ALLAN WEEKES IS THE TRANSLATOR

“Take Me To Mon Repos” is a text in two languages, English and Kwéyòl. The Kwéyòl translation was meticulously done by the foremost Kwéyol literary translator of Saint Lucia, Mr. Allan Weekes has translated and staged many Caribbean plays into Kweyol.  Mr. Weekes, the oldest living director of the Saint Lucia Arts Guild also brings decades of experience as a dramatist to this translation of dramatic literature. He completed this translation at 90 years old. This is one of the reasons why “Mennen Mwen Mon Repos” promises to be a significant treasure!

It was always the dream of two of the main founders of the Saint Lucia Arts Guild, Derek and Roderick Walcott, to write plays completely in Kwéyòl. This was an extreme challenge for writers of the last century. The cultural and political barriers were tall, wide and intimidating. Nevertheless, these writers dared the colonial gatekeepers of their time and infused ample words, phrases and songs from the indigenous language, as much as they could, into their texts.

There was no standard orthography at the time for writing the language. There were experiments in Haiti but writers at that time used the French Writing System. Derek, who became the most prolific playwright and poet persisted in his use of the languages in both of his chosen literary forms. Later when a standardized orthography was developed for writing the language, Derek, opted to stick to the French lettering. By this time, he had developed his own poetics, that drew from the French, the English and the Kwéyòl, to create symbols and signifiers with a universal reach.

Allan Weekes was a part of the grouping of linguists, academics and artists from the Caribbean and the Pacific who came together in the eighties to establish a phonetic system for writing Kwéyòl. Professor Lawrence Carrington from UWI would be a leading figure in this project as would other scholars and activists from agencies such as the Folk Research Centre in Saint Lucia, UAG and GEREC from the French

Antillies etc.

Many writers, particularly from Martinique and Haiti would go on to write and publish fully in Kwéyòl. Some like Raphael Confiant from Martinique would write and publish in both Kwéyòl and French. Outside the literary world however the Kweyol orthography is proving to be a very practical means of communication for Kwéyòl speakers who use Social Media. The passion, steadfastness and commitment of creolists and creole dramatists like Allan Weekes continues to bring results.