10D:Gerard van Veen presenting his “Schoolboy in Wartime – Memories of my Early Years” at University of St. Martin (USM). (John van Kerkhof photo)
Author Earl Lovelace (left) receiving The President’s Award from USM President Antonio Carmona Baéz (centre) and Book Fair Coordinator and Conscious Lyrics Foundation President Shujah Reiph. (John van Kerkhof photo)
Browsing books at USM during the second Book Fair day. (John van Kerkhof photo)
POND ISLAND/CUL DE SAC--Saturday’s second and final day of the sixteenth annual St. Martin Book Fair was marked by book sales, signings and workshops at University of St. Martin. One of the workshops was conducted by author/historian Gerard van Veen, launching his Schoolboy in Wartime – Memories of my Early Years.
This year’s Book Fair, traditionally marked by coordinator Shujah Reiph as the “best ever,” was closed off with literary evening readings by seven authors at the Museum in Sentry Hill Estate.
Van Veen was born in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, in 1933. He came to the Caribbean in 1961 and worked in pastoral, social, educational and cultural fields. In 1983, he made St. Maarten his home, after retiring from the priesthood in Aruba.
He is the author of various books and his column “Church News Bits” has appeared in the WeekEnder supplement of The Daily Herald for more than 20 years.
His latest publication, and the first featuring his own life and that of his family, was launched Saturday. The autobiographical book, published by House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP), tells the story of a Dutch family during World War II as seen through the eyes of a schoolboy.
The book launch included a writing workshop by Van Veen showing how adults – including senior citizens – can write books about their own dramatic or traumatic childhood experiences such as hurricanes, war, major accidents and immigration.
As the number of eyewitnesses of World War II is rapidly decreasing, autobiographies about this topic are becoming increasingly more important to provide younger generations with valuable information about this period in history.
“It is awesome to read what Van Veen remembers from his youth in wartime,” said HNP President Jacqueline Sample.
The Book Fair’s closing ceremony was held in the museum adjacent to Emilio’s restaurant at Sentry Hill Estate on Saturday evening. The programme for the evening consisted of literary readings in French and English by Nicole Cage, Steve Fola Gadet, Max Rippon, Sonia Williams, Earl Lovelace and Edwige Danticat.
Among the highlights was a reading by Young Poets Society member Tamara Groeneveldt, who gave a powerful rendition of her poem “After the Storm,” one of two strongly descriptive poems publicised to date by new generation poets in St. Maarten/St. Martin about the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and its social and environmental consequences.
At the end of the evening, Reiph and University of St. Martin (USM) President Antonio Carmona Baéz presented The President’s Awards to Haiti’s novelist, short story writer and human rights advocate Danticat from Haiti and to novelist, journalist, playwright and short story writer Lovelace from Trinidad and Tobago.
