Vincy cultural ambassador
pens ‘Shape of a Warrior’
By Nelson A. King
Vincentian-born, Taiwanbased
writer, poet, journalist
and cultural ambassador Peggy
Carr has written her first novel,
“Shape of a Warrior.”
Carr — a former deputy chief
information officer in St. Vincent
and the Grenadines before
migrating to Taiwan at the end
of 2000 — told Caribbean Life
that “Shape of a Warrior” is an
“historical fiction novel” that is
“set in the Caribbean in the pre-
Columbian era.”
She said the novel is “a captivating
tale about the indomitable
spirit of a young adventurer and
her unlikely friend in the battlecentered
world of the indigenous
Kalina people.”
Written for a young adult
audience, Carr — also an accomplished
poet, who has been working
for many years as an editor at
Taiwan’s premier media organization,
the Central News Agency
— said the story behind the
coming-of-age “Shape of a Warrior”
is told in “soaring language
about the escapades, struggles
and challenges of the two main
characters, Yurubi and Aloo, on
the island of Hiroon.”
“For Yurubi, who dreams of
boat building, Aloo grows to
become a friend like no other,
although he’s terrified of the
sea,” Carr said. “Together, they
secretly explore the forest near
his cave hideout, learn to make
weapons and tools, play wrestling
Caribbean L 50 ife, JUNE 18-24, 2021
games, hunt, and build
small river boats.
“But their world of adventure
crumbles when Aloo is forced
out of hiding and as Yurubi’s
unwomanly skills become apparent,”
she added. “Under the cryptic
eye of the village shaman,
Yurubi and Aloo struggle against
their anguish, fears and misgivings
to fight for a place on an
island that’s home to some of
the most fearsome warriors on
Earth.”
In the Author’s Note, Carr —
who also worked as a librarian
at the UWI Open Campus and
Kingstown Public Library in St.
Vincent and the Grenadines –
says the story was inspired by
her “deep desire to know what
life was like for the indigenous
people of her home country,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
(Hiroon), before the arrival of
the Europeans.
“Almost every account I had
read of the Kalina was written
by a European — a sailor, a soldier,
a missionary or a settler —
and obviously had been filtered
through the lenses of their own
cultural and societal norms,”
Book cover of “Shape of A Warrior” by Peggy Carr.
she says. “There was very little
on record that reflected the
perspective of the early Kalina
people.
Vincentian author Peggy
Carr. Peggy Carr
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