NOTED TRINIDADIAN AUTHOR VISITS BVI
Artists, writers and school students in the BVI had the unique opportunity this past week to interact with noted Caribbean historian and writer Michael Anthony. He visited the territory as guest of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC).
Mr. Anthony, author of several popular books including The Year in San Fernando, Green Days by the River, Streets of Conflict, All that Glitters and In the Heat of the Day, opened the College’s Spring 2001 lecture Series on Wednesday night. His lecture was entitled “The Writer and the Sense of Place”. The session was sponsored jointly by the BVI Tourist Board and residents had the privilege of having the author sign their personal copies of his books.
The 70-year old writer of several history texts and more than
15 novels hails from Trinidad. Young people throughout the English-speaking
Caribbean can recall some of his most famous novels, including
The Games Were Coming and some of his most popular short stories
in the collection Cricket in the Road, such as Drunkard of the
River, The Valley of Cocoa, The Patch of Guava and The Sapodilla
Tree. His last publication was The Historical Dictionary of Trinidad
and Tobago in 1997. He expects to release three titles in 2001
- Anaparima - The History of San Fernando; Carnival, Calypso
and Steelband and The High Tide of Intrigue.
Compliments the Representative for District Two, the Honourable
J. Alvin Christopher, residents on Jost Van Dyke were treated
to a campfire, lecture, storytelling and book signing session
with Mr. Anthony on Tuesday evening. Hon. Ralph T. O’Neal,
Representative for the Ninth District, also sponsored a lecture
and book signing session at Anegada School in The Settlement.
On Thursday, the author traveled to Virgin Gorda for a lecture and book signing at the Bregado Flax Educational Centre in the afternoon and a reading and book signing at the Ashford Waters Community Centre later in the evening. This morning, Friday, the students and Teachers at the BVI High School were treated to a reading and book signing and this evening, writers and artists will be able to share their works and chat with the writer. This is Michael Anthony’s first visit to the British Virgin Islands. He told the Island Sun he was really fascinated with the territory and hoped to be able to answer questions from children who have read his books and “learn a thing or two”. He related his beginnings in the field, indicating that he started to like writing from infancy as he grew up in the scenic village of Mayaro. “I found I liked poetry…I liked the sound of words and I developed the feeling that I wanted to write about Mayaro,” he stated. He said he actually started feeling he wanted to be a writer when he was around the age of 12 years.
Mr. Anthony said his main objective was trying to be a poet and so he started sending poems to the newspapers, which “they humoured me by publishing”. In the meantime, he did apprenticeship in foundry and took to athletics, but he didn’t like it and thought the only way out was to become a journalist. With this in mind, he headed to London in 1954, where he began his writing career, first sending poems to the programme Caribbean Voices on the BBC. In London, he worked with the Post Office and then at Reuters as a teleprinter operator and later a journalist. “When the programme stopped in 1958, I felt stranded and I sent some short stories to a publisher, who encouraged me to write a novel, which I had published in 1963 and after that I felt more confident,” he told The Island Sun. After living overseas, including a two-year stint in Brazil, he returned home to Trinidad and Tobago. There, he worked for the National Cultural Council and continued writing and doing historical work.
Over the years, Mr. Anthony has toured many countries, including Anguilla, London, USA and Jamaica. Of the BVI, he said: “Generally, I feel very, very different here, I am happy to be here and this is certainly one of the highlights of my touring years.”
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