SLYOU Magazine Issue 1 | Page 68

Story and Photos by Stan Bishop Imagine yourself sitting in a Rituals Coffee House sipping a cup of hot cappuccino while flipping through the pages of Derek Walcott’s White Egrets, Kendel Hippolyte’s Fault Lines, Anderson Reynolds’ Death By Fire or any other titles from published Saint Lucians. For now, the imagination might seem far-fetched but – just like a cleverly- told piece of fiction – anything is possible when it comes to books and steel-willed determination. ` Thanks to Dahlia Francois, the brainchild of 758 Saint Lucia Books, reading works by Saint Lucian writers is now as iconic a pastime as sitting in the lotus position on the floor of a Barnes & Noble bookshop in New York leafing through works by Americans writers, including Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass or James Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain. 66 SL-YOU | Business, People & Lifestyle www.slyoumag.com | July-August 2019