Crossing the Seas - Sint Maarten

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A programme with literature and music from Indonesia, the Netherlands, South-Africa, Suriname, Saint Martin, Curaçao and Aruba, with MC Joy Reiph-Arnell, and musical performance by singer La-Vaune Henry, accopanied by artist and musician Mosera. Six authors travel from island to island in these weeks, for the festival Crossing the Seas. This evening they perform with their Aruban fellow-authors Papa Umpe and Ruby Bute. The Dutch former 'Dichter des Vaderlands (inoffical 'poet laureate') Gerrit Komrij will perform his poems. One of the main writers from Indonesia, Putu Wijaya, wil read one of his wonderful stories. The Dutch/Surinamese novelist Clark Accord - known through his debut-novel De Koningin van Paramaribo (The Queen of Paramaribo) - wil read from his latest novel Tussen Apoera en Oreala (Between Apoera and Oreala). Poet Diana Ferrus comes from Cape Town. She became known through her poem on Saartje Baartman, the  'Hottentot-Venus', a black South-African woman who in the 19th century was forced to travel through Europe as a kermiss-attraction. Myra Römer, born in Curaçao, now lives in The Netherlands. Early she a surprising writers' debut with Verhalen van Fita (Stories of Fita), about a girl growing up in Curaçao in the fifties. Drisana Deborah Jack is a poet from this island.  All foreign authors will read in their mother tongue, while their text is simultaneously projected on a screen in English.

Information

Date and time Friday 15 April 2005 from 20:00 to 23:00 hrs
Location Community & Cultural Center - Sint Maarten

Line-up

Clark Accord

(Paramaribo, 1961) moved to The Netherlands when he was 17. He studied at medical school and worked for several years at the AMC Hospital in Amsterdam . After that, he studied to be a beautician in Amsterdam and left to live in Vienna for six years. He built a successful career as a make-up artist in several countries and his creations can be seen in magazines such as Elle, Marie-Claire and Elegance. In 1999 he made his debut with the historical novel De koningin van Paramaribo (The queen of Paramaribo) and participated for the first time in the Winternachten festival. In 2001 a musical was made of this succesful book.Clark Accord writes columns for amongst others Man and News Magazine. His second novel Tussen Apoera & Oreala (Between Apoera & Oreala) was published in January 2005.
WN 2005
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Diana Ferrus

(Worcester, South-Africa, 1953) is a writer, poet and activist for marginalised African women. She works at the University of West Cape, where she also participates in a Women's Studies course. Ferrus is a member of WEAVE (Women’s Education & Artistic Voice Expression), an artist's collective in Capetown. She became well known with her poem Tribute to Sarah Baartman. The poem was translated and included in the French governmental documents that were necessary for the transportation of the remains of Sarah Baartman - in nineteen century Europe known as the Hottentot Venus. The remains left Paris and eventually arrived in South Africa in 2002 where they were buried. Ferrus published her first collection of poetry in the Afrikaans language called 'Ons Komvandaan' ('We come from') in 2006 and was the co-editor for a book about fathers and daughters called, Slaan vir my 'n masker, Vader (Forge Me a Mask, Father). She recently released a cd of poetry with music by the band Mamela, called "Never again", "Nooit weer nie".
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Drisana Deborah Jack

(St. Martin, Netherlands Antilles) is a poet and visual artist. Her work currently deals with trans-cultural existence, memory, the effects of colonialism and mythology through re-memory. Salt, the sea and hurricanes reoccur as metaphors in her body of work. In her poetry and visual art she tries to go beyond the parameters of style and genres. Her literature is as much music, dance and art as it is text. For her artwork, which is an expression of a personal and cultural history, she uses paint, video, photography, sound and poetry. She has published two poetry collections, The Rainy Season (1997) and Skin (2006). Her visual art has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally. Her poetry has appeared in The Caribbean Writer and Calabash and has recited her work in the Caribbean, United States, South Africa and the Netherlands. Deborah Jack is an Assistant Professor of Art at New Jersey City University.
20060123221334

Gerrit Komrij

(Winterswijk, 1944) was the first Poet Laureate of the Netherlands. He is considered one of the best columnists in the country, a novelist, renowned translator, and an enhtusiastic reviewer of poetry. Komrij is a cat in a Strange Warehouse, as he called a book of collected essays that came out in 2001. The world is never a trusted or obvious place, but if you look good, there's always something surprising around. 'I don't think I'm a no-nonsense guy. There's too much noise inside of me'. Komrij, who has lived in Portugal since 1984, is one of the most productive Dutch writers. Since 1968 he has published several works annually. Recently Komrij's choice of the one-hundred best Dutch poems (2008) appeared, in addition to an anthology of Dutch children's poetry in over 1000 poems (2007) and Kakafonie (2006), an 'encyclopaedia of shit'. In 2005 he published Eendagsvliegen (Ephemera, literary diary entries) and a volume of poetry Fata Morgana.
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Putu Wijaya

(Bali, 1944) after completing his law study in Yogyakarta followed his artistic vocation and became a writer, dramatist, scriptwriter, journalist and essayist. He gained a lot of experience abroad. From 1985 to 1988 he worked as writer and director for various universities in the U.S.A and he taught modern Indonesian literature and theater. He has his own theater group Mandiri, which he founded at the beginning of the 1970's. In his short stories Putu Wijaya likes to shock and desorientate his readers; according to him he places 'mental time bomb's' in the ordinairy life of ordinairy people. Surrealism and absurdism, humor and violence form the foundations of his stories. Putu Wijaya avoids analysing and moralizing; he leaves the end open and the reader confused.
WIN2003



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Joy Reiph-Arnell

is head of the Women's Desk of the Government of Sint Maarten. She is the co-host of the radio talkshow "Conversations", advisor to the Conscious Lyrics Foundation and former interimhead of the Department of Culture. She is an amateurartist in dance and drama.
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Ruby Bute

(Ruby Angelica) was born in Aruba on the 13th of January 1943 and came to Sint Maarten on the 6th of November 1976. Since 1986 Ruby Bute is employee at the Department of Culture. She is also art-teacher at the John Larmonie Center. She was the first woman who organised after-school-activities for children of elementary schools. Ruby Butes' endeavor is to promote young upcoming artists for the pride of Sint Maarten. Besides her art she is known for her poems, collected in Golden Voices of S'maatin and Floral Bouquet to the Daughters of Eve (published in January 1996). Ruby Bute was honored and awarded many times in the Caribbean. On the 11th of January 2004 she received a lifetime achievement award from the Municipality of French St. Martin.
WIN 2005
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Papa Mpho

(Garfield Young) is a leading St. Martin storyteller. As Papa Mpho, Young’s dramatic performances of Caribbean folktales for schools, churches and private gatherings are thrilling. He is verse in the history of story telling in St. Martin and the African Diaspora. He regularly conducts workshops on the oral traditions from Africa and the Caribbean’s traditional and modern periods. Young is a teacher on a secondary school and a business Administration instructor at University of St. Martin.
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La-Vaune Henry & Mosera

La-Vaune Henry was born on the island of St. Maarten. As a young child she was encouraged by her parents to join two choirs to gain knowledge and confidence. She won many song festivals around the Caribbean region. After completing her secondary education, Henry received a scholarship from the Island Government of St. Maarten to study abroad. In 1991 she went to the Netherlands to study voice performance with Trudi Koeleman at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. She studied with many professional voice teachers in Germany, Switzerland and England and sang roles in Mozart's Figaro, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Bizet's Carmen. She returned to St. Maarten, where she gave concerts and voice lessons for children and adults. In 1999 Henry received an Ambassadorial Scholarship and went to the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. In 2003 La-Vaune Henry returned to St. Maarten, and is now teaching Music and Drama at the Sundial School (secondary school).
During her performance in Crossing the Seas 2005 she is accompanied by Mosera.
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Myra Römer

(Curaçao, 1946) left the island for the Netherlands to study Visual Arts in Tilburg. In Groningen she continued her studies, now in Art History and Archeology. She worked as a teacher and manager in a secondary school. Now she has retired. In 2001 her first poetry was published in a collection called Na mi nombre/ Bij mijn naam. In the same year her poetic work appeared in the collection Voetsporen. Myra regularly performs at literary events. Early 2005 her first prose was published: Stories of Fita. Römer writes her stories in Dutch, most of her poetry is in the language of her heart: Papiamentu. Myra Römer is also a painter. Since 1970 her work has been exhibited at several galeries.
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