The 7^th Annual St. Martin Book Fair will be held June 4 – 6, 2009, in Marigot, St. Martin. The book Fair is organized by Conscious Lyrics Foundation and House of Nehesi Publishers in collaboration with the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau and the University of St. Martin. The book fair venues for 2009 are the Chamber of Commerce Building, University of St. Martin, Marigot Public Library, Belair Community Center, and schools throughout the island. Dr. Molefi K. Asanté, Jr. will open the book fair as keynote speaker at the Chamber of Commerce Building in Marigot on Thursday, June 4 at 8pm.

“Each year the Book Fair invites a St. Martin author to be representative of the nation’s authors and writers,” says Shujah Reiph, coordinator of the fair. The representative author is usually one whose book was published in the previous year or during the current book fair year. This year, Dr. Judith Arndell, a clinical psychologist, will be the representative author. Dr. Arndell is the author of Secret Pains: Identifying and Overcoming Unresolved Inner Pains and Anger from Parental Abandonment (2008). She is also the co-founder and president of Ujima Foundation, which operates a residential therapeutic facility for “at-risk” boys. At the book fair, Arndell will participate in various activities, including book signings for her own book and a workshop (on June 6 at the University of St. Martin) where she will discuss her book, stress and anxiety management, as well as strategies for letting go of past pains.

A variety of related events have been under way preceding the opening of this year’s book fair. The Book Fair Committee connected school children and the elderly at the St. Martin Home at St. John Estate and the Bethany Home in Marigot to share the joy of reading.  Reiph explains that “It was a beautiful and dignified sight to see those from a generation that once told us stories from memory now enjoying stories being read to them from Caribbean books by our youngsters.”

Among the confirmed book fair participants are: George Lamming (Barbados), Dr. Molefi K. Asante, Jr. (USA), Sir Roland Richardson (St. Martin), Dr. Afua Cooper (Canada/Jamaica), Dr. Judith Arndell (St. Maarten), Nicole Cage (Martinique), Dr. Danabang Kuwabong (Ghana/Puerto Rico), Caridad Tamayo Fernández (Cuba), Dr. Sandra Paquet (USA), Ernest Pépin (Guadeloupe), Lochard Noel (USA/Haiti), Nicholas Laughlin (Trinidad & Tobago), Max Rippon (Guadeloupe), Mustafa Stitou (Netherlands/Morocco), and Lucia Nankoe (Netherlands/Suriname).

For more information, see http://www.sxmislandtime.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6203 and http://www.sxmislandtime.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6517:the-joy-of-reading-shared-with-the-elderly&catid=31:general&Itemid=76