‘Runnin’ Sheep’ – a collection of short stories, originally published in 1995, and written by Senior High English Language and Literature teacher at Central Eleuthera High School (CEHS), Mrs. Cindy Lee Armbrister – who joined the Ministry of Education’s prescribed list of Literature texts for 7th graders during the summer of 2011. The newly revised edition hits all major bookstores on Friday, September 21st, to the delight of the local author.
The anthology, according to Mrs. Armbrister, reflects some of the humour of life in Long Island during the first half of the 20th century, largely inspired by stories told to her by her Mom, during the traditional gathering under the cool of shady trees along ‘King’s Road’ in Long Island, where ‘old folks’ would tell ‘true’ stories of things long passed.
‘Runnin’ Sheep’, came together as a spin off from a creative writing class, Mrs. Armbrister had the good fortune to attend, under the tutelage of famed Bahamian author, Telcine Turner-Rolle.
During the summer of 2012, Mrs. Armbrister, now in her 4th year at CEHS, was asked to host a 3-day creative writing workshop, from July 2nd – July 4th, with 16 young writers at the Haynes Library during their summer camp event. By the end of the third day, the youngsters each submitted a short story, which Mrs. Armbrister hopes to compile into a publishable anthology.
The author has three additional published titles, including ‘Broken Fences’ – a novel published in 1999, ‘Rendezvous in the Wilderness’ – an autobiography published in 2000, and ‘From Ashes to Beauty’ – a collection of essays celebrating life blessings which was published in 2004.
A play form version of ‘Broken Fences’ is also currently under review by the Ministry of Education’s Testing and Evaluation unit for consideration as a prescribed text.
