The Reading Room and Gallery is a space where I share things I come across that I think you might like too – some are things of beauty, some just bowl me over with their brilliance, some are things I think we could all learn from, some are artistes I want to support by spreading the word, and some just because. Let’s continue to support the arts and the artistes by rippling the water together. For earlier installments of the Reading Room and Gallery, use the search feature to the right. This is the 24th one which means there are 23 earlier ones (can’t link them all). Remember to keep checking back, this list will grow as I make new finds until it outgrows this page and I move on to the next one. – JCH
NON-FICTION
“Culture is, of course, much more than the lifestyle patterns of a particular point in time, but those patterns are informed by the culture.” – Joanne C. Hillhouse’s How to Make Cassava Bread and Other Musings on Culture
MISC.
– dialect coach Erik Singer breaking down the performances of actors attempting the accents of real people.
CREATIVES ON CREATING
“Carnival is mas, and mas is an opportunity to showcase our creativity and that, the opportunity it provides to showcase our creativity, is the purpose of this post.” – Joanne C. Hillhouse (read full blog post on how the mango fairy from children’s picture book With Grace ended up in the parade of the 60th anniversary of Antigua’s Carnival )
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-“For me, Sweet Gossip is about the Bajan culture.” – Sheena Rose – watch the full video
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“Descriptions are a lot easier to write when you consider who is noticing what and why.” – from Janice Hardy’s Fiction University online
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Analysis (of artists like Biggie, Mos Def, Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar, MF Doom) which includes discussion of rhyme patterns by rappers like Rakim and Eminem, and speaks to the structuring of the poetry of rap.
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“Get out of your head—your head is good at convincing you that what is bouncing around inside is incredibly important. Usually it’s not.” – Andrew Foster Altschul
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Kenwyn Murray on lessons he learned from other Trinidadian artists – in two parts – really interesting read and visually stunning. Go to Part One.
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“I’m always most interested in any version of the question, what am I most scared to write about? I try to answer it as honestly as I can every single time, and I often discover it’s something I did not know about myself, which is thrilling. I think that’s the direction I need to run to.” – Shivanee Ramlochan in Caribbean Beat
INTERVIEWS
“Treat yourself with respect and kindness. Make your writing time sacred. When you are not writing, you should be reading. Writers are never off duty because material can come from anywhere — a chance remark or when buying bread. Maybe it is just my sieve of a memory but I recommend note taking on the go. And don’t wait for the muse. That woman woke up late this morning and is stuck in traffic. She’s coming but best you start writing now. She’ll join you later.” – Ingrid Persaud interview
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“Any poet who is going to be more than very good better be prepared to disappoint, upset, puzzle or even scandalize some people.” – Vladimir Lucien in Pseudo Mag
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“I find it invigorating to constantly work in new forms and genres.” Alyse Knorr at Grab Life by the Lapels
FICTION
“This secret chocolate handover was our special sin. Everybody know that a little secret-sinning sweet too bad. If you don’t agree I know you lying through your teeth. In them sinning moments Reggie softened, forgot his constant pain and forgot to fight the big C. He even forgot to fight me.” – Sweet Sop by Ingrid Persaud is the winning story from the Caribbean Region of the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
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‘Granddaddy start to look uncomfortable. “Go and start getting ready for school. I gine mek you some breakfast.”
“It is Saturday.”
“Stop giving me back chat!!” Granddaddy yell. He turn and stomp back into he bedroom.’ – from Shakirah Bourne’s Corn Curls and the Red Bicycle in Adda
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“Arnav’s palms are cool and moist; I know he is frightened. He quickens his pace and I am afraid he will break into a run. I tell him it’s alright; they didn’t hear the asphalt hit the hut. I push him in front of me and clutch his shirt from behind. They will shoot him if he runs. They are shooting a lot of young boys these days. In the villages that flank our town, they are making boys run in the open fields, then shoot them down as if they were balloons at a hit-the-target game in funfairs. There is a name for it which escapes me now.” – Greetings from a Violent Hometown by Ritu Monjori Kalita Deka
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“Before he died, my father, who loved words, told me that the Chinese language has no past tense—that therefore all events recur and nothing ends. Similarly, he said, the Japanese language has no future tense and so, in order to imagine the days to come, all we have within our vocabulary is the present.” – The Second Waltz by Madeleine Thien
POETRY
“When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,” – from When I have fears that I may cease to be by John Keats
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– Maya Angelou
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“Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size” – An audio of May Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman at Poem Hunter
Wadadli Pen 