Shujah Reiph, CLF President, St. Martin Book Fair Coordinator (left) and Cindy Peters, CLF Vice President, BFC member.
PHILIPSBURG--Preparations for the 23rd edition of the St. Martin Book Fair are in high gear, with this year’s focus centred on the island’s authors, according to the Book Fair Committee (BFC).
BFC head and literary festival coordinator Shujah Reiph, along with BFC member Cindy Peters, are part of the team preparing for the festival, which opens on June 5 at Heritage House in Colombier and concludes on June 6 at the University of St. Martin (USM) with a book launch, recitals, and the Presidents Award ceremony.
When the St. Martin Book Fair began in 2003, with barely six weeks to organise, the organisers were able to secure more authors from abroad than on-island writers, showcasing just three St. Martin authors – including Daniella Jeffry and Louie Laveist – who had published books, festival founder Reiph said.
“In 2026, we can easily draw from a list of at least 40 St. Martin authors – both self-published writers and those with books released by publishers,” said Peters. It is this tremendous growth in writing, book publishing and sales, and literary readings across the island that the fair, with its 2026 theme, “Soualiga Flambo”, is inviting friends and lovers of literature, books, and the St. Martin Book Fair to celebrate.
In 2026, the St. Martin Book Fair, long dubbed “A book fair for the entire family …,” is organised by Conscious Lyrics Foundation (CLF) in collaboration with the USM, Computech, and SOS Radio 95.9 FM.
