St. Martin's Lasana Sekou, guest judge at Barbados Independence Arts Festival

St. Martin publisher Lasana Sekou returned here last week from Barbados, where he was the Literary Arts guest judge of the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA), according to Cultural Officer Ayesha Gibson.

While in Barbados for the “NIFCA season 2019,” Sekou conducted the Poetry Master Class, and the Seminar, “‘Publish and Be Blessed’: The challenge to locate the center of Caribbean Literature in the Caribbean region.” facebook.com/BarbadosNCF.

Gibson told Seminar participants that “there’s a connection between St. Martin and Barbados” with Sekou’s publishing of leading Bajan authors such as George Lamming and Kamau Brathwaite at House of Nehesi Publishers.

Gibson told Sekou following the literary and publishing workshops that, “Your energy and enthusiasm, for Caribbean Literature, and it’s direct connection to our civilization and identity, is infectious.”

“It’s a tremendous honor,” said Sekou on Wednesday, “to have been invited by the National Cultural Foundation Barbados, to participate in the literary activities of the country’s 53rd anniversary of independence.”