By Nashauna Drummond, Staff Reporter
Doreen Reid, with Lenny Reid, at the launch of her book of poems dedicated to her father, The Life Of A True Father, at the book's launch at Sangster's Book Store, Sovereign Centre, on Saturday. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer
LAST SATURDAY, Sangster's Book store, Sovereign Centre, was the site of a very outstanding achievement for 33-year-old sight-impaired, Doreen Reid, with the launch of her book of poems dedicated to her father, Lenny Reid.
In a flood of inspiration, Doreen completed all the poems contained in Life of a true father, in just two weeks. Doreen's inspiration came when her poem, 'The best dad in the world', won a Father's Day poetry competition on RJR. "I feel good. I feel good that it came about and on the market," Doreen told The Gleaner.
In the preface, Doreen states that the purpose of writing the book of poetry is, "to honour my father and target irresponsible fathers, to motivate young men to be better fathers to their children, and to encourage husbands to perform their roles in the home."
A trained guidance counsellor, (receiving her diploma from Mico Teachers' College in 2001), Doreen is one of three children of Lenny and Phyllis Reid who are sight-impaired.
Doreen recently completed her first year at the University of the West Indies, and will begin working on her second publication. She said that her second book will be an effort to educate and "open the public's eye" about persons living with different forms of disabilities. She confessed that this will be a challenging task for her as it requires more work in terms of interviews and research to be conducted.
