Frank Martinus Arion
Frank Martinus Arion
Frank Martinus Arion (1936-2015) was born in Curaçao, where he was Catholic educated. He studied and taught Dutch literature in the Netherlands, where he was active in the Caribbean expatriate community and published poetry and fiction, and worked in Surinam from 1975. In 1980 he returned to Curaçao, where he was director of the Instituto Lingwistiko Antiano and an advocate of his own native Papiamento language. He published the novel Dubbelspel (Double play, 1973, awarded with the Van der Hoogte Prize), Afscheid van de koningin (Goodbye to the Queen), 1975), Nobele wilden (Noble Savages, 1979), De laatste vrijheid (The Last Freedom, 1995) and De deserteurs (The Deserters, 2006). Dubbelspel was translated in several languages. A US movie adaptation entitled Double Play will be launched in 2016 or 2017. The movie is produced by Lisa Cortés and Gregory Elias and is directed by Ernest Dickerson (Do The Right Thing; The Wire).
Recent titles – English material
Dubbelspel (Double Play), 1973
Press on Double Play:
Although Double Play is a first novel, it is the work of a mature writer – one who prepared himself for this sort of audience through life experience. (…) Beneath the ostensible goal of victory in dominoes, the four men are competing for individual power and for the loyalty of their lovers and wive. - WORLD LITERATURE TODAY
A cleverly constructed novel, full of sharp social observation and convincing characterisation, it tells us a good deal about Curaçao, about men, and about the darkness that lurks behind the seemingly innocent pastime of dominoes. - CARIBBEAN BEAT