Lasana M. Sekou

Who is Lasana M. Sekou?

Lasana M. Sekou, born H.H. Lake on 12 January 1959 in Aruba, was raised on the partly French, partly Dutch island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten and has become one of the most prolific poets of the contemporary Dutch Caribbean. A graduate of Stony Brook University and Howard University, he founded House of Nehesi Publishers in his college dorm room in 1980, later building it into one of the Caribbean's leading independent literary presses. Sekou has authored more than twenty books of poetry, short fiction, and essays, including The Salt Reaper, 37 Poems, Nativity, and Hurricane Protocol, frequently blending English, Caribbean Creole, Dutch, French, and Spanish within a single poem to reflect the island's layered heritage. His writing is assigned reading at universities across the Caribbean, the Americas, and Europe, and scholars have compared his prolific range to that of Nobel laureate Derek Walcott. Beyond literature, Sekou is a longtime, outspoken advocate for the political independence of St. Martin/Sint Maarten from France and the Netherlands. He has been honored as St. Maarten's "national poet," knighted by the Netherlands, and recognized internationally for his contribution to Caribbean literary unity.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Lasana M. Sekou" · Small Axe Project, "The Polyglot Pride of St. Martin: An Interview with Lasana M. Sekou" · The Daily Herald, "National poet of St. Maarten honoured with anniversary show"