Nicholas Gilbert
Nicholas R. Gilbert, also known as AbioyeMunashe (which means ‘born into royalty with God’) was the first of nine children of his parents. He grew up in a family where history was preserved through an African practice known as storytelling. As a child he heard many stories about his ancestors from his grandparents and parents, and as a result he grew to love story telling and began to write stories from a young age. His passion for story writing evolved into poems as he grew older.
Nicholas holds a BSc in Social Work (Hons) and a MSc in Gender and Development Studies both from The University of the West Indies. He was also given an award for “Best All-round Student” in Social Policy while an undergraduate. Nicholas received awards of “Poet of the Month” from Poetic Vibes* in January 2009 and again in January 2011. In February 2010 he was awarded by Caribbean Youth Magazine (Cary’sma) for his contributions in the “Haiti 7.0 Poetry Writing Competition.”
Nicholas currently works with the Ministry of National Security as a Prison Welfare Officer I and is also a part time tutor at the Open Campus in St Augustine. He has a strong passion for community work and wants to work at curbing the impact of violence and crime caused by hypermasculine traits. He is a member of the Rape Crisis Society.
*Poetic Vibes Arts Foundation was founded in 2007 initially as an online platform for the promotion of the arts in the Caribbean region and wider communities
