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GREAT BAY, St. Martin (June 14, 2019)—Dr. Rhoda Arrindell and Nicole Cageare the winners of the “Presidents Award” fromthe St. Martin Book Fair 2019.

            Arrindell and Cage accepted the award at the Main Book Launch and Closing Ceremony of the festival’s 17^th edition, June 8. Corporate citizenMotorworld hosted the event at its glittering Showroom in Cole Bay, said book fair coordinator ShujahReiph. 

“The Presidents Award is presented to individuals and institutions whose work is noted for its excellence and for combining literary, cultural, and liberation components in the service of progress, of their people or nation, and of humanity,” said Lasana M. Sekou, projects director at House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP).

Dr. Rhoda Arrindell is a St. Martin educator, leading linguist, and author of Language, Culture, andIdentity in St. Martin. The former Humanities Division head at the University of St. Martin (USM) has taught English composition and literature.

Dr. Arrindell co-authored chapters in Agency in the Emergence of Creole Languages (Dr. Nicholas Faraclas, Ed.) and edited Brother Rich … , Creative Writing in St. Martin. In early June(following hurricane Irma’s destruction) she re-opened her youth sports academy and the multipurpose café, Source of Inspirational Learning (SoIL).

Nicole Cage, from Martinique, isan author,journalist, Spanish teacher, psychotherapist; and founderof the book publisherCimarrónEdiProd.

Cageis also a recipient of the coveted Casa de lasAméricas prize for Arc-en-ciel, l’espoir, a children and young adults poetry collection. Hernovels and poetry books includeL’Espagnole, Palabras de pazportiempos de Guerra,Dèyépawolsélanmou/Par-delà les mots,l’amour–Poèmes bilingue, and Vole avec elle.

The Presidents Award statue (always handcrafted of African wood and this year of Kenyan design), was presented to each awardee byReiphand Dr. Antonio Carmona Báez, USM president. The audience of some 300 guests included authors from around the world, tourists who timed their vacation to coincide with the annual St. Martin Book Fair, and St. Martin’s people from all walks of life, said Sekou.

Previous winners of what the Daily Herald has called a “prestigious award,” include KamauBrathwaite (Barbados), Benny Wenda (West Papua), Derek Walcott (St. Lucia), Dr. Quince Duncan (Costa Rica), Sir Roland Richardson (St. Martin), and EdwidgeDanticat (USA).

Conscious Lyrics Foundation (CLF) and the Book Fair Committee organized the St. Martin Book Fair, June 6 – 8,2019,in collaboration withstrategic partner St. Maarten Tourist Bureau;University of St. Martin (USM); L.C. Fleming Foundation; Motorworld; SOS Radio;and Nagico.ThePresidents Award is named after the presidents of CLF, HNP, and USM.