About RochelleRochelle Ward is the author of the poetry collection Tangle, published by House of Nehesi Publishers. her poetry appears in The Caribbean Writer, Volume 39 -Possibilities: Beyond Tradition, Inside of Courage and Sweden's Karavan, while her commissioned creative writing includes four stories for the St. Maarten Climate Impact Atlas: "The Rains Came", "Up in Smoke", "Page Turner" and "Salt Water Rising".
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Writing as Faizah Tabasamu, her work is deeply rooted in the Caribbean and explores memory, identity, womanhood, heritage, culture, nature and our relationship with place.
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Publications
2025 The Caribbean Writer, Vol. 39 “1-721” • “St. Martin Soak”
2022 Disaster Matters
"Earthquake" |
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Commissioned Writing
Rochelle was commissioned to contribute four stories exploring climate change and its impact on St. Martin:
"THe Rains came"Convinced that her political career and car could shield her from the stresses of excessive rainfall, Marissa naively cocoons herself in her hillside home away from her constituents. However, the pummeling rains teach her
"UP in smoke"After the sweltering heat drives Carmen from her thirsty Middle Region garden, she phones her sister in Saba. They discuss the extended drought, its impact on their family and neighborhood, unaware of the escalating hazard nearby.
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"Page Turner"During Geography class, Denzil ignores the boring lecture on hurricanes. Less than 24 hours later, he finds himself recalling the fragments of knowledge and battling the wicked winds.
"Salt water rising"Planning coastal disaster management by day, Calvin is plagued by its nightmares at night. Prompted by his 7-year-old daughter, Calvin expresses his sea water fears , painfully recollecting s what was snatched away from him.
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WRitePoetry, stories and literary work rooted in Caribbean experience, memory, identity and place
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engageReadings, performances and conversations that bring Caribbean writing into literary and cultural spaces.
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TeachLiterary and cultural programmes that help participants examine identity, culture and their own capacity for expression.
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Writing and Teaching Meet
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Writer + Educator |
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For Rochelle, literature is both creative practice and a way of helping people examine themselves and the worlds they inhabit.
She has taught English and Literature at St. Maarten Academy since 2010 and has also taught tertiary-level English and linguistics at the University of St. Martin, including the History and Structure of English and Caribbean Literature. Her work as an educator increasingly intersects with her work as a writer: creating literary experiences that invite people to read closely, question familiar ideas, recognize the value of Caribbean experience and discover stories of their own. That approach extends into programmes such as Reading Our Roots, which uses natural hair in literature as a lens through which to explore identity, history, representation, culture and lived experience. |
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beyond st. martin
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Rochelle's literary work is grounded in St. Martin while participating in a wider Caribbean conversation.
In 2025, she was one of ten poets selected for the Diaspora of Tomorrow Writer's Camp in Curacao. That year she, along with other artists, also represented St. Martin at CARIFESTA XV in Barbados, performing her poetry and facilitating the creative writing workshop, Form, Soul and Disruption. In September 2026, she was among the five St. Martin authors, who participated in the Biblionef Reading Festival Sint Maarten Literary Exchange, collaborating with writers from across the Dutch Caribbean Kingdom From St Martin to the wider world
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RecognitionCatapult Lockdown Virtual Salon Grant, 2020
Fresh Milk Barbados • American Friends of Jamaica • Kingston Creative Hilary Becker Poetry Award, 2004 |
EducationMSc Management Studies - University of the West Indies, Open Campus, Anguilla
BA English & Communications - Pace University Graduate Level Creative Writing Studies - University of the West Indies, Trinidad |
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Press & Media |
