Reknonwed St. Vincent-originated author and former Laval University professor Nigel Thomas stopped by Roxboro Library last Wednesday in the midst of black history month to promote his new book “Lives”, which was released in October of last year.
“Lives” is a collection of 12 short stories written from the perspective of fictional immigrant characters that, just like Thomas himself, ended up settling in Montreal. The author started the evening by narrating one of his book’s stories to the audience who listened to every word attentively.
The story is a tale of a black nurse who moves away from St. Vincent before having to face recriminations from her mother while still having to send money back home in order to build a house with commonalities. This was inspired by Thomas’s real life ambition of building such a house for his mother.
Sending money back to those left behind while sustaining oneself in a new country is and has always been a common struggle for immigrants emerging from developing countries. Hearing Thomas’ short story brought back memories to Dollard des Ormeaux resident Bernard Haynes who was also born in the Caribbean.
“Being from the Caribbean myself, I can relate to this story. Originally the character leaves for England to work as a nurse. This sort of situation happened a lot during the fifties and sixties: sending money back to the island to take care of your relatives when you still needed that money for yourself,” he said.
After he was done reading, Thomas allowed the attendees to pick his brains by asking as many questions as they wanted. He answered their questions for a half-hour, discussing his writing techniques and inspiration. This was a delightful opportunity for Colette Vidal, an aspiring short-story writer. She was meeting Thomas for the second time and found this to speak with the author delightful.
“I have read all of his books. He has actually helped me quite a bit with my writing plus he has always been very kind to me. I met him in a seminar before and he is a very nice person apart from being a good writer. I like his sense of place and environment, place and his characters are fascinating. He paints a picture very clearly,” she said.
Thomas’ coming at the Roxboro Library was prompted by the Library’s desire to celebrate Black History Month, a remembrance of the events in the history of the African Diasporas which is celebrated yearly throughout February since 1976 in Canada and the U.S.
Thomas took the opportunity to speak of his views on black history and the challenges still facing the black community when he spoke with the Chronicle after the conference.
“One hundred years ago, things were different for blacks. Issues such as employment, respect, being served in the same restaurants and hospitals were of importance. Today, the challenges are more about how we integrate into society, how we have to catch up of our learning or how to get our boys interested in staying in school,” he said.
“When I arrived here in 1968, it was still a problem of ‘what sort of jobs are available for blacks?’ Now the problem is why aren’t we taking advantage of the opportunities we have? Why do our youngsters turn their backs on these opportunities?”
