Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua and Barbuda)
Thine is the Kingdom by Garth Buckner (the Bahamas)
Song of Night by Glenville Lovell (Barbados)
On Heroes, Lizards and Passion by Zoila Ellis (Belize)
Afro-Cuban Tales (Cuentos negros de Cuba) by Lydia Cabrera – translated from the Spanish by Alberto Hernandez-Chiroldes and Lauren Yoder (Cuba)
The Snake King of the Kalinago by Grade 6 of Atkinson School (Dominica)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Dominican Republic)
The Ladies are Upstairs by Merle Collins (Grenada)
Buxton Spice by Oonya Kempadoo (Guyana)
I am a Japanese Writer (je suis un écrivain japanais) by Dany La Ferriѐre (Haiti)
John Crow’s Devil by Marlon James (Jamaica)
Only God can make a Tree by Bertram Roach (St. Kitts-Nevis)
Neg Maron: Freedom Fighter by Michael Aubertin (St. Lucia)
The Moon is Following Me by Cecil Browne (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
One Scattered Skeleton by Vahni Capildeo (Trinidad and Tobago)
These are all the books from our Caribbean region read by British writer Ann Morgan in her Year of Reading the World project chronicled in her book Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer. You’ll find my review of that book in Blogger on Books. And you can find a more comprehensive bibliography of Caribbean books here. But Ann’s book is a good read in my view…and you’ll have to go there for her full list of world reads.
…but, let’s have a conversation, what do you think of her Caribbean choices …what would be your recommendations if asked to introduce a newbie to literature from your country?
As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Musical Youth, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
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