New
Anthology of St. Lucian poems and art launched
The National Cultural Centre, Castries, Saint Lucia, was the setting on
Monday morning November 24th when the CDF launched its latest
publication, “Sent Lisi: Poems and Art of
Saint Lucia.”
The publication is dedicated to veteran St. Lucian
writer McDonald Dixon, in celebration of his 70th birthday on
October 1st.
It was described at the book launch as “an iconic
collection”, which features the work of Nobel laureate Derek Walcott (his poems
and art), Sir Dunstan St. Omer, the late Roderick Walcott and deceased icon
Harry Simmons alongside the poems and art of younger St. Lucian writers and
artists. Eighteen writers and seventeen artists are featured.
The anthology is selected and edited by Kendel
Hippolyte, Jane King, John Robert Lee and Vladimir Lucien, St. Lucian authors
with several publications between them. Their own work is recognised
internationally and regionally.
In her foreword Jane King writes that the
compilation “is an astoundingly flavourful book, a sensual collection that
evokes not just the stories and landscapes of yesteryear, but somehow the
sounds and smells of it as well.”
The Bank of St. Lucia, Lucelec and the Jubilee
Trust Fund were sponsoring partners on this publication. The cover art is “The
Blue Madonna” by Sir Dunstan St. Omer and the back cover art is by Raphael
‘Rinvelle’ Philip, who is also the book designer. The book was printed by The
Document Centre.
In his remarks, Co-Editor Lee said that the Anthology was "not only a gift to McDonald Dixon, who deserves it, after a lifetime of dedication to the arts and literary craft; but to our own Sent Lisi, to pep Sent Lisyens, to older and younger St. Lucians, all who have nurtured their artists, writers, musicians, dancers and actors; to those for whom we write, paint and sing.."
Copies are on sale at the CDF and the Folk
Research Centre. They can be ordered from outside St. Lucia by emailing John Robert Lee at johnrenator@gmail.com.
McDonald Dixon
King, Hippolyte, Lucien, Lee
