| If you have a photo of Alick Lazare please email us. We would like to add it here. |
|---|
Alick Lazare
Alick Lazare was born in Dominica on October 17, 1934. He began, in the mid-fifties, writing short stories for radio broadcast to the Windward Islands and in Barbados as well as for local magazines and periodicals. During a long career in the Dominica public service (in which he served in senior positions such as Financial Secretary and Fiscal Advisor), he continued to be involved in creative writing.
He self-published a book of short stories titled Carib in 1996 and his first volume of poetry, Nature Island Verses, in 2001. In 2006 he published a historical novel, Pharcel about the runaway slaves in Dominica circa 1795 to 1806 which received excellent reviews in the Jamaica Observer and elsewhere. One of his short stories, Carib, was recently published by Macmillan Caribbean Writers series titled “Under the Perfumed Tree”; and another, I Had A Good Time, is soon to be published in “Under the Julie Tree”. He recently published another novel, Kalinago, about the genocide of the indigenous people of the Caribbean, in particular, the Kalinago people of the Eastern Caribbean (circa 1600 – 1700).
Alick Lazare writes with sympathy and understanding about his country, Dominica; but his perceptions are regional in scope. His short stories are often satirical and even comic, especially as he makes generous use of colloquialisms and caricatures in most of them. Nature Island Verses is written on the themes: love, life and politics. In this volume, the writer reverts to the classical styles of Tennyson and Pope for whom he has great admiration as artists; but he also uses contemporary styles for his most forceful compositions. Pharcel has been acclaimed as a breathtaking novel full of excitement, adventure and romance, a must-read for even those remotely interested in Caribbean culture and history. Kalinago Blood, though fiction, is a bold and authentic interpretation of the history and anthropology of the native Caribbean.
Alick Lazare now lives in retirement in his native Dominica, though much of his time is taken by his activities as a freelance consultant in public finance and administration throughout the region. He spends his spare time reading extensively, researching various aspects of Dominica’s history and writing.