FOR VLADIMIR Lucien, 27, poetry is not for the faint-hearted, André Bagoo reports in this article for Trinidad’s Newsday.
“I think it is a matter of bravery both in terms of technique and in terms of the things you have to say,” Lucien says. “And it is a matter of being willing to put in the work that is necessary for that to happen and being very aware of tradition and respecting it.”
Lucien is a St Lucian poet. His first collection of poetry, Sounding Ground (2014), was earlier this month awarded the OCM Bocas Prize. His work has appeared in BIM, Caribbean Review of Books, Wasafiri, Small Axe, and several other journals. In 2013, he was awarded the Small Axe Literary Prize for poetry. Writer Shivanne Ramlochan has described Lucien’s debut – which was launched at last year’s Bocas Lit Fest – as, “a careful succession of exultances.”
In an interview at the Old Fire Station, Hart Street, Port-of-Spain, moments after he was announced as the winner of the Bocas Prize last Saturday, Lucien expressed elation saying,
“It feels really good. I think there are a lot of things that are symbolic about it. I am the third St Lucian poet to win it and it’s really good that it happened when Derek Walcott – the first person to win this prize – was honoured by the festival. In 2013 the poetry prize was won by Kendel Hippolyte and now we’re in 2015.” Lucien pays tribute to the other nominees for the prize.
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