Peepal Tree Press (UK), the Cultural Development Foundation and Mahanaim Publishing will host the launch of John Robert Lee’s Collected Poems 1975-2015. This takes place at the CDF Conference Room on Wednesday May 24th at 7.30 pm.
The dedication page carries an “In Memoriam” to the late Derek Walcott who died in March. Lee has always claimed Derek Walcott as a major influence and literary mentor, and several of his poems are dedicated to the Nobel Laureate. In 1993, Walcott had said of his younger contemporary, “Robert Lee has been a scrupulous poet, that’s the biggest virtue that he has, and it’s not a common virtue in poets, to be scrupulous and modest in the best sense, not to over-extend the range of the truth of his emotions, not to go for the grandiose. He is a Christian poet obviously. You don’t get in the poetry anything that is, in a sense, preachy or self-advertising in terms of its morality. He is a fine poet.”
At the book launch, several other St. Lucian poets will read their work. These include Alcess Ismael, George Goddard, McDonald Dixon, Adrian Augier, Vladimir Lucien and Kendel Hippolyte. Shirley Ann Cyril-Mayers, Augustin ‘Charlie’ Julian and Augustin Papius will provide musical interludes. A small exhibition of the work of Gary Butte (whose art adorns the cover of the Collected Poems) will also be on display.
Lee will read from his new publication. The author will sign copies at the end of the readings.
Read more at the St. Lucia Times.
