Stories from everywhere, the past and present
18/10/2017
Loekie Morales is visiting Aruba to participate in the Childrens Book festival this November. She will tell children stories from her books, her past and her grandmother who told her many stories. Loekie is excited to contribute once more to the festival and looks forward to visiting many schools and interaction with schoolchildren. Biblioteca Nacional Aruba is proud to present the 25th edition of the Childrens book festival and hopes to reach as many children as possible and boost reading and the love for books. The library has invited writers and illustrators and storytellers from the island and abroad to reach this goal.
Loekie Morales was born in Curacao. After finishing high school, she moved to Holland where she studied to become a high school teacher in 1986 in the subjects Geography and History. In 1998 she finalized the post Technical school for Environmental Science (HTS) and after that she obtained her Master’s degree in Environmental Geography (1993) at the University of Nijmegen. She moved back to Sint Maarten in 2000. Besides her professional career Loekie Morales has a passion for writing and promotes reading for children. This is why she started the Beyond Writing Foundation in 2003.
Loekie Morales writes children stories and has published 9 children books. ‘Zonnesproetjes’, ‘Overseas Bloodline’, ‘Papito and the Story Telling Tree’, ‘Selina and the Obeah Woman’, ‘Bonte Boel’, ‘Tropisch Nestje’, ‘The Magic Wedding Cake’, ‘Mina Marina’ and ‘Freedom Salsa’, to mention a few. As president of the Beyond Kultura Events Foundation, she has also been proactive in creating and executing innovative events like the ‘Kids Night Out’ (Storytelling evening for Kids) and the ‘Caribbean Living Statues Festival’, the first one of its kind in the Caribbean. Since 2002 Loekie Morales participates in children book festivals in Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Surinam.