Author's Blog

Discover the musings of Roatan-based author M J Harper as he weaves personal reflections, sharp commentary on island life and politics, and captivating historical tales of the Bay Islands drawn from his own deep research.

When I first came to live on Roatan in the mid 80’s national politics was considered by Bay Islanders in...
This article is not about  ‘Mike’ Mitchell-Hedges but he always seems to makes it to the beginning of any story...
The Bay Islands popularly ( mistakenly )are associated with Roatan , Utila and Guanaja ; I say mistakenly because the...
As Bay Islanders this past 22nd of April , we recently ‘observed’ ( since it would be inaccurate to say ‘celebrated’)the...
I had written down all the numbers for my meager budget for the trip in a spiral bound notebook (...
I stumbled across this poor quality photograph a few days ago which I took with my Blackberry    ( remember them...
I was recently asked by my chum and fellow scribbler to write him a brief history of the Bay Islands...
I am currently having a crack at writing a book about the History of Roatan , Helene and Barbarat ....
It is a little known fact in these parts that the illustrious naval career of that hero of Albion ,...
Social media is no longer the place for me to express a thoughtful opinion , recount an anecdote , share...

M J Harper

Matthew Harper has lived in the Bay Islands of Honduras for most of his adult life, having grown up in South Africa and finishing his education in England. A former student of English Literature and a voracious reader, partial to the works of Joseph Conrad, Ernest Hemingway, James Hamilton Patterson, James Joyce, and Guy de Maupassant, Matthew has always enjoyed writing and contributed several articles to the Bay Islands Voice magazine, but never published until his first book, A Handful of Seashells (February 2022). He is currently working on his second book, an account of British history in the Bay Islands and the Moskitia.