Gary Voss wrote the CUTEST book about a little boy, Jimmy, and his dog Doonie, who have a series of exciting adventures in Trinidad and Tobago... Really great writing and wonderful, expressive illustrations that will make reading the book aloud to small children an interactive joy!
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| Producer Alice Besson handing over the first copy of the book to author Gary Voss. |
George Nader traces the growth of Syrian Lebanese settlement in Trinidad from the arrival of a few determined immigrants in the late 1800s to the present day. Using information from multiple sources, he describes its gradual transformation into the vibrant and multifaceted Trinidadian society which exists today.
This seminal study undertaken by Nader in the 1990s and finalized by him and his daughter in the 2000s, examines the data gleaned from population surveys and censuses in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the wider Caribbean which was regularly undertaken by the British Colonial governments of the Caribbean, and, after independence, by the governments of Caribbean nations occasionally from the early 60s to the present. This is the first time that the Syrian Lebanese diaspora in the southern Caribbean has been examined in detail against the backdrop of the indisputable data gleaned from those sources.
Feeling an obligation to the Syrian Lebanese community to write a history of their society, where they came from, how they came to be in Trinidad and how they became a part of their new home, Nader was able to tell the story of the community as a whole and at the same time provide glimpses into individual experiences. This was an academic pursuit, but also one that aimed to tell the stories of those who settled in Trinidad and those who were born in this new world.
Set against the backdrop of the history of the former Ottoman Empire and that of Trinidad and Tobago, this book gives a fresh and scientific view of why the Syrian-Lebanese had to choose to leave their former home, setting sail with the intention of “Finding a New World”.
West Indian poet Ian McDonald journeys down the generations of his family, describing with a loving and fascinated eye his ancestors, including warriors, poets, actors, doctors, merchants, sportsmen and civil servants, and concluding with his grand-parents and beloved parents.
“Delve a little deeper get to know the people more, what they did and tried to do, their dreams and desires and hurts and joys, how they lived and loved and worked and fought and played and died, their triumphs and tragedies: that is no foreign country of the heart and soul – that is home to all of us. What one inherits, and what one in turn passes on, is the stuff of life itself and always will be.”
From the origins of the McDonald clan in the misty heights of Scotland, to roaming the hills of Northern Trinidad on horseback to examine cocoa plantations for witches broom, to the matter of how to win Thelma’s heart and hand: Archie’s memoir gives us a glimpse into the life and love of a young man in Trinidad and Antigua in the early decades of the 20th century.
