemoan her elf-like charms
\nAnd wonder if she sometimes thinks of me.11<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

And he shows his often-concealed humorous side when he states what many Caribbean men consider the canon of female beauty in \u201cThose Big Bouncing Beauties\u201d when he sings:<\/p>\n

What others see in skinny girls
\nI\u2019ll never comprehend
\nI\u2019ll trade the whole bunch any day
\nFor one plump lady friend.12<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Sekou school” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

The \u201cSekou school\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

The modern era of literature in the Dutch Windward Islands starts with Sekou. His return to his native St. Martin in the mid-1980s, after receiving his Masters degree in mass communications from Howard University \u2014 and before that studying under Amiri Baraka at the State University of New York at Stony Brook \u2014 marked a turning point in the development of modern literature on St. Martin and the other two Dutch Windward Islands. The quality of his literary output, in verse, prose and drama, has earned him regional and international recognition as one of the leading and most exciting poetic voices in the Caribbean, while his excellent pioneering work at the House of Nehesi Publishers, seeking out and publishing new literary talent, place him at the very apex of a new generation of writers who look up to him as an inspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n

With regards to his publishing activity, I stated in my keynote address at the official simultaneous launching of Kamau Brathwaite\u2019s latest volume of poetry Words Need Love Too<\/em> and of the Spanish translation of George Lamming\u2019s Coming, Coming Home: Conversations II<\/em> 13<\/sup> at CARIFESTA VII in St. Kitts that the St. Martin experience shows that \u201cbefore the establishment of House of Nehesi Publishers, very few St. Martin writers had been published and the one or two of them who ventured into self-publishing had to peddle their works among friends and family, and even had to give away their books. Today, there are about a dozen writers, whose works were published for the first time by House of Nehesi, and their works can be found in bookstores, the larger supermarkets, gift stores and even in the hands of newspaper vendors! Some of their publications have been sold out and reprinted, and at least three are being used as text books in universities in the USA and Canada. Book parties such as this one to launch new titles have become an important part of the cultural calendar of the island, and continue to attract hundreds of people, who come ready to purchase the books.\u201d14<\/sup><\/p>\n

What Sekou the prolific poet may have given up in terms of the quantity of his literary productions, due to his work as a publisher, he has no doubt gained in the maturity and quality of his work as well as in the inspiration he offers to others. In fact, a Sekou-school is discernible with disciples such as Drisana Deborah Jack and Esther Gumbs who have both imbued their quiet political radicalism with a poignant and determined poetic rebellion.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Drisana Deborah” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

Drisana Deborah Jack<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jack describes her own rebellious spirit thus:<\/span><\/p>\n

an errant thread\"\"
\na flower gone dead
\na squeaky-hinged door
\na bend in the way
\na rainy sun day
\na lazy eye
\na sea gone dry
\na weathered cheek
\na child that won\u2019t speak.15<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

Jack\u2019s first and only book to date, The Rainy Season<\/em> (1997), also contains some very brief short stories, including the one that gave the book its title, that should actually be read as prose-poems. With an uncanny talent for subtle irony, Jack writes of the numbing effects of colonialism and materialism that have seemingly conspired to abort the dream of political freedom from the womb of the St. Martin nation:<\/p>\n

so we stayed together
\nmy tribe and i
\nliving without a dream
\nsettling for comfortable reality
\neven if
\nthe comfort wasn\u2019t ours
\nbecause we believed the lie
\nthat
\nfree thought would enslave us
\nand
\nthe grave would be our summit16<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

But she would throw a defiant challenge later:<\/p>\n

i dare you to dream
\ndare you to dream of songs
\nsung and unsung
\nancient and unborn
\nsongs of rebellion
\nsongs of freedom
\nof love and loss
\nof protest and peace17<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

Calling Jack\u2019s tone that of \u201can activist, a fighter,\u201d Alain Richardson writes in the introduction to the volume that she is the \u201cclassic angry youth, rebellious yet profound and with a cause,\u201d and Lorna Goodison welcomes her \u201cstrong new voice which has come to join the chorus of inspired chanting of Caribbean women poets.\u201d18<\/sup><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Esther Gumbs” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

Esther Gumbs<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Esther Gumbs, another young rebel with a cause, is actually the youngest of the published poets and among the most talented new voices that are fearlessly intoning \u201credemption and liberation songs\u201d \u00e0 la Sekou. She uses her verse to cry for the liberation of her island from the throes of colonialism, to speak of her thirst for change, change, which according to her, \u201cwill make us hunger for a fight\/fight to overcome\/alles dat staat verkeerd.\u201d Lamenting the erosion of traditional values, she writes with a tone of disappointment:<\/span><\/p>\n

we don\u2019t love anymore\"\"
\nmy people
\nmy children
\nwe don\u2019t seek neighborhood gatherings
\nlike we used to
\nwe don\u2019t comb the soil of each other\u2019s hair roots
\nwhile soaking our flesh with melee and melee
\nlike we used to.19<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

According to Alex Richards, \u201cher poetry emerges delicate and apparently peaceful; but a centrifugal rage within churns below the surface and the verses come up from the challenge of the depths, escorted by jugglers and masquerades and furiously true to the context that inspired them. She most definitely is inspired by the writings of Lasana M. Sekou, but adds to this virulence, a feminine touch.\u201d20<\/sup><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Ruby Bute” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

Ruby Bute<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

With two collections of poetry \u2014 Golden Voices of S\u2019maatin<\/em> (1989) and Floral Bouquets to the Daughters of Eve<\/em>(1995), Bute has established a reputation for herself as a fine, mellow poetic voice devoid of any revolutionary ambitions. The first woman to publish a volume of poetry in St. Martin, Bute had already become renowned for her paintings. Poetry for her is not just another creative endeavor, but an extension of the palette and the canvas. Her thematic focus is on women issues \u2014 particularly the proverbial strength of the Afro-Caribbean woman \u2014 the preservation of traditional ways of life, and the natural beauty of her \u201cSweet S\u2019maatin Land.\u201d Bute is also a raconteur of folk tales and an art teacher who has been nurturing the talents of a new generation of St. Martin artists some of whom are showing quite some promise. Her profound love for her island, its people and culture finds resonance in her poems as well as in her paintings.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was chosen as the \u201coverall favorite artist\u201d of St. Martin in a survey commissioned by the House of Nehesi Publishers in 1999, due in part to the best-seller status of her first volume of poetry, Golden Voices<\/em>. Bute, referred to as \u201cthe first dame of St. Martin\u2019s cultural arts\u201d21<\/sup> is at peace with herself as a woman, as an artist, as a chronicler of a way of life that is being devoured by crass materialism and fierce competition. She writes in the opening poem of her second volume of poems, Floral Bouquets<\/em>:\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I am very pleased
\nWith all the cards
\nLife has dealt me
\nNever have I felt so at ease with myself,
\nLike the smell of sweet outdoor cooking,
\nWatching flames dance among the coals22<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

Writing about Bute\u2019s central theme of women in the foreword to Floral Bouquets<\/em>, Daniella Jeffry23<\/sup> states that she \u201ccelebrates life in its most trying forms\u201d and adds: \u201cThe autobiographical flavor of her analysis adds sincerity and profundity to the reality which she depicts with truth and forcefulness.\u201d That \u201cautobiographical flavor\u201d and a relaxed, even conformist attitude to life, permeates the writings of Bute.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Lasana Sekou” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

Lasana Sekou<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amiri Baraka would be mightily proud of the poetic talent of one of his most outstanding students \u2014 Lasana M. Sekou; and so would George Lamming, who, alluding to Sekou\u2019s Pan-Caribbean (and Pan-African) commitment, said of his second volume of short stories \u2014 Brotherhood of the Spurs<\/em> (1997) \u2014 \u201cit is his skillful interplay of (ancestral) memory and imagination which allows Sekou to take us across oceans and diverse cultures, domestic turbulence and territorial rivalries, without any feeling of rupture or discontinuity in the central theme of the narrative, which is the discovery and collective self-realization of a Caribbean people, whether their acquired identification be with St. Martin, Aruba, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Haiti, St. Thomas, Trinidad, Antigua, Saba, Anguilla. There is room for all in this imaginary family which has made of archipelago probably the first example of a global village.\u201d24<\/sup><\/p>\n

In fact, continuity, commitment, a strong sense of identity, of brotherhood, of family \u2014 all these elements are among the strong currents that propel Sekou\u2019s imagination and links him \u2014 through memory and imagination \u2014 to the Harlem Renaissance and to the well spring of tradition-literary and cultural \u2014 that has catapulted him to the forefront of a new breed of Caribbean writers.<\/p>\n

Inspired by a Renaissance Muse, Sekou\u2019s writing is imbued with a sense of urgency, and a passionate, serious appeal for love and unity as the pillars upon which a new St. Martin, a new Caribbean nation, should build its progress and prosperity. Sekou is a soldier for peace and unity, for love and compassion, launching his powerful guided verbal missiles against every target of colonialism and divisiveness. He is an unapologetic, unrelenting, and indefatigable freedom fighter, using all resources of his abundant talent to fire up his people, to big up the nation, to water the seeds of independence, and light up the torch of self-pride. He has discovered the taste of freedom in the sweat, blood, and tears that swelled the salt ponds of St. Martin; he has un-earthed the unifying symbols \u2014 buried in the heap of ignorance and suppressed by centuries of slavery and colonialism \u2014 to place them in the hands of a new generation like liberating flags that no gale can blow away.<\/p>\n

Sekou, a James Michener Fellow, is in essence a Renaissance Muse, who has leap-frogged into the 21st<\/sup> century with Bob Marley\u2019s \u201cRedemption Song\u201d on his lips and the rich blood of all his ancestors flowing through his veins into his pen.<\/p>\n

From Moods for Isis \u2013 Picture Poems of Love & Struggle<\/em> (1978) to Brotherhood of the Spurs<\/em>, Sekou has created a body of work, which has been attracting increasing critical attention. Some of them like Love Songs Make You Cry<\/em> (1989), his first collection of short stories, Nativity<\/em> (1988), and Brotherhood of the Spurs<\/em> have been used as text in literature and history courses at several universities.<\/p>\n

Whether in poetry or prose, Sekou deploys a rich and powerful imagery, in the same way Shaka, the Zulu, or Toussaint L\u2019Ouverture, the Haitian \u201cOpener,\u201d must have deployed their conquering armies, with style and intelligence \u2014 victory being their only goal. His voice rises above the mundane, far above the pedantic, and curls up like a smoke signal to all the sleeping warriors of the nation, calling them to arms, telling them that there can be no victory without love and labor. The beautiful Black woman that people the muse\u2019s youthful poems in For the Mighty Gods … An Offering<\/em> (1982) or Images in The Yard<\/em> (1983) and the ever-present youth are not only poetic personae, but also real torchbearers of a new dawn.<\/p>\n

In continuing the oral tradition, which nurtures his poetics, Sekou\u2019s lyrical poetry, and epic verse as in \u201cNativity,\u201d are not meant only for the pages of a book, but are alive when read aloud. This long performance poem places him in the orbit of the great Caribbean poet, Kamau Brathwaite, not only in form, but in content as well. Nobody recites his work better then the poet himself. His recitals are dramatic performances, which always has his audiences spellbound. The gift of oratory, of flawless delivery, obviously runs through Sekou\u2019s blood, as his father, the legendary journalist, publisher, and politician Jos\u00e9 Husurell Lake, Sr. was an acclaimed public speaker. Sekou\u2019s brother, publisher Joseph H. Lake, Jr., is well known for his powerful, pulpit-like public addresses. His maternal grandfather, Thomas E. Duruo, was a leading Garveyite and, said the late patriot Felix Choisy, one of St. Martin\u2019s three great orators of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

One of the most remarkable aspects of Sekou\u2019s literary output is his refreshing and daring use of language. He himself has described the polyglot and cosmopolitan nature of St. Martiners as an asset yet to be fully developed. \u201cThe whole of St. Martin is a language laboratory,\u201d he said in a 2000 lecture to mark the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nobody has been able to experiment and come up with fresh linguistic formulas for that laboratory like Sekou. The constant code switching from Standard English to St. Martin English to Spanish (and even Papiamento, Kw\u00e9y\u00f2l, Dutch, and French) and back has become a trademark of Sekou. And rather than stultify or render his poems or narrative difficult to understand, this recourse enhances his message and boosts his aesthetics. He achieves this because it is not a stylistic embellishment but a respectful exploration of the \u201cSt. Martin talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

From Wycliffe Smith to Lasana M. Sekou and the emerging \u201cSekou school,\u201d the modern literature of the Dutch Windward Islands has grown by leaps and bounds, quantitatively and qualitatively, to make it deserving of more serious critical attention. The voices of the authors resonate with unbridled imagination, with battle-thirsty eyes set on reclaiming their land, with an impassioned and blood-bonding integrationist kinship to the rest of the Caribbean. The time has come to listen to their songs with eager ears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. This brief overview of literature in English in the Dutch Windward Islands is based on an earlier article published in the literary journal Callalloo<\/em>, 21.3 (1998) under the title, \u201cIntroduction to Literature in English in the Dutch Windward Islands\u201d and on the article, \u201cLasana M. Sekou: The Renaissance Muse,\u201d published in the book St. Martin Massive! A Snapshot of Popular Artists<\/em>, House of Nehesi Publishers, Special Edition, St. Martin, 2000, pp. 21- 27.<\/p>\n

2. The 37-square mile island is in actual fact divided between the Dutch and the French. The Dutch spelling \u201cSint Maarten\u201d was adopted in 1946, as a way of the colonialists claiming the \u201cDutchness\u201d of the part of the island that falls directly under Dutch rule. Before then, the whole island was referred to as \u201cSaint Martin\u201d which is also the French spelling of the name purportedly given to the island by Christopher Columbus. Since this coincides with the English spelling of the name, (although the pronunciation is obviously different) and seeing that English is the mother tongue of the predominantly Black island population, this has become the preferred spelling used by the more progressive minds. The official Dutch spelling however remains \u201cSt. Maarten.\u201d For the purposes of this paper, however, we shall maintain the English spelling. And though we shall continue to refer to the three island territories as \u201cThe Dutch Windward Islands,\u201d this paper focuses mainly on St. Martin, the largest of the three, which has witnessed not only a tourist boom, but a cultural renaissance of sorts, exemplified in a great increase in literary production on the island.<\/p>\n

3. Claude: A Portrait of Power<\/em>, IFE International Publishing House, St. Martin, 1989, p. 4.<\/p>\n

4. Drs. Linda Richardson, Lectures in St. Martin, 1981 and 1983.<\/p>\n

5. With the exception of the survey, Windward Islands Verse<\/em> by Smith, his other works, including Mind Adrift<\/em>have been self-published. The St. Maarten Council on the Arts published Winds Above the Hills<\/em>, the first and only anthology of verse in the Dutch Windward Islands, compiled and edited by Smith in 1982.<\/p>\n

6. Sekou\u2019s monologue, \u201cCasino Man\u201d which appears in Nativity and Monologues for Today<\/em> (House of Nehesi, St. Martin, 1988) was adapted for the stage as a one-character play by Fabian Badejo in 1997. The play, starring actress Sylvina Gumbs was performed to rave reviews in St. Martin and Curacao that same year. Badejo has since written and directed a full-length play, \u201cThe Bad that Man and Woman Do,\u201d (1999) based on the monologue of the same title by Sekou. Other monologues in the book have also been performed in St. Martin.<\/p>\n

7. House of Nehesi Publishers, St. Martin, 1988. Louie Laveist\u2019s \u201cHouse that Jack Built and other plays\u201d is currently being prepared for publication by House of Nehesi.<\/p>\n

8. Songs and Images of St. Martin<\/em>, House of Nehesi Publishers, St. Martin, 1988, p. 11.<\/p>\n

9. -id- , p. 66<\/p>\n

10. -id- , p. 71<\/p>\n

11. -id- , p. 58<\/p>\n

12 -id- , p. 75<\/p>\n

13. Both books also published by House of Nehesi Publishers, St. Martin, 2000.<\/p>\n

14. Badejo, F. unpublished manuscript, St. Martin, 2000.<\/p>\n

15. The Rainy Season<\/em>, Drisana Jack, House of Nehesi Publishers, St. Martin, 1997.<\/p>\n

16. -id-, p. 16<\/p>\n

17. -id-, p. 61<\/p>\n

18. -id-, p. xiii<\/p>\n

19. Tales from the Great Salt Pond<\/em>, House of Nehesi Publishers, St. Martin, 1996, p. 35.<\/p>\n

20. -id-, p. x<\/p>\n

21. St. Martin Massive! A Snapshot of Popular Artists<\/em>, House of Nehesi Publishers, St. Martin, 2000.<\/p>\n

22. Floral Bouquets to the Daughters of Eve<\/em>, Columbia Publishers, San Francisco, California, 1996, p. 12.<\/p>\n

23. -id-, p. 7<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fabian Adekunle Badejo, who studied Caribbean literature in Spain, is an author and former Nigerian diplomat who has made St. Martin his home since 1981. In the early 1980s he was the director of the St. Maarten Council on the Arts, and from 1989 to the late 1990s he was the editor of the daily newspaper The St. Maarten Guardian<\/em>. In 1989, Badejo\u2019s Claude \u2013 A Portrait of Power<\/em> was published by IFE International Publishing House. He has been deeply involved with the cultural and social life of the island, and has done extensive writing on politics and current affairs, and on the nation\u2019s artists and artistic life. Badejo is one of the primary writers of the profiles in the book St. Martin Massive! A Snapshot on Popular Artists<\/em> (House of Nehesi Publishers, St. Martin \u00a9 2000).<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”A July 1 Story” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

The St. Martin Book as a National Product – A July 1 Story<\/strong>1<\/sup><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

ST. PETERS, St. Martin (June 28, 2002)<\/strong> \u2014 Once upon a time, the noted scholar\/author George Lamming said that one of the shortcomings undermining Caribbean societies\u2019 knowledge of self and environment\u2014and thus militating against the engagement of the best possible participatory creation and construction of progress for all of the region\u2019s people\u2014is linked to the fact that even in the countries and territories where there has been a \u201clively discourse\u201d with the book for over 100 years, most Caribbean people have \u201cnot been thought to leave school with the book as a companion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The book that should be a best friend, and not just a good friend, is indeed the national book \u2014 that is, the books written by authors of the region exploring the fullest range of the national worlds and the world in general through and with the experiences of and between their nations and the world. A good writer indeed writes about what he knows and here is where the reader and text are likely to have their best meeting and exchange, the most exciting grounation, which may be at once personal, familial, societal, national and universal. This is probably what the esteemed novelist Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez was debating when he warned us against imperialists, cloaked nowadays as globalists \u2014 be they political, militaristic, economic or cultural \u2014 whose unmediated imported products make us more solitary and unknown (\u201cworserer\u201d yet, to our selves), while thenational literature that evolves, emerges, materializes out of the national book is bound to make us more solidary, more known. The national \u201cstories\u201d in the book, the creative fictions and the researched, speculative, tested or proven facts, are exactly what is inspirational, elemental, and conveyers of the very engagement and production of material history and critically generative of the \u201clively discourse\u201d that is essential and indispensable to imagining and actually building independent, democratic, productive and prosperous lives, families and countries; forging fraternal relations, mutual respect, love of humanity, and peaceful coexistence among peoples and countries \u2014 or just to liberate subject nations and set them on their way to claim their sovereign future. All of that from a book?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Valerie\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\"Africa<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
L-R: Banking officer and humorist Fernando Clark and former commissioner of education Valerie Giterson at a book party discussing St. Martin Massive! A Snapshot of Popular Artists (2000). High school students in South Africa are all smiles after their literary club was presented with copies of St. Martin books in 2001.<\/i><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Okay, here is another way to look at the point being chased in this \u201cstory.\u201d A librarian talking about a habit of some St. Martin youths turning in their library card at the Jubilee Library upon graduating from high school, added with astonishment how boldly the young people told her that they won\u2019t need their card any more, \u201cBecausin Oi done with that.\u201d On the other hand, a municipal librarian from Marigot had noted a few years ago that the new French metropolitans, and as far as she knew, the then trickle of Dutch re-settlers from the Netherlands, normally visited the library and set up a relationship for man, woman and child. While the university years and life in general would one way or the other prove to our youths who dis\u2019 the book about the grave error of poor reading habits and of not befriending the book, the librarians\u2019 lament tells of an impoverished relationship with the book that is still too extant \u2014 and too close to school, in too many minds, and in too many homes, even if it results in only one child that thinks about being \u201cdone with that\u201d reading. The same reading, of the book, of the text, out of which are issued new ideas, new countries, new technologies, new businesses, new solutions, new challenges \u2026 in fact the very new cultural products so loved by so many \u2026 music, movies, dances, and yes, literatures.<\/p>\n

The point of the relationship that is being \u201cwuk\u2019 up\u201d here, as one would trod the road for Carnival, break fertile grounds to plant provisions or raise a new part of an old city, or farm the Freshwater Pond as a fish nursery, or commission a feasibility study to look into opening a new technology trade center within St. Martin\u2019s duty-free regime, or as one would mine the mind to heave forth new and renewing shoots of the people\u2019s genius to generate more sound and creatively original production in culture, education, science, politics and business \u2014 has to do with the book in general, the national book in particular and with reading as one of the indispensable combine needed as a life-long companion for personal success and national progress; for advancing the Caribbean civilization that I and I have been laboring and loving for for over four centuries, and for international coexistence. All of that from reading a book?The story of the Flamboyant or “July Tree” has been glorified in the paintings of Roland Richardson, and this year St. Martin’s national tree has been in full, fiery bloom in an uncommon way since May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\"flamboyant<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The story of the Flamboyant or “July Tree” has been glorified in the paintings of Roland Richardson, and this year St. Martin’s national tree has been in full, fiery bloom in an uncommon way since May.<\/i><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There is absolutely no indication that book reading in St. Martin is nearing any sort of a revolutionary activity, or even moderately so as should accompany a people, officially in the South and unofficially in the North, in search of a new political\/fiscal status or reviving a territory\u2019s stagnant economy \u2014 naturally limited as such is in a colony as opposed to the limitless possibilities once engaged progressively in an idependent country. But what is obvious is that the relationship with the book in St. Martin is light years ahead of where it was 20 or as early as 10 years ago. Books that are well researched, soundly written, creatively designed and published in St. Martin may have something to do with the courting of the book, and especially the embracing of the national book as a best friend. Maybe, there, is some seminal evidence of how it is the production of the national book and national literatures that first engender the real friendship for life with reading and the book and the life-inspiring, career-permeating and nation building investment and lasting wealth that is created and generated from that ever-lively companionship.<\/p>\n

One of the exciting features of the changing relationship between the nation\u2019s people and the St. Martin book, which is itself a new phenomenon as a \u201cnational\u201d product, is a kind of generosity with the book, a sharing of the actual product. It is probably normal with people who read a good book, that they want to talk about it and share copies with others, but given the newness of the weaning St. Martin \u201cbook culture\u201d let it be somebody else\u2019s challenge to disprove that this confident inching of generosity with the St. Martin book is more of an expression of the culture of hospitality developed, not during the tourism boom or during that former evil plant, the slave plantation, but certainly so during the Traditional St. Martin period (1848-1963). I first noticed an example of this silent sharing in the late 1980s after about five St. Martin books were published and well-publicized by Newsday<\/em>, Oral Gibbes, the Guardian<\/em>, PJD-2, Radio St. Martin and other national media. The poetry, drama, and short stories titles appeared within a span of four years \u2014 no way a small feat on the island up to that time, and where until that period, observed literary expert Fabian A. Badejo, there were homes where not a single book was bought and brought into the home as a literary companion by the adults of the home. Here is what appeared as a single sampling of the change that was to come, a known laborer, not known to be a willing reader or purchaser of books, wanted one of these five books autographed. When the author asked him for his full name, he whispered a bit timidly that it was for his daughter. \u201cTell me how old she is, so I could write something special for her,\u201d said the writer. \u201cShe four,\u201d whispered the workingman with calloused hands, then smiling with an almost subversive intent.<\/p>\n

The perception or interpretation of the father\u2019s smile as intently subversive might have been wishful thinking or generic memory on the part of the new author. And why not. The brave, beleaguered and beloved ancestors of tens of thousands of people in St. Martin and the millions of people in Nuestro Caribe<\/em> that are weaning and in want of a creatively known, solidary, lively and lasting relationship with the book were only a historic yesterday ago, just toddling over 150 years, tortured, imprisoned and murdered by their European enslavers for trying to read a word, a sentence, heaven forbid a letter, so imagine trying to open and read a book \u2026 like the Christian bible, for example. In St. Martin, there was no exception to this unholy rule and reign of terror against the mass of the African ancestors from 1648 until the emancipation was claimed by the bounded humanity of both parts of the island around July 1848. The people picked the Flamboyant\u2019s blood-flowered branches and waved joyfully to Freedom. Maybe the Flamboyant, also called the July tree by the old ones, was noticed and became part of the national culture by the people\u2019s own consciousness and creative act, because like this year (2002), it was uncommonly lush and in fiery bloom since May. The ancestors, and the more recent older heads, so many whom learned to read and write their own names during the last 80 years, had their earliest relationship with the book in the region, in the Americas, through such a visitation of violence and vile imagery against their manhood, their feminine beauty, their children\u2019s spirit and future; against their Motherland and the space of their new homelands in which they were trying to forge a \u201csociety,\u201d invariably in their, our image. To save their very soul and sanity, to save us from the fate of forgetfulness and successfully saving us from being a despicable people without a history, the ancestors wrote, recorded, imagined and read \u201cThe becoming of Caribbean people\u201d and the genesis of the national stories in the secrecy of the Ponum, in the syncretic shadows of saints, in the classicism of bachata, camouflaged in capoeria \u2026 and so on. This greatest of legacies, the very preservation and generation of our first \u201cknown\u201d stories so bequeathed to us in holy vessels of our cultural creations is in fact elemental to the very authenticity of the Caribbean aesthetics that identifies and distinguishes the national literatures as unique and yet as the resilient and ever deepening, expanding, permeating and ascending canon called Caribbean literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Bryson\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mrs. Oldine Bryson-Pantophlet (above), principal of the MAVO department of the Milton Peters College has made sure for the last few years that her high school students leave school with the St. Martin book as a companion. This year her graduating class received Lasana M. Sekou’s Brotherhood of the Spurs-a collection of short stories spanning over 300 years of St. Martin’s culture, family relations, travel and imagining of nation.<\/i><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The writing, reading, critiquing, teaching and sharing of the St. Martin book is a\u00a0natural part of the history, culture and dynamism of this Caribbean literature. The courting of the book as a companion, even its timid and at times toughing use in the island\u2019s classrooms have been evolving thus as part of the region\u2019s story and according to its own \u201cnational\u201d creativity and challenges. The sharing feature that may be more celebratory than material history for the scholars, and that has become a visibly exciting characteristic of the changing relationship to the book in St. Martin started to take a more defitive form in mid-1990s, interestingly sharpening in exprssion after Hurricane Luis. Now the St. Martin book has literally become a gift or a prize of value, to pass on with pride to children, to have in the house, to present to a friend, a lover, a parent; to invite the author to the classroom to talk about his or her book. And while the St. Martin book and the national literature, seminal as this combine may be, do not constitute a systemic or curricula staple among the other literatures taught to our children throughout the Dutch and French colonial-based education systems, the profiling of the St. Martin book has reached offices of government by its own and determined merit.<\/p>\n

National titles such as An Introduction of Government<\/em>, National Symbols of St. Martin<\/em>, Know Your Political History<\/em>, St. Martin Yesterday<\/em>, Today, and St. Martin Massive!<\/em> have become virtual protocol presentations to visiting dignitaries and are sought after as tourism promotion products (in which the native people are not depicted as grinning, unmanly, simple-minded or ahistorically exotic caricatures). It was during the tenure of Dennis Richardson as St. Martin\u2019s Lt. Governor, \u201cfunctionary\u201d as that office is for the Dutch state\u2019s supervision of its antiquated colonialism, that St. Martiners saw this official, one of their sons, took the courage and confidence in their cultural products, such as the book and present it consistently to visiting dignitaries. Here is a mirrored splinter of the dialogue descended from Legba, Janus, and dem so immortal constructs of humanity in search of causes and causal relationships: Has the practical official use of the St. Martin book been fueling significantly the changing relationship with the book or has the official involvement come about significantly because of the incremental popularization of the national book by the very laborers\u2019 \u201chandling\u201d of the text of the national stories?<\/p>\n

Visitors to Sweet St. Martin Land, and folks leaving on vacation are adding to this surely visible and slowly but steadily increasing sharing of the physical product of the national literature. Folks are packing the St. Martin book and taking this new friend along for their own reading and knowledge of the St. Martin people or as a gift to friends and family abroad. The books of Drisana Jack, Borromeo Hodge, Gerard van Veen, Joseph Lake, Jr., just to name a few, have joined the CDs of Beau Beau, Timo, Dow, Explosion and Tanny & The Boys, the Steve Thompson or Baker guavaberry, and the art of Roland Richardson, Joe Dominique, Ruby Bute, Ras Mosera and Cynric Griffith among others, as the authentic folksy or high end creations of the St. Martin culture and of the visitor\u2019s experience in the Charismatically Caribbean island. \u201cWe know tourists are buying some of the books made in St. Martin, and for years now teachers and some business people who come to love and respect the St. Martin people carry our books for friends and family during their vacation. But most of our books are bought and read in St. Martin,\u201d points out Jacqueline Sample, president of House of Nehesi Publishers, a non-profit foundation that is still very much dependent on young, adult and senior readers, cultural grant agencies and community-minded businesses that have the courage and confidence to invest in the creativity of the people\u2019s culture\u2014and the wealth and advance to human and national liberation that that national culture generates for the people of St. Martin by their very love and labor.<\/p>\n

All of that from a book? All of that and more from books when counted on and counted as our best friends.<\/p>\n

1. Sekou, Lasana M. “The St. Martin Book as a National Product – A July 1 Story.” St. Martin Business Week<\/em> 1-7 July 2002: 8-9, 19.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”About the Authors” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

About the Authors<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"MarionMarion Bethel<\/span> is a poet, short story writer, essayist and attorney from The Bahamas. A Cambridge University graduate, Bethel\u2019s writings have appeared in Callaloo<\/em>, The Massachusetts Review<\/em>, … <\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”fete-free copy” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

\"Tanbo-book\"<\/a>Free copy with all HNP orders \u2026 While supply last<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fete \u2013 Celebrating St. Martin Traditional Festive Music<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A special culture features publication, song, music, dance, carnival, and more, 48 pp.<\/p>\n

Contents: Foreword \u2022 Tanny & The Boys \u2022 B\u00e8b\u00e8 recalls \u2022 In a f\u00eate \u2022 Quimb\u00e9 \u2022 Carnival \u2022 \u201cJim Tucker\u201d Samuel \u2022 Ray Anthony Thomas Tale of a concert \u2022 A blast in The Netherlands \u2022 Ponum \u2022 A bumper crop \u2022 Eat, drink \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#c6c6c6″ show_divider=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”]<\/p>\n

Launched at St. Martin Book Fair. A \u201cmust read\u2018 selection by\u00a0Vogue<\/em>\u00a0magazine.
\nThe<\/em>\u00a0Adulterous Citiz<\/em>en \u2014 poems, stories, essays<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>byTishani Doshi<\/a><\/p>\n

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[\/et_pb_signup][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image admin_label=”The frock banner” src=”http:\/\/www.houseofnehesipublish.com\/images\/ads\/thefrock.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” animation=”left” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image admin_label=”fete banner” src=”http:\/\/www.houseofnehesipublish.com\/images\/ads\/fete_28726.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” animation=”left” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Book Reviews title” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”] Book Reviews [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Because of Prayer” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left”] Felecita T. Williams Because of Prayer Philipsburg, St. Martin, House of Nehesi Publishers 2010. $20 ISBN: 0-913441-68-6 Nicolaas, Quito. “Leven met hoop.” Caribe. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-398","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1562,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398\/revisions\/1562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}