Patricia Glinton-Meicholas || THE GAULIN WOMAN . Author . Cultural Icon

Bahamian-born Patricia Glinton-Meicholas (AKA THE GAULIN WOMAN) is an author, poet, cultural critic, researcher in Bahamian art, culture and history and communication specialist.

Awards/Recognition
Glinton-Meicholas was the first winner of the Bahamas Cacique Award for Writing (1995) and recipient of a Silver Jubilee of Independence Medal for Literature (1998). For her latest poetry collection, “Chasing Light”, Glinton-Meicholas was a finalist in the 2012 International Proverse Prize Competition, sponsored by Proverse Publishing Hong Kong. As a result, Proverse published the collection (2013). In 2015 The School of English Studies, the University of The Bahamas presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Culture and Literature.

At the invitation of the University of The Bahamas, on 10 November, 2016, at the institution’s Charter Day ceremony, she presented her original poem, “All Hail Our University”. She was the first woman and second person to present the Keva M Bethel Distinguished Lecture at The College of The Bahamas (now University of The Bahamas) (2013). She was also the first woman to deliver the Sir Lynden Pindling Memorial Lecture (2005).

Writing
Glinton-Meicholas’ earliest publications is her story, “The Gaulin Wife”, which is included in the Penguin anthology Under the Storyteller’s Spell (Ed. Faustin Charles,1988). Since then has written numerous papers and articles on Bahamian history, art and culture and 19 books, including two books of short stories, a novel and three volumes of poetry, several histories and works of satire. An Evening in Guanima, original short stories based on traditional Bahamian folktale motifs, the novel A Shift in the Light and Robin’s Song, a book of poems of children (all published by Guanima Press) are studied in the nation’s schools. Her latest book Lusca and Other Fantastic Tales.

Other recent books are Years of Favour: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Creation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nassau, True-True Bahamian 2, and a history—The Sinking of HMBS Flamingo and its Roots in United States, Cuba and Bahamas Relationships (Guanima Press). Her poetry has also appeared in local and international publications, including New Daughters of Africa–An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent (Myriad Editions), Yinna, WomanSpeak, tongues of the ocean and Poui.

Glinton-Meicholas’ work has been published in several distinguished international encyclopedic works. Most notably, she has also contributed eight biographies to the Oxford University Press Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography (Editor-in-chief Franklyn W. Knight and Henry Louis Gates (2016). She has also contributed Chapter 4 to Routledge’s Companion to International Children’s Literature, joining scholars from countries around the world (Senior Editor, Dr. John Stephens: Emeritus Professor in English at Macquarie University, Australia).

Her extensive writing on art includes Bahamian Art 1492 to 1992, the first comprehensive work on the subject (with Smith & Huggins). She contributed the fine arts and collecting entries for The Bahamas in the 34-volume Grove Dictionary of Art, first published by Macmillan. Since then, she has contributed numerous essays on Bahamian artists appearing in the catalogues for local and international exhibitions and other publications. She contributed the curatorial essay on the submissions of Stan Burnside, John Beadle and Jackson Burnside to the giant catalogue of the 23rd Sao Paulo Biennial (Brazil). Most recently, she wrote the curatorial essay for Chantal Bethel’s stellar exhibition, ‘Poto Mitan’, which was published in the book of the same name (2011).

Additionally, Patricia Glinton-Meicholas has amassed years of experience as an academic well-versed in researching and writing on Bahamian folklore, the visual arts and history. Her monograph on Bahamian folktales is published in the Encuentros series of the Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Centre, Washington, DC (Talkin’ Ol’ Story: A Brief Survey of the Oral Tradition of The Bahamas, No. 38, July 2000). She also produced a monograph on the African Presence in The Bahamas for the 2007 African Diaspora Heritage Trail Conference held in Nassau. For the company’s 100th anniversary, Glinton-Meicholas wrote the history of Imperial Life Bahamas (now Colina). She has written Bahamian content for ProQuest, which is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, with affiliates around the globe. ProQuest is described as “committed to empowering researchers and librarians around the world… ProQuest is a key partner for content holders of all types, preserving and enabling access to their rich and varied information. Those partnerships have built a growing content collection that now encompasses 90,000 authoritative sources, 6 billion digital pages and spans six centuries.”

Academic Presentations (Sample)
She has lectured, given papers and read her literary work at home and abroad. In 2015 Glinton-Meicholas was invited by the Saint Louis Art Museum to participate in a tribute to the revered American poet Maya Angelou. On this occasion she spoke and read excerpts from her published poetry. She was invited to open the University of The Bahamas’ First Annual Literary Festival with a half-hour presentation, and to join a panel of writers reading and discussing their work.

Her notable presentations include a paper delivered at a plenary session of “Heritage, Legacy and Leadership: Ideas and Interventions”, presented by The Cultural Leadership Programme and the Mayor’s Commission on African and Asian Heritage at City Hall, London, UK in 2008. In the same year, she gave a paper at the College of The Bahamas’ Commemoration of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Conference. In 2012 Glinton-Meicholas delivered the Commencement Address at the institution and, in the same year, presented at “Narrating Caribbean Nation”, a conference sponsored by Peepal Tree Press and Leeds Municipal University, Leeds, U.K. She presented a paper in a plenary session of “The Bahamas at 40: Reflecting on the Past, Envisioning the Future”, the College’s contribution to The Bahamas’s 40th Anniversary of Independence Celebrations (2013).

She was a featured writer at the 26th West Indian Literature Conference (2007). Conferences at which she gave papers include: Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation: Resources, Research and Education in Caribbean Museums Conference (2007); the Third African Diaspora Heritage Trail Conference (2007). She also gave a lecture at the Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Centre, Washington, DC in 2000. 

Television
She wrote and produced a documentary for Creative Nassau “Strawcraft in The Bahamas: Weaving economic diversity” (2016). Her work for television also includes several documentaries varying from half hour to an hour in length. Among them were six historical films for Bahamas National Trust, two on the history of the Roman Catholic Church in The Bahamas, the 2009 documentary The 1942 Riots and several others, all of which she produced, wrote and directed.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 

Academic

In Glinton-Meicholas’ aggregate of 17 years with The College of The Bahamas, she functioned variously as a lecturer in French and Spanish; Chairperson, Humanities Division; Academic Dean; first Academic Assistant to the Principal/President. Her most recent tenure was as Council Secretary (2002-2005) and Vice President, Communication (2005-2007), during which time she developed The College’s Communication Unit. Hers was an active leadership and direct involvement in all aspects of public relations, advertising and publications, including the development of several new publications.  Additionally, she wrote the initial plan for the university branding exercise, revived COB’s Catalogue, and also developed the “Snapper” magazine and the first content for The College’s website. Her many other projects included such community outreach activities as “Jazz Under the Stars”.

Before her appointment to The College of The Bahamas, Glinton-Meicholas spent two years with the Bahamas Ministry of Education and a year as a teaching assistant at C.E.S Henri Wallon, Martigues, Bouche-du-Rhone, France.

Commercial Sector
Glinton-Meicholas counts almost 25 years of professional experience in communications, nearly two decades with The Counsellors Ltd, the largest marketing firm in The Bahamas. Far away from the limelight, generated winning promotional campaigns for the commercial sector, concepts for major public projects. She has researched, written and edited many important publications for the public sector, most recently the NAD 10th anniversary publication and the one, which highlighted the Bahamas Parliament for the 41st Conference of the Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic Region of the CPA during the period 22-30 July, 2016. The Conference is being held at the Coral Towers of Atlantis, Paradise Island.

In the early 1990s she served as editor of Bahamas News Bureau (now defunct). She also managed the research, communications, publications and aspects of community events for a number of the largest companies in The Bahamas, and several international concerns doing business in the country. She has written for several key members of government and private sector leaders over the years. As account executive for Bahamas Hotel Association (now Bahamas Hotel & Tourism Association, she wrote speeches for several presidents over the years.

Community Involvement (A sample)
·      Founding president of Bahamas Association for Cultural Studies (BACUS), which has produced four volumes of the journal Yinna with the cooperation of her husband Neko Meicholas, who heads Guanima Press Ltd.
·      Founding member and Vice President of Creative Nassau, an all-inclusive, non-profit, civil society organization, which promotes Bahamian history, heritage, arts and culture and the creative industries as keys to community building and greater economic diversity.

In 2014 Creative Nassau secured for Nassau the designation of ‘Creative City of Crafts & Folk Arts in UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, representing a significant achievement for CN and the nation’s capital. Currently, the Creative Cities Network is formed by 116 Members from 54 countries covering seven creative fields: Crafts & Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Music and Media Arts. Glinton-Meicholas and Pam Burnside, president of Creative Nassau, did the majority of the research, writing and editing for the application process that stretched over six years. Together, they represented Nassau at the Annual General Meeting of the Network in Ostersund, Sweden in 2016.
·      Co-host, with Pam Burnside of the Creative Nassau weekly radio show on 102.9 FM Island Radio, aimed at a general audience to raise awareness of Bahamian arts, culture, history and the creative industries. (April 2015 – present)
·      Promoter of all things Bahamian, both good things and challenges, through many television and radio appearances.
·      Founding member of the Board of Cable Bahamas Cares Foundation (1997 to present).
·      Judge for the Templeton Foundation Laws of Life Essay Competition from the start to present.
·      Former member of the Boards of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas and the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation.
·      Former member of the former Cultural Commission.
·      Lifetime member of the Bahamas Historical Society.

Education: University of Miami, MSc.Ed; University of The West Indies, B.A. (Hons.), Foreign Languages (French and Spanish, minor German). A year in France as Assistant d’Anglais on a French Government grant.

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