Loekie Morales
PHILIPSBURG--Two stories by St. Maarten author Loekie Morales, who was born in Curaçao, have been selected by the National Library of Curaçao for publication in a gift book to be published during Children’s Book Week 2020.
Her story “Willemstad in Brand” (“Willemstad on Fire”) about the revolt of May 30, 1969, and “De Val van de Julianabrug” (“The Fall of the Juliana Bridge”) about the bridge’s collapse in 1967, were among the 15 contributions selected for the book.
Morales said she had submitted her two entries for the writing competition at the very last moment.
“On the day of the deadline for submitting the stories … I received a reminder from colleague-author Diana Lebacs to send in my story. Since I had not received an invitation letter to participate, I called the library to discover why. In first instance ‘foreign authors’ were not invited to participate. I was considered a St. Maarten author and the project leader did not want those authors to have expectations of being invited to the Book Week in Curaçao, since the funds are not there yet,” Morales said.
Because she thought that participating in a writing competition is not the same as participating in a book week visiting schools, she decided to put on her “naughty shoes” and send in her two stories about historical events in Curaçao.
To her great surprise, she received a letter with good news. “We greatly appreciate the contributions of all authors and poets and would like to thank all of you in this way for your participation. Our expectations have been amply exceeded by so much creativity, originality and talent from local and international writers and poets,” the National Library said in the letter.
A judging committee received 32 stories and poems from 26 authors and was faced with “a very difficult task” in making a selection, it was stated.
“I am so happy to have my stories published in such a prestigious book, that will be distributed to all primary schools in Curaçao, especially during the Children’s Book Week. I am really grateful,” Morales concluded.
