by
Fabian Adekunle Badejo
St. Martin, Caribbean (February 20, 2013)—Thirty years ago, when Lasana M. Sekou started
House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP), he was the only author the new publishing
outfit had or could count on. Three decades later, HNP has established itself
as a leading multi-media publishing house in the Caribbean with over 75 titles,
including books by world renowned authors George Lamming, Kamau Brathwaite, and
Amiri Baraka, to name just a few. However, its emphasis continues to be in
developing St. Martin authors in consonance with its stated mission of a “critical
development of the ‘national literature’ of St. Martin, North and South, as a
natural part of the dynamic, world-class literatures of the Caribbean.”
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| HNP president Jacqueline Sample (R) and HNP founder and projects director Lasana M. Sekou, at a publisher’s breakfast meeting, New York City, 2007. Photo © HNP. |
Although
the book publishing division was established in New York in 1982, when Sekou
was an undergraduate at Stony Brook University – literally in his
dorm room – the idea of founding a publishing house was consolidated
and the coining of the name “House of Nehesi” was settled on in 1980, with
the completion of his second manuscript, For The Mighty Gods … An
Offering. HNP was registered as a Foundation in Philipsburg,
St. Martin, in 1986
HNP’s
primary activity is the publishing of books for the adult/general
readership and for the research/academic, scholastic, and children “markets” in
areas that include literature, education, history, biography, tourism, and
entertainment but that are not exclusive to these.
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| Nidaa Koury |
The
island’s only book publishing house, HNP has in the last 15 years embarked on a
policy of simultaneously bringing out multi-lingual editions. It has published
Lamming’s groundbreaking essay Coming Coming Home in English,
French, and Spanish. Other trilingual titles followed: Eva-Sion-s by
Sherezada Luisa “Chiqui” Vicioso, an outstanding author and ambassador of the
Dominican Republic; the seminal long poem Nativity by Sekou;
and the English, Arabic, and Hebrew edition of Book of Sins by
the Palestinian/Israeli Nidaa Khoury, considered “one of the major exponents of
modernist Arab women writing.”
These
multi-lingual publications have become policy at HNP, the idea being that
offering the work in the main languages of the Caribbean – with a determination
to extend these to “nation languages” such as Kwéyòl, Haitian, and Papiamentu –
would extend its domain of mediation and make it accessible immediately to a
wider readership.
In other
words, rather than wait – sometimes “eternally” – for a translated version of a
book, the reader in the main linguistic zones of the region would have this in
the same original tome. This cuts down the waiting time and makes comparisons
possible of the original text with its translated versions. In an anniversary
year message to Sekou last December, Chiqui Vicioso expresses what it might
mean to the writer to be published in this manner: “You do not imagine how
fortunate I have been to have been published by you. It is an invaluable
literary reference.”
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| Pop van Sint Maarten. Foto © Janek Wolowski |
This HNP
policy is in accordance with the idea of bridging the linguistic gulf between
the various countries and territories of the Caribbean. In this sense, it
responds to an eminently Pan-Caribbean philosophy, aided by the linguistic
plurality of St. Martin where English, Dutch and French are official languages,
the first two in the Southern half of the island, still a Dutch territory and
the last in the Northern portion, a territory of France. However, unofficially,
Spanish is the second most spoken language on the island, after English, which
Sekou has called the “nation tongue” of St. Martin.
While the
institutions have not yet been established to tap into the “linguistic
versatility” of the average St. Martiner – a term coined by linguist Dr. Rhoda
Arrindell, HNP has already begun to systematically make use of this resource in
a pioneering way that could become the norm in the Caribbean, if the necessary
structures are put in place.
“The
experience of House of Nehesi Publishers and its impact on the development of
literature and reading on St. Martin is illustrative of why it is necessary to
have our own publishing houses in the Caribbean,” is a point I made in Salted
Tongues: Modern Literature in St. Martin.
As a
not-for-profit foundation, HNP, in the best of that Caribbean spirit of
survival, has been able to navigate through the suspicion and even distrust of
officialdom to survive largely on its own creativity as St. Martin’s leading
book publishing house.
In relation
to its work with authors, books, and seminars in St. Martin and other parts of
the Caribbean and beyond, the great Brathwaite, in an anniversary tribute
poem, calls HNP a “Guard-wall & guard-well” that is fostering “scimitars/of
truth & light From islands to islands & the meaning/of mainland(s).”
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| HNP president Jacqueline Sample exhibiting the Caribbean publisher’s books at a Hudson Valley Community College literary reading, New York. Photo © HNP. |
Whether it
is illustrated creatively or as hard news, HNP has actually become much more
than a traditional book publishing outfit whose books have become compulsory
and supplementary reading in schools and universities around the region, the
USA, Canada, and the UK.
HNP, with
its various multi-media divisions – a recording label, a film/video production
unit, editing services and a communication consultancy arm, has become an
engine of cultural development and transformation in St. Martin. Thriving on
the synergy between its various divisions, HNP’s emphasis on quality products
has set it aside as a giant in its field, notwithstanding its very limited
resources and not-for-profit status.
Among its
“compounding” activities are sponsoring and judging of children’s poetry,
essay, and photo contests; coordinating educational/historical fora such as the
Marcus Garvey Centennial forum/awards ceremony with the Philipsburg Jubilee
Library and Idile Foundation, the 1994 workshop/lecture by George Lamming, and
the 1994 constitutional pre-Referendum forum. HNP was involved with
co-directing the “Traditions” theater festivals in the 1980s with St. Maarten
Council on the Arts, and in directing and co-sponsoring manifestations for the
Youth Explorers (teenage drama group).
Other
activities that HNP has engaged in include co-sponsoring the school vacation
motivational workshops, “In Session with the Youth” (2001); and the annual St.
Martin Book Fair with Conscious Lyrics Foundation for the last ten years. In
2003, HNP organized a Creative Writing Program, which produced a collection of
short stories and poetry written by the participants and edited by Rhoda
Arrindell.
Similarly,
HNP spearheaded the first traditional Boardwalk Mas, which it organized on
behalf of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau in 2005. HNP published its first
eBook in 2012, and plans to bring a few more online during the 30th anniversary
production period that will stretch to August 2013. HNP also plans to publish
an anthology of some 20 of St. Martin’s mostly new generation poets in 2013.
The Fête recording
by Tanny & The Boys, National Symbols of St. Martin, St.
Martin Massive!, and Yvette’s cookbook, already in its third printing since
being launched at the 2011 book fair, are all HNP publications that have become
iconic of St. Martin culture. The hurricane book is still in production. The
scripting, additional interviews, editing, and DVD design and production of the
Ponum dance documentary film is still on hold – mostly for lack of funds. In
1997, the highly successful fundraising under the auspices of then Lt. Gov.
Dennis Richardson and first lady Mariolijn Richardson paid for the Ponum
choreography that HNP commissioned to Clara Reyes, provided the honorarium for
the dance experts, and afforded the cost to stage and film the choreography and
various footage.
In 2011,
HNP opened the “Petition to Protect the Great Salt Pond” and plans to present
over 1,200 collected signatures to Parliament in 2013. In fact, there is no
area of cultural expression that HNP has not been involved in, including art
exhibitions, socio-educational forums, reading/writing stimulation programs,
“book parties” and other promotional activities for books it has
published.
Sekou
refers to HNP as “a network organization.” When it comes to its publishing
division alone, the company’s project-driven aspect kicks into gear at the start-up
of each book project. Upwards to 15 people and companies are coordinated by
Sekou, thus his title of projects director, a title that I still think is a bit
too modest.
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| George Lamming |
HNP
president Jacqueline Sample often advises Sekou, “If someone brings you a paper
clip during a production, say ‘Thank you’ and give them due credit.” There’s
also a fondness and respect that Sekou expresses mostly in private for the
authors, illustrators, graphic artists, editors, proofers, photographers, the
book party “committee” and guests, book buyers and supporters, patrons of the
arts, and printers, that he rarely gets an opportunity to speak about publicly.
He truly feels that he has not yet found the best way or perhaps not enough
ways to thank them for making HNP possible.
HNP has
received awards in recognition of its contributions in numerous areas.
These include a World Tourism Day Award (2001) from the St. Maarten
Tourist Bureau, the UNESCO prize “For Mother Language” (2006), and the Cultural
Organization of the Year ACT Award 2010 from Culture Time radio program.
The first
30 years of what Lamming has called elsewhere, “The audacity of the adventure
of House of Nehesi Publishers,” can be described as “a journey of faith.” Faith
in the abundant talent of St. Martin. Faith in the power of the written word as
a transformative text within the context of nation building and Caribbean unity.
Faith in the collaborative efforts of those who share a similar vision to
overcome financial handicaps. Faith, in the end, in the genius of mankind to
shape his destiny with the tools available to him.
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