Liberian Literary Magazine
Our Spotlight author of
this
issue
is
an
internationally acclaimed
poet, a scholar and a
woman of many passionsAlthea Romeo Mark
Author Interview
ALTHEA ROMEO MARK
Liberian Literary Mag
conducted an interview
with
Althea Romeo Mark,
LLR: First, we would like to
thank you for granting this
interview. Let us kick off this
interview with you telling us
a little about you- your early
childhood,
upbringing,
education.
My name is Althea
Romeo-Mark. I w as born in
Antigua, West I ndies, a
former British Colony. My
mother w as born in St. Croix,
US, Virgin I slands and my
father in the Dominican
Republic.
My
family
immigrated to St. Thomas,
US, Virgin I slands when I was
eight years old. I t is w here I
grew
up
and
was
educated.
I come from a line of
immigrants w ho are of West
February Issue 0215
African and British/Scottish
ancestry. There might be
tiny strands of Carib, or
Araw akTaino
(the
indigenous people of the
Caribbean
archipelago)
according to my DNA
sample.
My
maternal
grandmother w as born on
the island Nev is to a mother
of Scottish and West African
ancestry. My mother’s
paternal grandfather was a
Black South African who
settled in Antigua. My
father’s mother w as of
British and West African
ancestry. His father comes
from
the
Dominican
Republic.
My family is a product of
colonial history. This is
typical of many Caribbean
families.
My
extended
Caribbean family liv e in
Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis,
the Dominican Republic
and St. Thomas, Virgin
I slands.
Also typical of Caribbean
people is immigrating to
other islands to seek work.
The
flow
of
people
betw een islands is very
common.
I consider myself, first a
poet, but I w rite short stories
and essays. Grow ing up in
the Caribbean and Liberia,
and liv ing in the USA and
Europe compel me to w rite
about my experience. I say
that I grew up in Liberia
because I became a
proper adult there. At age
26, I arriv ed in Liberia, and
left around age 40. In
betw een, I
met
my
husband,
had
three
9
children, taught
many
students and w itnessed
Liberia go through a
rev olution.
Why writing?
I w as told at the age of
thirteen that I had a gift. My
7t h grade teacher, in the US
Virgin I slands, uncovered
my gift in an essay I w rote
about my pet dog. She
encourage me to enter my
essay in a contest, but I was
too shy, a complete
introv ert. I n high school I
turned to another medium
of creative expression:
painting and draw ing. Then
I
entered a
painting
competition and w on first
prize for my painting of a
moko jumbi (the Caribbean
v ersion of the country
dev il).
When I got to univ ersity,
my desire to w rite was
w oken again, w hen my
Professor of Caribbean
Literature, Dr. Gershator,
gav e
his
class
an
assignment— to w rite a
poem about w hat it means
to be a “West I ndian.” He
asked me if I had ever
w ritten a poem before, and
I replied, no! He didn’t know
that he had tapped a deep
w ell. I
started w riting
prolifically from then. I am
not
a
natural
conv ersationalist. I am
better at painting w ith
w ords. This sort of painting in
my mind creates a more
accurate picture of the
w orld that I interpret and
share.