A & B Writings in Journals and Contests

Okay, so, this is an experimental page. I’ll see how it goes. But given the self-imposed limitations placed on the bibliographies (i.e. only listing published books, book length anthologies, and CDs), I thought here would be a good place to list creative pieces by Antiguans and Barbudans accepted to established literary journals, festivals, and contests (not pieces posted only to personal blogs) as I discover (and in some cases, re-discover) them Initially, this will focus on pieces accessible online because those are easiest to find; but it will not be limited to these, in time. You can recommend (in fact, I welcome your recommendations), but, as with all areas of the site, additions/subtractions are at the discretion of the admin.

BROWNE-BANNISTER, TAMMI - Mango Belly and Mango Belly Part 2 - in Anansesem (online Caribbean Children’s Literary Journal) – 2011

Excerpt: “He ate each and every kidney, tantalizing his classmates with every suck, pick, slurp and lick. Their mouths watered and their eyes followed the golden juices that gushed down his hands.”

D’ORNELLAS, ANNALISA – Toes in the Sand - national contest selection (no word of announced publication) - 2009

Excerpt: “I was once a girl
that played on these shores.
I gathered the shells
in  bundles and scores.
I wore them on my neck
and strung some as bangles
I  noticed their twinkling
and delightful angles.”

EVANSON, TANYA - reading/performing about “An-teee-ga”,  The Travels of No Travels and other pieces at the Calgary Spoken Word Festival.

EVANSON BERNARD, VERONICA – Women of Antigua from her book Pineapple Rhymes – Blackwood Press, USA – 1989.

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. - Development - published in Womanspeak: A Journal of Literature and Art by Caribbean Women Volume 6 2012 (posted in special issue of Tongues of the Ocean)

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C.  – Differences – published in Theorizing Homophobias in the Caribbean – Complexities of Place, Desire and Belonging - 2012

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. - Ghosts Lament – published in Small Axe – 2011.

Excerpt: “…as someone beats a pan; a skanking Marley jam…”

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C.  – At Sea - published in Munyori – 2011.

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. - She Works – - national contest selection 2009 (published 2012 in Womanspeak: A Journal of Art and Literature by Caribbean Women Volume 6)

Excerpt:“The dog growls
The fowl scratches at the ground”

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. - After Glow – published in Tongues of the Ocean – 2009 (and So the Nail Head Bend, So the Story End in 2013)

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Friday Night Fish Fry – published in Sea Breeze – 2008.

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. - The Arrival - published in Calabash - 2008.

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Da’s Calypso – published in Calabash – 2008.

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. - Cold Paradise - published in Women Writers’ special voodoo issue – 2008.

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – reading excerpts from unpublished manuscript Closed for Repairs and poems Second Middle Passage and Apocalyptic Dance while a participant in the Caribbean Fiction Writers Summer Institute at the University of Miami – 1995.

ISAAC-GELLIZEAU, DOTSIE – Home – - national contest selection (no word of announced publication) – 2009

Excerpt:“Her soul and heart rejoiced
Upright and locked position”

JOSEPH, CLIFTON – I Remember Back Home & Slo Mo - performed at the Words Aloud 4 Spoken Word Festival in Canada – 2007.

Excerpt:
“It wasn’t all bright smiles, sea sand, sun and
fun

Back home had its share of oppression in the sun

Back home had its share of dreams burnt in the
sun”

MEDICA, HAZRA – The Banana Stains - Highly Recommended in the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Short Story Contest - 2008/9.

Excerpt:

“I see my father motioning for me to come to him. His face is grim- the inspector had not been kind to him. On the drive home I think of Mr. Massiah and his stained clothing. Mr. Massiah has calloused hands. His hands make me think of the banana trunk in my dream.”

ROMEO-MARK, ALTHEA – Love at first Sound - Published in Off the Coast, Maine’s International Literary Journal, Winter (http://www.off-the-coast.com) – 2011.

Excerpt:

“She loved the rhythm
of their singing
and the music of letters
spun off tongues,
that whirled in her ears.”

ROMEO-MARK, ALTHEA – The Nation Builders - at Medellin Poetry Festival – 2010.

Excerpt:

“…condemned as job snatchers

Pounced on by immigration

They are herded into vans

Shackled like cattle…”

ROMEO-MARK, ALTHEA -Easter Sunday - published in The Caribbean Writer – Volume 10 1996

Excerpt:“They say if you come back they goin’ block the entrance to the church.”

“For what? What I do to them?”

“They say you make the man leave his wife of twenty years to marry you.”

“But, that’s their business?”

“They don’t see how Joseph could leave his wife to marry you. You know what they call you?”

“What?”

“Black, ugly, long mouth. . .”

ROMEO-MARK, ALTHEA – Nager Man, Poverty, No Teeth Nana, Cha-Cha Town’s Blackbird – published in Palaver - Downtown Poet’s Co-op, New York, 1978.

Excerpt:

“Bokrah man

lashing whip ‘pon back.

Nager man

lashing whip ‘pon back

when slavery

done gone long time.”

SIMON, MONIQUE S. - Color of Love – published in Calabash Volume 3 Number 2 Fall/Winter 2005

SIMON, MONIQUE S. – NIGHT LIGHT (Ode to Bolans Village, Antigua –‘Home’) – published in Calabash Volume 3 Number 2 Fall/Winter 2005

Excerpt:

“It was night, so it was light
Island light
Home for the night light
Man whispering to woman light
Child teasing child ‘bout daytime, schoolyard game light
Extension chord attached to hanging bulb over old wood tables with dominoes, cards,
and checkerboards light
Bob Marley, Short Shirt, King Obstinate, Charlie Pride, old-time calypso light
Home from ‘de week doing live-in maid job light

It was night, so it was light carried like electric current throughout the night in the small
village…

Tonight, Saturday night
Bolans was dark but it was light, real light”

SIMON, MONIQUE S. - Raven in my Arms - published in Calabash Volume 3 Number 2 Fall/Winter 2005

Press Release 3 – Artists invited to register to create illustrations, new sponsors on board

issued 10/03/11

Young artists will also have a chance to win in this year’s Wadadli Pen. Organizers are reporting that visual artists, 35 years and younger, can now register via wadadlipen@yahoo.com for the opportunity to create illustrations for shortlisted stories in the Best of Books Wadadli Pen Challenge 2011. Art teachers are also encouraged to register their students.

“We see the programme as being developmental,” explained Wadadli Pen founder and coordinator, author Joanne C. Hillhouse. “More than a competition, it’s an opportunity for writers and artists to grow.”
Literary arts submissions have started to come in ahead of the March 31st deadline, in response to this year’s children’s literature challenge. After the deadline, Hillhouse explained the judges will go to work, short listing the best of the entries and making editorial suggestions; the short listed stories will be returned to the writers for review and resubmission. This is not unlike the process of submitting to literary journals, internationally, or working with a book editor when readying a book for publication and as the works are to be posted at http://wadadlipen.wordpress.com and elsewhere, Hillhouse explained, “We want to work with the authors on making the writing as strong as it can be. We’re giving the writers an opportunity to bridge the gap between inspiration and craft.” She makes clear though that no changes will published without the writers’ consent.

During the redrafting and resubmission phase, excerpts of the short listed stories will go out to artists who have registered as indicated or to art teachers who have registered their classes. In the tradition of story and book illustrators everywhere, the registered artists will create art which, if selected, will be posted with the winning entries. Art guidelines will be prepared and circulated, as well as posted to the Wadadli Pen site in due course; registered artists will also receive these guidelines directly when they are issued the story excerpts for inspiration.

Hillhouse and the 2011 Wadadli Pen team – which also includes Barbara Arrindell of Best of Books, literary arts judges Dotsie Isaac Gellizeau and Brenda Lee Browne, and visual arts coordinator/chief judge Renee Phillip – are in the process of soliciting additional sponsorship for the competition. Prizes will go to visual artists and writers 12 and under, 13 to 17, and 18 to 35.

Newest sponsor is Edison Liburd of Edison Arts, located upstairs the Best of Books’ St. Mary’s street branch, who is contributing tutorials with winning artists. Liburd creates original designs – hand painted t-shirts, dresses, ornaments and more – for the retail tourist market. “I want to teach them that art is an avenue that can produce gainful employment; I want to encourage them to be innovative, show them how to be innovative and creative by using all that is around us; also I want to inspire them to touch people with their art,” he said.

Also adding to the prize package are artist Jennifer Meranto who is contributing art pieces; Marcel Marshall who has made book contributions much like fellow author Floree Williams, the Best of Books, and the Antigua and Barbuda International Literary Festival; and former Wadadli Pen judge D. Gisele Isaac who is adding to the money pot which already includes sizable cash contributions from ABI Insurance, Seven Seas/Frank B. Armstrong, and the International Women’s Club of Antigua and Barbuda.

For more – including submission details, terms of use, writing tips, and more – visit http://wadadlipen.wordpress.com

Flashback – Word Up! 2006

Word Up! was a literary showcase held for the first time in 2006 – with a revival in 2010 – in collaboration with the Museum which hosted the event. It was a joint fundraiser and an opportunity to shine the spotlight on Antigua’s literary stars such as

S. E James, author of the children’s adventure series that includes Tragedy on Emerald Island, A Narrow Escape, and Kidnapped at the Beach

S. E. James

Joy Lawrence, author of Island Spice, Colours and Rhythms, The Way We Talk, and The History of Bethesda and Christian Hill

Joy Lawrence

Dotsie Isaac Gellizeau, who can be heard on the Spoken Word CD Absouluuutely Dotsie

 

Tamo Zakela

Tamo Zakela, also known as Antigua's High Priest of Poetry

 Jermilla Kirwan, star of The Sweetest Mango and Diablesse (with which she also served as co-writer)

Jermilla Kirwan, writer and former Carnival Queen

 Kush David, poet and activist

Kush

Tameka Jarvis author of the poetry collections, I Am That I Am and I Am, and book of fiction (released 2010) Unexpected

 

Zeina Hechme who won the first of the Independence Literary Arts competitions in 2005

Sandrena Martin, 2005 Wadadli Pen Winner

and others. It was a really fun night, emceed by Natalie Clarke White, and well attended. Proceeds helped with the 2006 Wadadli Pen competition and part proceeds went to the museum. When Word Up! was held for the second time in 2010 it was directed by Zahra Airall with performances by her Zee’s Youth Theatre – interpreting the work of various Antiguan authors – and others . Proceeds from that were donated to the Red Cross for Haitian relief in the wake of the quake.

Photos by Laura Hall and/or Gemma Hazelwood