Just some of the questions I answered when I stopped by The Review 268.
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, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
A reminder that the process with these Carib Lit Plus Caribbean arts bulletins is to do a front and back half of the month, updating as time allows as new information comes in; so, come back, or, if looking for an earlier installment, use the search window. (in brackets, as much as I can remember, I’ll add a note re how I sourced the information – it is understood that this is the original sourcing and additional research would have been done by me to build the information shared here – credit and link back if you use).
Books and Other Reading Material
Tameisha’s Adventures by Zoanne Evans. “Thirteen-year old Tameisha is tired. Tired of teachers, tired of homework generally tired of school. All she really wants to do (apart from hanging out with her friends) is to style hair. That all changes when a cosmetologist inspires her to make an unprecedented visit to the school library to research Madam C.J. Walker. In the library something goes terribly wrong and Tameisha finds herself still in Barbados, but in 1840 just post-emancipation…Will she find her way back to 21st century Barbados or will she have to stay in the 19th century and accept her awful fate?”
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The paperback edition of Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s When We were Birds was published in 2023.
The Trinidad and Tobago author has already wracked up a bevy of awards and accolades for her debut novel (see below) and is, at this writing, on the short list for the Jhalak Prize. (Source – N/A)
Events
Soul Sations will be offering up good food for mind and body including a talk on wellness by Saran Davis on June 3rd at the G Art Gallery in Piccadilly. Scheduled performers include deejays Sistah Souljahs; singers Amanda Tappin and Rashid Walker; literary artistes Kimolisa Mings, Glen Toussaint, and MJ the Poet; with food by Vegan 100 and drinks by Timmy Time Cocktails. (Source – Kimolisa Mings on Instagram)
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My timeline was awash with pictures from the May 26th – 28th 2023 return of Jamaica’s Calabash literary festival and I’m borrowing some of them. Slideshow below.
Slide to see Joyce Carol Oates, Johnny Temple with Padma Lakshmi, Angelina Jolie with Padma Lakshmi and Sarita Choudhury, steps with book titles, Kwame Dawes, Amina Blackwood-Meeks with Janet and Dale Mahfood, Olive Senior, and Kevin Jared Hosein. (Source – Johnny Temple, Caribbean Writers, and Calabash International Literary Festival on facebook, seasaltanddrum, Joyce Carol Oates, and Tanya Batson-Savage on twitter)
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The Antigua and Barbuda Ministry of Education‘s virtual research symposium series continues May 24th 2023 on facebook live. 6-8 p.m. The previous week’s symposium can be viewed here. (Source – Daily Observer Antigua by Newsco)
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In the UK, on June 24th 2023, Wasafiri will host an afternoon of readings & conversation, ‘Windrush: Writing the Scandal’, live in partnership with the Black Cultural Archives.
Windrush – the name of one of the ships that took them there – has become a catch-all for the post-World War 2 generation of then British West Indian citizens who went to help rebuild England, them and their generations after suffering extreme racism in the process. (Source – Ira Mathur on Twitter)
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The National Archives of Antigua and Barbuda’s inaugural marketplace and cultural exhibition is coming up on June 9th 2023. It is expected to feature local craft, maypole dancing, john bulls, moco jumbies, local foods, including a fungee eating competition, and local drinks. Vendors can call 462-3947 to register. (Source – Daily Observer newspaper by Newsco)
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‘The Historical and Archaeological Society (HAS) held the first event in its ‘Unlock the Museum’ series over the weekend, as persons passionate about Antigua’s history traversed Fort James. The ‘Unlock the Museum’ series was created to share some of the museum’s most intriguing artefacts, stories, and heritage about Antigua and Barbuda. Observer media travelled to the site of the first event in the series, Fort James, as Dr Christopher Waters, an archaeologist and expert in Antiguan fortifications spoke to us about what the ‘Unlock the Museum’ initiative means. “The idea is to bring all of this knowledge, history, material that we have to the wider public, unlocking our archives…so these field trips that we are doing now actually hark back to about 30 years ago, which was common within the Society,” Dr Waters explained.’ from Observer newspaper (Source – Facebook)
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Antiguan and Barbudan poet Dotsie Isaac debuted Senses, a spoken word event, last year to considerable acclaim and here she comes again. The event is scheduled for June 17th and benefits the local Sickle Cell foundation. ICYMI, I interviewed her for CREATIVE SPACE in 2022. (Source – Dotsie Isaac on Instagram)
As we’ve updated you, the 2023 season of the Wadadli Pen Challenge has launched. We can confirm that contributions from Barbara Arrindell, Wadadli Pen team member, and Daryl George, past Wadadli Pen winner, have enabled us to take the step of opening an account as a non-profit. They have been added to our 2023 patrons list, as well as individuals (Joy Lawrence), companies (KN Consulting, the Best of Books bookstore, Moondancer Books), and community groups (Cushion Club) who have committed to contributing to the 2023 challenge season, with prizes and other things (e.g. promotion). We continue to seek patronage. Contact us at wadadlipen@gmail.com if you want to contribute or volunteer/intern with us. As usual, we shout out all the media who have helped push our agenda and especially so this year – Observer Media Group, WTP 93.5 FM (which hasn’t happened yet but which we expect to this week), and apart from the Wadadli Pen blog and vlog, both of which you should be subscribed to by the way, we have a year-round presence on Antiguanice.com
I’m happy to report that entries have started coming in and we look forward to y’all overwhelming us with submissions. It’s the kind of problem we like to have. (Source – in house)
Other Opportunities
Remember to check Opportunities and Opportunities Too to make sure you never miss out on another …opportunity. One of those opportunities, specific to Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora artists, is the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival short story competition, which, in part due to limited opportunities, has quickly become quite coveted. It is made more appealing by the high standards it brings to table breaking and/or elevating the vanguard of new Caribbean writing. If you feel your pen is nice, this is a challenge you want to take. They have added to the challenge; ruminate on the number 5/five. “Have you ever thought about what you would do if you only had 5 months to live? What if that time was whittled to 5 weeks or even 5 days? What would you do with those remaining moments? How would you spend your last 5 dollars in the world, knowing very well that there’d be nothing else? Thinking back, is it possible to recall the most impressionable 5 moments of your life? The number 5 is undoubtedly an important increment. From universally representing the length of the daily grind between the (often) dreaded modern work week of Monday to Friday, those 5 days which have come to define the life cycles, circadian, arcadian and social rhythms of modern human civilisation; to the perfectly appointed number of digits on each hand, 5 is a relatable and easily identifiable multiple. In the Caribbean, 5 is nature in action. Countless childhood memories have been crystallised from the tart and sweet nectar of ripe 5-finger fruit – memories headlined by mothers who have themselves wiped clean the sticky chins and fingers of their children – those lifted hands almost an act of reverential offering. Which Caribbean person can deny that carambola is the star(fruit) of the wet season? The regalia of a formed hibiscus flower has five sepals, the fragrant frangipani, 5 petals. Indeed, the number 5, as a pattern and as a unit is stamped in the conscious and unconscious memory, flora, fauna and sensory landscape of all Caribbean people. Permit us to add one more object to the magical numeric sequence of our complex and variegated Caribbean lives. This year, the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) observes 5 years of celebrating Caribbean writers in the North American diaspora and across the yes – you got it, 5 boroughs of New York. It’s been 5 wonderful years of falling in love anew with Caribbean stories.” The submission deadline is July 1st 2023.
The Writers Guild of America is on strike. So? What does that have to do with us? I have been paying attention to this because as both a creative and freelance writer I have had to learn and adapt industry standards to my own experience and efforts to build a career as a writer in the Caribbean as I work and as I advocate. For example, ownership and rights as relates to created content, rates, and terms of use generally have always been priority issues for me and have informed the resources I try to share on this type (passing on some of the things I have had to learn the hard way). Wadadli Pen aside, I have not had the time to give to this kind of work formally (plus I’m not really built for that) but the outcome of this could inform standards for writers anywhere going forward – e.g. re the use of AI (not just for writers, voice, image, art created are all at stake) – and signal (or not) the value of the work we do as writers. Inasmuch as I understand it, and from this great distance here, I support writers standing up for the right to own and profit from the work we do. That’s broadstrokes. This is an interesting breakdown of the issues at hand.
Per The Blacklist, “What’s at stake is nothing less than the future of writing as a viable career.” They made a strong case against scabbing or breaking the picket line by picking up the work WGA members have put down on projects produced by Guild signatory companies. As someone who has been all-in on my writing career (no net) since 2002/3, I know how important it is for the people you work with (and sometimes for the other creatives you work alongside) to understand that we must insist on the value of what we do (the right to a fair fee, an understanding of rights and ownership of our Intellectual Property etc.), so that we can eat and, hopefully, thrive. (Source – The Blacklist email)
Accolades
Young Barbudan Sophia Charles won the BarbudanGo World Oceans Day writing competition in 2022 and her winning story “Pip the Parrotfish” is being turned in to a book which will be released in June 2023. As a pre-launch activity, BarbudanGo, a non-profit on Antigua’s sister island, held an illustration competition, the winner of which is Kyrolos Greaux. He won an art book and art supplies. As for Pip the Parrotfish, BarbudanGo is in the process of planning and organizing a series of reading drives. (Source – the Daily Observer by Newsco)
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Fresh off of her win at Bocas, Trinidad and Tobago’s Ayanna Lloyd Banwo has made the short list of the Jhalak Prize.
The prize is awarded to writers of colour in the UK. Ayanna lives in the UK and her book When We Were Birds is one of six in the running, culled from a long list of 12. The three-member judging panel includes award winning UK based TnT poet Anthony Vahni Capildeo. The winner will be announced on May 25th 2023. (Source – Twitter)
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Regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize have been announced. Jamaican Kwame McPherson is the Caribbean pick.
ETA: About the regional winner for the Caribbean via Ruth Killick Publicity, “Caribbean – Kwame McPherson (Jamaica) A past student of London Metropolitan University and University of Westminster, Kwame McPherson is a 2007 Poetic Soul winner and was the first Jamaican Flash Fiction Bursary Awardee for The Bridport Prize: International Creative Writing Competition in 2020. A prolific writer, Kwame is a recent and successful contributor to Flame Tree Publishing’s (UK) diverse-writing anthologies and a contributor to ‘The Heart of a Black Man’ anthology to be published in Los Angeles, which tells personal inspiring, uplifting and empowering stories from influential and powerful Black men.”
McPherson is joined by Hana Gammon (South Africa, Africa); Agnes Chew (Singapore, Asia); Rue Baldry (United Kingdom, Canada and Europe); and Himali McInnes (New Zealand, Pacific). The overall winner will be announced on June 27th 2023. (Source – Commonwealth Foundation Creatives for Facebook)
We previously related that several Caribbean diaspora writers were on the Women Prize Discoveries longlist and now we can report that some of them have made the shortlist: Specifically Georgina Charles, described as a “grandchild of the Windrush generation”, Paige Cowan-Hall, “the child of second generation Jamaican immigrants”, and Riana Duce, whose paternal grandparents are from St. Kitts and Nevis “where her grandfather still lives”. Credit to her Caribbean roots, Duce said, in response to a question asked of the short listed writers, “My favourite author is Andrea Levy. Small Island taught me more about the Windrush generation – and with it my own family history – than school ever did. There isn’t a book Levy wrote that I don’t adore. Her voice, her wit, the intimacy and scope of her work, and her phenomenal characters will live with me forever. ” Per the Women Prize site, “The Discoveries programme, run by the Women’s Prize Trust in partnership with Curtis Brown literary agency, the Curtis Brown Creative writing school and Audible, aims to find and support aspiring female writing talent from across the UK and Ireland and culminates in the awarding of the Discoveries Prize.” (Source – Women’s Prize for fiction email)
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, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
A reminder that the process with these Carib Lit Plus Caribbean arts bulletins is to do a front and back half of the month, updating as time allows as new information comes in; so, come back, or, if looking for an earlier installment, use the search window. (in brackets, as much as I can remember, I’ll add a note re how I sourced the information – it is understood that this is the original sourcing and additional research would have been done by me to build the information shared here – credit and link back if you use).
New Books
UK based writer Michael Nathan-Pepple’s second book like his first, All About Antigua and Barbuda: Discover the history and heritage of this twin Island Nation, through some of its top sites and attractions, was inspired by his visit to Antigua and Barbuda and fascination with the numerous historical sites on the island. This new book, Historical Churches of the Caribbean Island of Antigua: An overview of the complex relationship between the older established churches, slavery and their black converts, is in two parts – covering historical aspects, Africa before the transAtlantic slave trade, the treatment of Africans during chattel slavery, and reparations; the second part covers the history of 24 churches on the island. Nathan-Pepple’s wife, Sheralyn, who is, as she put it during the AB Today appearance, the Antiguan half of the couple. She has contributed to the projects as a researcher, proof reader, navigator (during the on island research), and photographer. He said he is working on other books: Amazing Africa and The Real Abolitionists. (Source – The Best of Books on Facebook)
Accolades
Dionne Brand has won the Poetry Prize in the L A Times Book Prizes for her book Nomenclature: New and Collected Poems. The 43rd iteration of the Prize was awarded earlier in 2023. Twelve outstanding literary works, across various categories, were awarded. Brand is a Canadian writer born in Trinidad. (Source – JR Lee email)
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Several Caribbean and Caribbean-descended writers have been named to the Women’s Prize Discoveries longlist for emerging writers across the UK and Ireland. They include Georgina Charles, described as a “grandchild of the Windrush generation”, Paige Cowan-Hall, “the child of second generation Jamaican immigrants”, Riana Duce, whose paternal grandparents are from St. Kitts and Nevis “where her grandfather still lives”, and Joy Fraser, who was born in Grenada. The 16-member list was selected from 3,000 submissions of 10,000 words or fewer of a novel in progress. “The chance that at the end of this process, my book could be real to more people than just me. It will live outside of my head and my google docs, and in the heads of everyone else, living its life.” – Georgina. “Having the opportunity to fine tune my writing style, craft a novel I am truly proud of and meet like-minded people. Writing can be isolating so creating a network of writers to give feedback to, learn from and to help keep each other going is so important. The prize money would also give me the finances to take the research for my novel further, maybe even helping me visit the communities I write about in Jamaica.” – Paige. “I’m excited to speak to the experts and soak up every bit of knowledge I can – I’m so grateful for all the opportunities being longlisted brings with it. And hopefully I can connect with some fantastic writers too.” – Riana. “I am excited about not knowing where continuing through the Discoveries process could lead me, the sheer unpredictability of it. I’m also really looking forward to meeting the other longlistees and participating in the Discoveries Writing Development course and everything that follows from there.” – Joy. (Source – Women’s Prize email)
Opportunities
The Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival short story competition is open for entries. Top prize is US$1750. Details here:
ETA: The judges for this year’s BCLF short story contests have been announced. They are – for the Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean – Cherie Jones (author of How the One-armed Sister sweeps Her House) of Barbados, Sharma Taylor (author of What a Mother’s love don’t teach you) who is resident in Barbados but originally from Jamaica, and Ruel Johnson (whose words inspired me to start the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize) of Guyana; and – for the Elizabeth Nunez Award for Caribbean American Writer’s Prize – Vanessa Riley (author of Island Queen and Queen of Exiles) of Trinidad and Tobago, Merle Collins (poet, writer, author of The Ladies are Upstairs) of Grenada, and Fabienne Josophat (PEN Bellwether Prize 2023/Author of Dancing in the Baron’s Shadow/Essays/Poems) of Haiti. (Source – Lit Arts Barbados & BCLF email)
The Challenge is the flagship project for Wadadli Pen which is also responsible for this blog. Read our history, and explore how you can contribute or even volunteer, towards our success. Remember to check Opportunities and Opportunities Too as well for more opportunities for writers and artists. (Source – inhouse)
Events
Antigua Dance Academy is back on stage as we enter our unofficial dance season here in Antigua and Barbuda…
(Source – Antigua Dance Academy on Facebook)
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Trinidad and Tobago’s literary festival Bocas boasted 80 events between April 28th – 30th. A lot to keep up with. But don’t worry if you missed any of it. Though it was back to a live programme for the first time since the pandemic, it still streamed, which means that the events can also still be viewed online. (Source – Bocas email)
The St. Elizabeth, Jamaica based festival will run from May 26-28 and include appearances by co-founder Kwame Dawes (Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius), Margaret Busby (New Daughters of Africa), Curdella Forbes (Songs of Silence), Kevin Jared Hosein (Hungry Ghosts), Kei Miller (Writing down the Vision), and Olive Senior, among others. There will be sessions on “Caribbean Complexities”, “New Daughters of Africa”, and a tribute reading of Michael Thelwell’s The Harder They Come, in addition to concerts and screenings. (Source – Twitter)
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We’ve reported that Antiguan and Barbudan artist and art teacher has pancreatic cancer and needs assistance. The art community has rallied with a fundraising exhibition and sale.
Tickets are on sale at Harper’s, and people are encouraged to purchase one even if they can’t make the sale. You can also pay at the door. (Source – Facebook)
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, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
St. Andrew’s primary school was my first stop on a two-day shoot. Thanks to Wadadli Pen Team Member Barbara Arrindell for setting it up and the school, staff, and students for welcoming me. Thanks, especially to Marissa Walter for the pictures. I read to two classes (from Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure and With Grace) and did a soft launch of the 2023 Wadadli Pen Challenge season.
Here I am reading from Lost! – about which Kirkus Reviews wrote, “An appealing book, all the more so for being based on real life.” *Kirkus promo after the images*
Here I am reading from my Caribbean faerie tale With Grace, which Alscess Lewis Brown, editor of The Caribbean Writer, described as, ” a Caribbean space richly woven with magic, mystery, and fantasy – an engaging fable not only for young readers but any reader poised for a new reading experience that twists and turns on a suggestion of allegory.”
Kirkus promo:
The book in the middle, To be a Cheetah, that’s my newest. I was happy to see this promo giveaway…disappointed to see it was only accessible to US legal residents. The publisher is US based but, as a Caribbean writer, I am pushing for engagement with my demographics – Black, Caribbean, and, once I get my contributor copies will try to do giveaways closer to home. If you are in the US, though, be sure to check out the Kirkus Reviews giveaway before May 14th 2023.
To be a Cheetah launches in July 2023; launch event being planned with The Best of Books and, if you are in Antigua and Barbuda, you can pre-order from them (if anywhere else in the world, pre-order wherever you shop for books).
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, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
A reminder that the process with these Carib Lit Plus Caribbean arts bulletins is to do a front and back half of the month, updating as time allows as new information comes in; so, come back, or, if looking for an earlier installment, use the search window. (in brackets, as much as I can remember, I’ll add a note re how I sourced the information – it is understood that this is the original sourcing and additional research would have been done by me to build the information shared here – credit and link back if you use).
RIP
To Harry Belafonte, who is US born with Jamaican roots and even spent part of his childhood there with his grandpartents. Belafonte’s musical career began in the late 1940s and his breakthrough album was Calypso in 1956 which sold by the millions with career-defining songs like the still popular “Banana Boat Song/Day-O” and “Mama look ah Boo-Boo Dey”, originally recorded by Lord Melody. While no Caribbean person would crown him King of Calypso (in a world in which Sparrow exists and, for Antiguans, the Monarch), it was a title, one he wore uncomfortably, assigned him in the US, given that he brought calypso into the American mainstream. Since Belafonte’s death on April 25th 2023, social media has also been rediscovering his activism including his substantial contributions to the US Civil Rights movement and involvement in making “We are the World” happen. Belafonte was also, of course, an actor, beginning in the 1950s with Hollywood classics like Carmen Jones and Island in the Sun through blaxploitation era pics like Buck and the Preacher and Uptown Saturday Night (both directed by and co-starring Bahamian-American Sidney Poitier, another recent loss to the culture) to most recently Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman.
Art and Culture
A production team from Trinidad and Tobago was in Antigua April 23rd – 26th to film Anthony N. Sabga awards for Caribbean Excellence arts and letters laureate Joanne C Hillhouse ahead of the June 2023 awards ceremony. Joanne, founder of the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize, was announced in March as the winner of the prestigius prize for her own writing and her contribution to the literary arts culture of Antigua and the Caribbean through her advocacy, activism, and action in this space. The team also filmed public health doctor Dr. Adesh Sirjusingh in Trinidad and Tobago – he is the Public and Civic Contributions laureate for 2023 – and agri-scientist Dr. Mahendra Persaud in Guyana – the science and technology laureate. Re the shoot in Antigua, I would like to express thanks to the team producer Robert Clarke, director Ryan Gibbons and audio engineer Kerron Lemessy. as well as to Marissa Walter and the staff and students of St. Andrew’s Primary, Barbara Andrea Arrindell and the staff of The Best of Books Bookstore, Ms. Mannix and her staff at the National Publi Library of Antigua and Barbuda, the owner and staff of Sips & Tips at the Northwalk Commercial Center, my family. (Source – Me)
Ghanaian born British writer with Caribbean roots Margaret Busby, editor of Daughters of Africa and New Daughters of Africa and Britain’s first female Black publisher has been named the new president of English PEN. ‘Busby said: “For some four decades, I have admired and supported the work of English PEN, and to be able to play a part in helping that work continue is a privilege.” As president of English PEN she looked “forward to helping enable the full potential of literature worldwide, with equality of opportunity for all”.’ From the Guardian UK. (Source – Twitter)
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In other PEN News, a reminder than US-based Jamaican writer Marlon James is a guest chair of the 2023 PEN World Voices Festival in New York. He will be having a fireside chat with fellow Booker Prize winner Ben Okri on May 13th 2023. Haitian-descended Roxane Gay will be in conversation with R F Kuang. (Source – PEN gmail)
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Art week (previously written about here on the blog) began April 16th in Antigua and Barbuda. At this writing, I’ve visited the exhibition at the airport and visited Edison Liburd‘s art gallery, announced as a stop on the art hop. While this is no longer so, it was nice to visit his new location in All Saints and see some of his works in progress and finished pieces. Speaking of, here are some pieces from the exhibition (one of two main exhibitions on mainland Antigua, not to be confused with the Barbuda activities) in the arrival area of the V. C. Bird International Airport.
From left to right the artists are Stephen Murphy, Nicoya Henry, and Argent Javan, and the images are lifted from their respective social media.
ETA: The other major art week exhibition is at Boom, a restaurant and spa spot that was a gun powder magazine in English Harbour back in colonial times. Here’s a teaser but definitely go check it out for yourself if you’re in Antigua – it’s worth the visit.
Art from left to right are by Murphy, Emile Hill, and Carol Gordon.
ETA: This artversation on ABS TV was also a part of Art Week.
(Source – I checked out both shows, watched the ABS live after being cued by Facebook, and travelled to Barbuda)
Accolades
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s When We were Birds has won the 2023 Bocas book prize; read about it here.
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A Caribbean writer has again made the Women’s Prize short list after Trinidad and Tobago’s Lisa Allen-Agostini (What the Devil Knead) did so last year. From 16 longlisted writers, Fire Rush by Jamaica-born British based Jacqueline Crooks is in the top six. The judges describe it as “a brilliant celebration of Black womanhood…a story about dub reggae, friendships, love, and loss which spans London, Bristol, and Jamaica”. Here’s the announcement.
Other shortlisted writers/books are Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris, Pod by Laline Paull, Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious literary prizes. It is awarded annually to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year. It has been issued for the last 28 years. Past winners include African American writer Tayari Jones for An American Marriage, Nigerian wrier Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, British writer of Jamaican descent Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, and Jamaican British writer Andrea Levy’s Small Island. (Source – YouTube)
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Summer Goodwin of Christ the King High School has won the Antigua and Barbuda Sailing Week Harper’s art competition for 2023. It is described in the Daily Observer as a “bold image depicting the coral reef being protected by a sea goddess/mermaid.”
This year’s theme was “Society, Coral Reefs, the Sea and You”. More than 70 entries were received. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco)
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“Hurricane Watch: New and Collected Poems by Olive Senior,” Carcanet Press, “has been shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award! The award, from the League of Canadian Poets, is for the best new book of poetry by an active League member. The prize was established to honour Raymond Souster, an early founder of the League of Canadian poets. The winners of the League Awards will be announced at a ceremony on Thursday 4th May – you can read more about the awards here.” (Source – Nature Island Literary Festival on Twitter)
First awarded in March 2017, the Jhalak Prize and its sister award Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, founded in 2020, seek to celebrate books by British/British resident BAME writers. This year’s announced Bocas fiction winner When We were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd is on the 2023 longlist.
(Source – Twitter)
Events
With my story “Evening Ritual” being in the ne 2023 abridged German translation of New Daughters of Africa, I thought I’d share some of the events in case, unlike me, you happen to be in the area. Like this April 28th discussion on empire at the University of Cologne and this one on June 20th at the Orangerie Theatre in Cologne.
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Haitian-American writer Edwidge Dandicat’s Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work has been adapted for the stage. Writer and director is Lileana Blain Cruz, a Drama League and Obie award winning, and Tony nominee. The play will be staged at Colony Theatre in Florida from May 4th – 28th 2023. This from artist director Michel Hausman: “Create Dangerously is a dream come true for Miami New Drama. We have the opportunity to work side by side with Miami native, Lileana Blain-Cruz, a Tony nominated artist, hailed as the future of the American theater. From the company’s founding it was my mission to collaborate with Lileana since we were both Artistic Fellows at New York Theater Workshop. Now, we have the opportunity to do so with a spectacular artist whom we admire and adore, a Haitian Miamian and National Book Award Winner, Edwidge Danticat. Her work is piercing, unbelievable, and like open heart surgery. Create Dangerously is a celebration ALL about the immigrant artist, an experience our company knows and feels deeply.” (Source – Edwidge Dandicat on Facebook)
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We’ve already told you, but here’s your timely update that Bocas is coming up and is once again live. This year there’s a decided focus on new and emerging writing talent from the Caribbean at the Trinidad-and-Tobago-based literary festival which will run from April 28th to 30th. Venue is the National Library in Port of Spain and a whopping 80 (!) events are planned. Booked authors include Kevin Jared Hosein, Sharma Taylor, and Cherie Jones – all of whom have been having breakthroughs in the last couple of years with major book deals, media attention, and prize listing.
“Seeking out and promoting new literary talent is something the NGC Bocas Lit Fest has become known for,” says festival and programme director Nicholas Laughlin. “It’s maybe the most exciting aspect of what we do, and we’re thrilled to have such a diverse and accomplished lineup this year. These are writers we’ll all be talking about in a decade — just as we’re right now celebrating authors like Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, who first shared her writing in an earlier Bocas New Talent Showcase years before she published her acclaimed novel When We Were Birds.” (Source – Bocas email)
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Domfesta, the Dominica Festival of the Arts, is held every May. Activities, scheduled but not organized by the Dominica Cultural Division will include…
(Source – Facebook DM)
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Carolyn Cooper previews the return of Calabash, May 26th – 28th, in Jamaica, with an Anansi spin. “Unlike Anansi, the founders of the Calabash International Literary Festival – Colin Channer, Justine Henzell and Kwame Dawes – did not selfishly hide the magical packey’s table full of nice eatables. They invited the world to share the literary feast they themselves conjured up. Since 2001, the festival has brought together a stellar cast of writers from the Caribbean and all across the globe to celebrate the power of the word. Both spoken and sung! Nobel Laureates have shared the Calabash stage with aspiring writers on the open mic. It’s an egalitarian festival.” – Jamaica Observer. (Source – Calabash Festival on Twitter)
Fun fact: I’ve been on the Calabash stage but not as an invited author (that’s still a dream) but as one of those writers scrambling (read: talking themselves into stepping) to the open mic. It was one of those feel the fear, do it anyway moments. I read from The Boy from Willow Bend and years later I realized the young writer signing us up was/would go on to be multi-multi-award winning author Marlon James. The author I was really excited (read: nervous) about meeting in real time, though, was Colin Channer and I had my fangirl moment. Channer’s Waiting in Vain was a favourite of my book club at the time and a personal favourite. It was one of those books that brought Caribbean books out from behind the glass cabinet (where they were kept at my local library) into easily accessible spaces while still, I like to think, having the respect of the academy. I was in Jamaica, along with a small contingent of Antiguan and Barbudan writers, in 2007, thanks to funding from the Commonwealth which we got together and applied for – and which I was subsequently invited to report on for a Commonwealth publication.
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, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
This is one of those posts to remind you that Wadadli Pen has a YouTube channel and, if you’re a tech and/or social media savvy Antiguan-Barbudan that we’re hoping one of the interns we’re in process of recruiting will take to develop content for the channel. So as usual, I’ll be sharing some of what’s there (that title isn’t just clickbait, it has all of that), with a List! The top 10 trending vids on the vlog so far for 2023 are 10 – 1:
10 – the dramatized reading of “A Scary Night”, a story that earned honourable mention in the 2005 Wadadli Pen challenge.
I look at that cover photo and wonder how many of them are still writing – I know the one third from left, in black, is; that’s popular romance writer Rilzy Adams. But this bunch wrote some really creative stories; I hope they’re still story-ing.
9 – a 2021 appearance on ABS TV to promote the Wadadli Pen challenge season – not my favourite interview of mine.
8 – the dramatized reading of “Nuclear Family Explosion”, a story that earned honourable mention in 2004, the inaugural year of Wadadli Pen.
Shout out to the Optimist Youth Drama Club and HAMA for these recordings of dramatized readings, by the way. We did them for distribution to local radio stations. I remember driving around to deliver the CDs myself, but the idea never caught on. What was the idea? Stories the length of your average song for easy slotting into radio playlists, and dramatized for entertainment value. The stations didn’t embrace the idea though, which is too bad as I imagined this plan helping to popularize stories, not just Wadadli Pen.It’s no secret that I still dream of bringing stories to other formats, e.g short films. & the recordings gave me content when I decided to start a Wadadli Pen YouTube channel – I’d previously uploaded them to my AntiguanWriter YouTube channel.
This works reviewed series is part of the blog’s mission to document and share the Antigua and Barbuda literary canon, and maybe more could be done with it on the vlog, but so far it’s one and done.
6 – the vlog’s most recent upload is a clip from a longer interview I did promoting, I believe, one of my Jhohadli Writing Project workshops, and writing in general in 2022.
5 – this is a video, I believe from 2022, of Best of Books manager, author, and Wadadli Pen team member Barbara Arrindell doing a book segment on ABS for International Literacy Day.
Love the backdrop.
4 – This is a World Book and Copyright Day event with Barbadian writer Cherie Jones sent to us by the US Embassy.
That sound you just heard was my TBR screaming under the strain of too many books, too little time.
It’s been really interesting having followed her open mic days to having her in my workshops and editing her to seeing her fully embrace being a writer of popular Caribbean fiction, emphasis on Caribbean, emphasis on popular; it’s been quite the evolution.
As for the evolution of the channel, it’s still underperforming; so help us up those views with your engagement.
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, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
This is for March 2023 (only) and (only) as recorded at one Trinidad bookstore but given that I’ve been trying to get our own bestseller lists going, I’m sharing it, and still hoping to get a list of this type going here on Wadadli Pen – Antigua-Barbuda/Caribbean bookstores, wey yuh?
Barbara Jenkins, at home in Trinidad and Tobago, showing up in Bookends’ #InConversation series in the Jamaica Observer, linked in Reading Room and Gallery 48
Ira Mathur, India born Trinidad based, also made the Bocas short list, as the non-fiction winner, now in the running for the main prize; which means she was on the long list linked in Carib Lit Plus (Mid to Late March 2023)
We don’t have an on site mention of Angela Laquis-Sobrian but the beautiful thing about bestseller lists is it’s an opportunity to discover authors you might not know about. So, go seek.
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, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
A reminder that the process with these Carib Lit Plus Caribbean arts bulletins is to do a front and back half of the month, updating as time allows as new information comes in; so, come back, or, if looking for an earlier installment, use the search window. (in brackets, as much as I can remember, I’ll add a note re how I sourced the information – it is understood that this is the original sourcing and additional research would have been done by me to build the information shared here – credit and link back if you use).
Bocas, the literary festival sponsored by the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, has announced, for the first time since pandemic lockdown, the return of its roving storytelling caravan. Its Dragonzilla mascot and professional storytellers will entertain and inspire the nation’s children at ten locations throughout Trinidad and Tobago. The Caravan is running throughout the month of April and is set to conclude at this year’s (also a return to live) Bocas Literary Festival. (Source – Bocas email)
RIP
Rest in peace to Antigua’s first calypso king, Samuel ‘Styler’ Ryan.
According to the Daily Observer by Newsco, Ryan died at 85 at his home in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Originally from Montserrat, he won the crown in 1957 with “Water wet me bed” – “It was a song about his hard upbringings in Montserat where his adopted mother would throw water in his bed to wake him up to help her bake bread.” Styler continued to make music during his time, reportedly travelling the world singing calypso with Milo and the Kings, and in his later years, as a solo artist, turning to gospel music. But in Antigua and Barbuda he is most remembered as calypso royalty, who returned for one last run of the stage some years ago
I believe this show was in the 2010s at the ARG but stand to be corrected on that. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco)
Opportunities
December 31st 2023 – The Caribbean Writer – submission deadline for volume 38 for writers and visual artists – submitted entries are eligible for several literary prizes. The theme is “Legacies: Reckoning and Resolve”. Contributors may submit works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays or one act plays which explore the ideas resonating within the region and its diaspora. The Caribbean should be central to the work, or the work should reflect a Caribbean heritage, experience or perspective. Prospective authors should submit all creative works: drama, fiction and poetry manuscripts, through the online portal ONLY. Submit Word files only (no PDFs). Note that TCW no longer accepts hardcopy submissions. Individuals may submit poems (3 maximum), short stories and personal essays on general topics as well as on the theme. The maximum length (for short stories and personal essays) is 3500 words. Only previously unpublished work will be considered. The term “previously published” covers print and electronic publication —including on social media platforms, and self-published items. The Caribbean Writer does not accept simultaneous submissions (items being considered for publication elsewhere). Artists interested in having their artwork considered for use by TCW should submit electronic files in vertical format as PNG or JPEG files with a resolution of 300 dpi or greater. The journal also accepts black and white art (line drawings, sketches, block prints, etc.). (Source – Opportunities Too on Wadadli Pen<–Click for more opportunities)
Events
Having reported and shared some thoughts re Antigua and Barbuda art week, I return to share specifically what’s happening on the sister island, Barbuda. Running mostly con-current with the Antigua programme April 16th – 23rd, activities will include a heritage awareness race, community dance class, art hops, and steelband performances. Read more in the press release:
(Source – Barbuda based Jamaican artist Artst Yaadie email)
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The PEN America World Voices Festival line-up and schedule have been announced and their are some Caribbean writers in the mix. Jamaica’s Marlon James is Festival guest chair. He will discuss a novelist’s journey to and from their second novel. James will also sit for a fireside chat with poet and novelist Ben Okri. American author of Haitian descent Roxane Gay will be in conversation with R. F. Kuang about her new novel Yellowface. (Source – PEN America email)
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Antigua’s Carnival – and notably panorama, excluded from last year’s programme – is set to return to a full programme in 2023.
Here is the programme. (Source – Calabash International Literary Festival on Facebook)
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Previously reported but a reminder that the Virgin Islands Literary Festival is April 13th – 16th 2023. This is the 9th iteration of the festival which is a collaboration between The Caribbean writer literary journal, a project of the University of the Virgin Islands, and the festival and book fair itself. This year’s them is “Carrying: Recognition and Repair” and the headliner is African-American author Charmaine Wilkerson (Black Cake). The release I saw said to sign up at Eventbrite.com – sorry I couldn’t find a direct link.
ETA here’s a promo
(Source – JR Lee email)
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Bright Hill Press Word Thursdays Onlines will feature two Windward Caribbean writers on April 13th 2023. Celia Sorhaindo is from Dominica. Her Radical Normalisation was published by Carcanet Press in 2022. Virginia Archer is a Saint Lucian poet and artist with a number of self-published poetry collections. The event will begin at 7 p.m. EST on zoom and facebook live. (Source – JR Lee email)
Accolades
Three Caribbean diasporic people – Lavar Munroe, David Scott, and Shara McCallum – are 2023 Guggenheim nominees. McCallum is singled out in the poetry category; she is a poet and professor at Pennsylvania State University. She is from Jamaica. Bahamian-born Munroe, a Baltimore-based artist, falls into the fine arts category. Scott is founder and editor of the Small Axe journal, among other things, and substanially professor and chair of the anthropology department of Columbia University. His win is in the anthropology & cultural studies section of the list – which is 171 persons long. Per release, “Chosen from a rigorous application and peer review process out of almost 2,500 applicants, these successful applicants were appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise.” (Source – Tilting Axis on Facebook)
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Not sure I’ve mentioned this before but shout out (again, if I have) to Jamaican writer, US based Marcia Douglas who has been named as one of 10 writers to win one of this year’s $50,000 Whiting Awards.
Marcia Douglas’s latest novel is The Marvellous Equations of the Dread. She is also the author of the novels, Madam Fate and Notes from a Writer’s Book of Cures and Spells as well as a poetry collection, Electricity Comes to Cocoa Bottom. Since 1985, the Foundation has supported creative writing through the Whiting Awards, given annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. The awards, of $50,000 each, are based on early accomplishment and the promise of great work to come. (Source – Twitter)
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Twenty-eight writers from 19 countries have been culled from the 6, 642 entrants to the Commonwealth Short Story competition for the recently announced shortlist for the 2023 prize. “This year’s shortlist is a concert of voices from across the Commonwealth, showcasing the richness of its writing traditions, histories, and perspectives. These stories brim with the energy and urgency of the present moment,” said judges chair Bilal Tanweer.
Here they are:
In case you missed the Caribbean writers, here they are:
from the Bahamas – Alexia Tolas from Guyana – Cosmata A. Lindie from Jamaica – Demoy Lindo and Kwame McPherson from Trinidad and Tobago – Deborah Matthews
(Source – Commonwealth Foundation Creatives on Facebook)
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The 2023 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean literature category winners have been announced. In Poetry, the winner is Sonnets for Albert by Anthony Joseph, published by Bloomsbury Publishing in the UK. In fiction, the winner is When We were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, published by Doubleday Books. In non-fiction, the winner is Love the Dark Days by Ira Mathur, published by Peepal Tree Press.
Anthony Joseph is of Trinidad and Tobago and based in the UK; Sonnets for Albert is the recently announced winner of the T S Eliot Prize and was previously shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Poetry.
When We were Birds was highly anticipated since its sale was announced and it has been critically acclaimed by the likes of the New York Times and NPR. The author is also UK based, and also of Trinidad and Tobago.
Ira Mathur, author of Love the Dark Days, is by contrast in Trinidad and Tobago but originally of somewhere else, India in this case. She is a long running, award winning columnist for The Guardian. Love the Dark Days is listed among the UK Guardian’s best memoirs of 2022.
The overall OCM Bocas Prize winner will be revealed during the 13th NGC Bocas Lit Fest, which runs from April 28 to 30. Past winners of the prize are, of Trinidad and Tobago, Celeste Mohammed (fiction, Pleasantview, 2022), Kevin Adonis Browne, (non-fiction, High Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean Culture, 2019), Jennifer Rahim (fiction, Curfew Chronicles, 2018), Robert Antoni (fiction, As Flies to Whatless Boys, 2014), Monique Roffey (fiction, Archipelago, 2013), and Earl Lovelace (fiction, Is Just a Movie, 2012); of St. Lucia, Canisia Lubrin (poetry, The Dyzgraphxst, 2021), Vladimir Lucien (poetry, Sounding Ground, 2015), and Derek Walcott (poetry, White Egrets, 2011); of the British Virgin Islands, Richard Georges (poetry, Epiphaneia, 2020); of Jamaica, Kei Miller (fiction, Augustown, 2017) and Olive Senior (fiction, The Pain Tree, 2016).
As far as publishing houses go, it’s been mostly international and pretty mixed in terms of big and small, popular and more elite presses. No clear favourites, though Peepal Tree has taken the main prize twice and no regional houses, though both Peepal Tree and Akashic have strong records of publishing Caribbean titles. Here’s the breakdown: Farrar, Straus Giroux, US (1 – White Egrets), Haymarket Books, US (1 – Is Just a Movie) Simon & Schuster/Penguin, UK (1 – Archipelago), Akashic, US (1 – As Flies to Whatless Boys), Peepal Tree Press, UK (2 – Curfew Chronicles, Sounding Ground), Cormorant Books, Canada (1 – The Pain Tree), Vintage of Penguin Randomhouse, UK (1 – Augustown), University Press of Mississippi, US (1 – High Mas), Outspoken Press, UK (1 – Epiphaneia), McClelland & Stewart, Canada (1 – The Dyzgraphxst), and Ig Publishing, US (1 – Pleasantview). A win this year would be a third for Peepal Tree, a first for any of the other publishing houses; it will be a seventh win for Bocas’ home base Trinidad and Tobago, and, of course, a first for any of the named authors. (Source – Bocas on Facebook)
Books and Other Reading Material
The We read Jamaica Kincaid project has been mentioned before here on the blog and I thought I’d share the latest companion newsletter which explores and breaks down the latest read, Lucy.
“Lucy was Jamaica Kincaid’s fourth book and second novel published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1990. It marked the return of her fiction first appearing in The New Yorker. It did not restore any amiability to her working relationship with editor Robert Gottlieb who had rejected A Small Place out of hand. Leslie Garis “who often writes on the arts” noted in her October 1990 New York Times profile of Kincaid (gifted link) that a change Gottlieb wanted to make to what became Lucy was enough to keep him on her shit list. (Otherwise known as “not on speaking terms”.)” This is an excerpt; click the link to read the whole thing. (Source – antiguanwriter at gmail dot com inbox)
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Joy Lawrence continues to do yeoman’s work with her histories covering individual communities in Antigua and Barbuda with the publication, late in 2022 (sorry for the late announcement) of The People’s Point: an Antiguan Waterfront Community: with Reference to Villa.
»Emily?« Verons Nichte, die im Laufe des Tages schon wieder gewachsen zu sein schien, stürmte gerade zur rechten Zeit herein, um ihr beim Wegräumen der letzten Einkäufe zu helfen. Wahrscheinlich hatte sie zuerst dieses Buch versteckt, in das sie ständig schrieb. Als ob Veron nicht wüsste, dass sie es zwischen Matratze und Rahmen versteckte. Veron ließ sich auf einen Stuhl fallen.
EXCERPT “Abendritual” (“Evening Ritual” by Joanne C. Hillhouse in German)
Go to Jhohadli to read about the abridged German translation of Margaret Busby (ed.) New Daughters of Africa. The original text includes 200 writers from across the African diaspora and the abridged version Neue Töchter Afrikas contains 30 writers, including from the Caribbean Joanne C. Hillhouse (Antigua and Barbuda), Andaiye (of Guyana), Marina Salandy-Brown (Trinidad and Tobago), Verene A. Shepherd (Jamaica), and Zadie Smith (who, while British, is descended from a Jamaican mother). It goes on the market this April with a formal launch to be held in Cologne in June. (Source – me)
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, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
I’m happy she has generously consented to share the secrets to her self-publishing success. – JCH
by Callie Browning
I started self-publishing as a lark. Now the joke is on me. Many people have asked me to show them a blueprint for my achievements. Each and every time, I’m clueless as to how to give them a satisfying answer. For me to attribute my success to writing an “incredible book” would never do justice to the bits of luck and chance that have come my way, my mindset about self-publishing or the sometimes insane work ethic that accompanies all of the above. When the divine Ms Hillhouse asked me to write this blog post, I again racked my brain to conceive of a proper explanation for my journey and for a while I came up short. But by sitting with it for a few months, I’ve finally come up with a few key takeaways.
I’ll start at the beginning.
In 2019 when I released The Girl with the Hazel Eyes, I had absolutely no idea how to properly launch a book. The first lesson I’ll pass on to you is don’t let that deter you. Having no idea is sometimes a blessing because it frees you from the shackles of what is sometimes antiquated thinking about self-publishing. That’s because the best-laid plans are no guarantee of success. I sent Hazel Eyes out into the world the very moment I got the final files for the book cover. You’ll come across tons of advice telling you NOT to do that. They’ll advocate teasing the cover, creating a book trailer, etcetera, etcetera. And I’ll tell you that maybe they’re right. But at the same time, Hazel Eyes is by far the most decorated war hero in my garrison so it’s proof that sometimes doing things backwards works out better in the end.
The second takeaway I’ll give you is from the master of pop culture books himself, Stephen King (even though I’ve taken some liberty with its definition). Stephen said to kill your darlings and I’ve applied this ethos to every aspect of self-publishing, not just the actual writing and editing. There are three darlings I’ve killed above all others: my ego, alleged formulas, and my pre-conceived notions. Here’s why:
Your ego will make you tell yourself that you spent three years writing this book, X dollars on a snazzy cover and countless hours formatting, marketing, and all the rest of it. Therefore, there’s no way you’re going to give it away for free. Darling reader, the numbers are against you. Estimates put the new books that enter the market at 10,000+ a day. Some of those books have experienced teams behind them and big marketing dollars. Giving it away for free (safely — try to make sure it doesn’t get bootlegged) is the best way to get readers and reviewers who are invested in you. I don’t know what came over me when I decided to give away Hazel Eyes for free one week after launching, but I did. And one of the readers became not only a close friend but also a stalwart champion of my work. She promoted it to her book club and to anyone else who would listen to her ramble on about it. LOL. And that snowballed into people telling other people who told other people. And those people also posted photos on Instagram and left reviews on Goodreads. All of which led other people to buy the book in the end.
Take time away from writing if you need to (which people tell you not to do) and come back to it when you have the mental fortitude. Yes, there is something to be said for the consistency of using your writing muscle but if your mind isn’t to it, sometimes the best thing you can do is just leave it alone. Sometimes following someone else’s formula makes you feed behaviours that don’t help you in the long run.
Pre-conceived notions need to die. If anyone had said to me that I’d become known for historical women’s fiction I would have said, “never!”. Simply because I tend to gravitate to fantasy books a lot and that’s what I thought I would write if I ever got the chance. Never fight the story that’s coming from your fingertips. Your natural writing cadence is your greatest gift and trying to force it to be something that it isn’t will not do you any favours. Even though my dream is to write a fantasy novel (which has been languishing for years on my computer), I don’t fight the stories that come very easily to me because I still enjoy telling them. Just write and see where it takes you.
My third tip is an extension of the previous sentence: surrender to things. Joanne asked me how I managed to get government funding for a European writing workshop and studio time for my upcoming audiobook. The stories around these two events may sound unbelievable and like the stuff of fairytales, but I’ll tell them nonetheless. Someone reached out to me on Instagram and asked me if I’d be interested in applying for a retreat. Even though I didn’t know the person from Adam nor what I was really applying for, I said yes. That person then contacted the Ministry of Culture, told them about the workshop and asked them to sponsor me. To my great surprise, they did. It’s important to point out that because I’m a shameless self-promoter who’s also fairly friendly that sometimes many people that I don’t know reach out to me because they like my work and offer to assist me with random things. (That’s tip number four — network, network, network) That’s also how I got funding for my very first audiobook, The Secrets of Catspraddle Village, an anthology of award-winning short stories. A Bookstafriend sent me a link about a seminar for an audiobook class which the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) was hosting. I signed up because I thought “eh, why not?”. What I thought would just be an informative seminar turned out to be an even bigger blessing. Every single person who attended was given studio time to help them record their audiobooks. (Shout out to the NCF for supporting Bajan culture, btw!) BUT please note that (a) I already had material written which was deemed good enough for my application to the writing retreat (b) Catspraddle Village was already compiled since I had planned to release the anthology this year. I say that to say this: (tip five) you don’t have to get ready if you stay ready. In both of those instances, I was (unknowingly) prepared.
I hope you’ve gotten to the end of my musings with the realisation that while I haven’t presented tangible items which you can action, I’ve advocated for a certain type of mindset which I believe is the common thread which I and many of my author friends have in common. All of our journeys are unique because I haven’t come across any two writers who can attribute their success to a single moment or action outside of always staying positive and being willing to put in the work. I have no agent, manager, or big budget behind anything that I’ve done. And yet, my books have been featured by Oprah Daily, Yahoo, In the Know, the Jamaica Gleaner, Hearst LatinX, Medium, the Barbara Bush Foundation and Publisher’s Weekly called one of my short stories “a standout.” Not to mention an entire anthology of stories which have all won awards.
I say that to say this to you: chart your own course and don’t be bogged down with doing things in a conventional fashion. Beautiful art resonates and will set its own standard in the end. Look at me; I’ve done everything wrong and it’s turned out alright.
Callie’s next book, The Secret of Catspraddle Village, is expected to drop on May 2nd 2023.
As with all content on Wadadli Pen, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
Part of what I try to do with this blog is archive Antigua and Barbuda literary history and contribute to lit arts development. As such, this is a reminder to visit our R & D page periodically for links in this vein. R & D stands for Resources and Databases.
The resources linked are Caribbean specific and more of a mix, including the literary diaspora for resources beyond the Caribbean. The RESOURCES page is probably the most important link as it has sub-links on every aspect of writing and publishing, from the legalities to getting paid. There’s also an FAQ, as well as links to editorial resources locally – including my services. For writer development, there is the Wadadli Pen workshop and the two Opportunities pages – one for pending submission deadlines.
Our databases are multitude – from journal to book publications, the latter broken down by genre, including calypso and calypso lyrics; to artiste interviews; to a media history; to plays/screenplays broken in to performed pieces and published pieces. The Antigua and Barbuda Review of Books archive is linked as are various Antiguan and Barbudan, and Caribbean writer websites. There’s a Caribbean bibliography and a listing of Caribbean literary festivals.
I expect these resources and databases to continue growing, and they are now organized for ease of finding. As with Wadadli Pen itself, this is an attempt to provide the things that were not there for me in my becoming as a writer and reflects the gaps still to be filled.
Remember you can support the work of Wadadli Pen by contributing money or time. Email us at wadadlipen@gmail.com
As with all content on Wadadli Pen, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
Love the Dark Days by Ira Mathur
by Barbara Jenkins 
by Anthony Joseph
Wadadli Pen 