Landscape of My Love • Paisahe di mi Amor
by Kathy Taylor
ISBN 99904-0-700-2

Kathy Taylor discovered Papiamentu while collaborating on a linguistic textbook. She fell in love with the language, taught herself as much as she could using Goilo's Papiamentu Textbook, then travelled to the islands to learn more. This bilingual collection is her first published poetry.

Each poem is presented in two versions, English on the left and Papiamentu on the right. In addition to the usual subjects of poetry— nature, remembrance of lost loved ones, and so forth– there are some interesting references to wordplay, communication, and identity. Comparing the two versions of each poem gives the reader a further opportunity to contemplate the poems and also to learn a little Papiamentu.

The book is definitely a worthwhile experience, and I hope the author will be writing more bilingual verse or perhaps some prose in the future.

(To purchase, go to earlhambookstore.com then select the Apparel/Gifts category and click on Earlham/Local Authors.)

Basiscursus Papiaments also known as Dòsplak ’i boka
by Florimon van Putte & Igma van Putte – de Windt
Walburg Pers, 2002
ISBN 9789057301094 or 90-5730-109-1

This package consists of a textbook, a small reference book, and two audio CDs. The lessons are written in Dutch. The audio material on the CDs is entirely in Papiamentu. Having the opportunity to hear some dialogs and other scripted material in Papiamentu is worth the price of admission in my opinion, whether you are able to understand all of the Dutch texts or not.

Available from various online booksellers in the Netherlands. I purchased my copy from van Stockum.