Tag Archives: Hudle Jennings

A & B Writings in Journals, Showcases, and Contests (H – N)

This page has grown fairly quickly, so I’m breaking it up in to four pages. For A – G, go here, for O – T, go here, for U – Z, go here. and for books, go here. This is exclusively for creative pieces by Antiguans and Barbudans accepted to established literary journals, festivals (and other notable literary platforms), and contests (not pieces posted only to personal blogs) as I discover (and in some cases, re-discover) them. Primarily, the focus is on pieces accessible online (i.e. linkable) because those are easiest to find; but it is not limited to these. It is intended as a record of our publications and presentation of creative works beyond sole authored books. Naturally, I’ll miss some things. 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.

HECTOR, LEONARD ‘TIM’ – Excerpt from “The Art of Carnival and the Carnival of Art” (non-fiction, previously published in The Outlet newspaper) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

HENRY, E.T.Christmas Stringband GreetingCardChristmas Stringband (visual art – greeting card),

Calypso dancers

“Calypso Dancers”, and John Bull painting (visual art – painting) John Bull – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Happy New Year” in Dappled Things: A Quarterly of Ideas, Art, and Faith, issue Mary, Queen of Angels 2022 – January 2023

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Ixie and Izzy” in Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters – December 7th 2021

Excerpt: Grey was a palomino, pale and freckled and blonde, an unusual breed for the island but here nonetheless, as anomalies are everywhere. Perhaps it was their differentness that made them such good companions. The horse had waited patiently through the night. Now, she snuffed and fidgeted, as she rarely did, and when that didn’t get Ixie’s attention, she neighed. Ixie looked over to see a man standing, watching.

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Presentation on Jamaica Kincaid and King Obstinate during the Antigua and Barbuda Conference – October 2021

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C.  – Presenting on “‘The Art of Writing Children’s Books” at Write the Vision’s 2021 Aspiring Authors and Writers Virtual Literary Event – October 7th 2021


HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Ah Write!”, “She Lives There”, “She Works”, “Ghosts Lament”, “When We Danced”, “Ode to the Pan Man”, excerpt from With Grace, “Da’s Calypso” (poetry, fiction) – Festival Internacional de Poesia de Medellin (samples “Una Oda al Pan Man” [An “Ode to the Pan Man”], “‘El Lamento de las Fantasmas” [“Ghosts’ Lament”], “Ella viva Alla” [“She lives There”], “Ella Trabaja” [“She Works”], “El Calipso de Da” [“Da’s Calypso”], and “Escribo!” [“Ah Write!”] also published on the Festival site and “El Lamento de las Fantasmas” [“Ghosts’ Lament”] and “El Calipso Da Da” [“Da’s Calypso”] p. 279-282 in the official festival publication ‘Revista Prometeo Numero 115-116’ Agosto de 2021 Revista Prometeo 115-116 (JCH in Revista Prometeo)- August 10th 2021

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Times A-Changing” (fiction) – CREATIVE SPACE #15 of 2021 in the Daily Observer newspaper

Excerpt: “The already narrow road was made narrower by the line of cars. There were always cars there, even when the bars up and down both sides of the road were officially closed due to Lockdown.”

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Antigua, at Night” (poetry) – in BIM: Arts for the 21st Century Volume 10 – 2021

antigua-at-night

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Carnival Hangover” (fiction) – in intersectantigua.com – 2020

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C.  –   reading excerpt from “Rhythms” (poem, Vol. 18, The Caribbean Writer) and “Ode to the Pan Man” (poem, Vol. 27, The Caribbean Writer) – (virtual) lit conference and journal launch of The Caribbean Writer – 2020

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – reading excerpts from award winning teen/young adult novel Musical Youth as part of St. Lucia’s Caribcation Caribbean Author Series – 2020

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C.Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure read during the Read2Me virtual series out of Trinidad and Tobago  – 2020

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Grandmother and Child”, “Waste Not”, “Weather Patterns” (poetry) – Skin Deep magazine Is this the End? (UK) – 2020

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – readers sharing an excerpt from With Grace at the Barnes Hill Reservoir Park Black History Month event (fiction) – 2019

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Development” and “Summer One” (poetry) – Angles of Light series on Chapel FM (UK) – 2019

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Ode to the Pan Man” during Antigua and Barbuda Independence literary arts showcase (poetry) – 2019

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – excerpt from Musical Youth during Antigua and Barbuda Independence literary arts showcase (fiction) – 2019

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “The Night the World Ended” (fiction) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 32 – 2018

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “A Life in Mas“(non-fiction) – Moko: Caribbean Art and Letters – 2018

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Papa Jumbie” (flash fiction)- Akashic Books’ Duppy Thursday series – 2017

Excerpt: “… he choops to heself. Only picknee believe in jumbie. Dead na speak an’ Papa dead long time.”

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “The Other Daughter” (fiction, included in a test question in the Denmark Ministry of Education’s 2019 English Evaluation Written Exam for upper secondary and higher preparatory students. Plus there’s analysis and breakdown on the Danish version of study net – 2019) – Adda (the Commonwealth Writers online literary magazine) – 2017

Excerpt: “The day we went uphill, my corn-rowed head level with Mom’s melon-sized chest, my inquiries about where we were going were met with silence and a determined tug on my arm as I dragged my feet.

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Little Prissy Palmer” (flash fiction) – The Machinery – 2017

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “The Bamboo Raft” and “Election Season” (poetry), and “Zombie Island” (fiction) – Interviewing the Caribbean Vol. 2 No. 1 – 2016

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Game Changer” (fiction) – Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters, Vol. 9 – 2016

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “When we Danced” (also winner of the Caribbean Writer’s 2014 Flash Fiction Prize) (flash fiction) and Election Season ll (poetry) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 29 – 2015

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “What’s in a Name?” (fiction) – BIM: Arts for the 21st Century Volume 7 – 2015

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Children Melee” (poetry) – Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters Issue 3 – 2014

Excerpt: “Peanuts roasting
 Music pumping
 Obsti prancing about in pigtails”

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “To Market, Snapshot” (flash fiction) – Susumba’s Book Bag Issue 1 – 2014

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Civi-li-za-tion” (poetry) – Artemis Volume XXl- 2014

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Summer 1‘ (poetry, also published in Tongues of the Ocean) & “Something Wicked” (fiction, Story of the Week) – The Missing Slate – 2013/2014

Excerpt (from “Something Wicked”): “Essie is flamboyant as ever; her full and curvy frame hugged up by a red bustier straight out of a burlesque show, black leather pants, and dangerously (sexy, she would say) red heels that still only bring her up to Claudette’s chin. Claudette is also in black, tall and svelte in a black strappy ankle-length maxi dress, black combat boots and a black beaded cloche hat someone like Louise Brooks might have worn during the jazz era; her red-red lip stick and the red beading in the fitted cap, the only pop of colour. Essie had given the whole get-up an eye roll when she’d picked her up. Claudette had done her own mental eye roll at the way her friend, enviably comfortable in her own skin, still doesn’t get the concept of size-appropriate clothing.”

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Carnival Blues” (fiction, also published as “Something Wicked” in The Missing Slate), “Is Like a Like It” (screenplay excerpt), “Music” and “Ode to the Pan Man” and “On Seeing Euzhan Palcy’s Rue Cases Nègres”  (poetry) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 27 – 2013

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “All Fall Down” (fiction) and “Feather in Her Ear”, “Another Garden”, “Prison for Two”, and “Corporal Punishment” (poetry) – Womanspeak: a Journal of Art and Writing by Caribbean Women Volume 7 – 2013

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “The Cat has Claws” (flash fiction) – Akashic Book’s Monday’s are Murder online noir series – 2013

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C.  – “Caribbean Woman” (poetry, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – The Columbia Review – 2013

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “She Works” (national contest selection 2009), “She Lives There”, and “Development” (also published in Tongues of the Ocean) (poetry, all subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Womanspeak: a Journal of Literature and Art by Caribbean Women Volume 6 – 2012

Excerpt (She Works):
“A thin row of cane stalks marks
The boundary of the land
She carries a bath heavy with clothes in her hands”

HILLHOUSE JOANNE C. – “Mango Season” (poetry, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 26 – 2012

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Differences” (poetry, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Theorizing Homophobias in the Caribbean: Complexities of Place, Desire, and Belonging – 2012

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Teacher May” (fiction, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Poui: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing Number XII – 2011

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “At Sea” (flash fiction, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Munyori – 2011

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. –Ghosts Lament” (poetry, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – SX Literary Salon – 2011

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

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Somebody” (fiction; subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – St. Somewhere – 2010

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Scenes from a Caribbean Childhood” (poetry) – Anansesem – 2010

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Country Club Kids” (fiction) and “Tongue Twista” (poetry,  both subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 24 – 2010

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “AfterGlow” (fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean – 2009; subsequently published in So the Nailhead Bend, So the Story End – 2012 and Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Venus Ascending” (poetry, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Mythium: the Journal of Contemporary Literature and Cultural Voices – 2009

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “The Arrival“, “Prospero’s Education“, and “Da’s Calypso” (poetry, all subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Calabash – 2008

Excerpt from “Da’s Calypso”:

“He na min school pon
Shakespeare,
but he understan’ well
de ingenuity o’
wan pun,
weave imagery o’
everyday life
inna song –”

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Friday Night Fish Fry” (fiction, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – published in Sea Breeze and read at the Breadloaf Writers Conference – 2008

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Cold Paradise” and “Portent” (fiction) and “Benediction before the Essences: A Prayer, Caribbean Sunset, Caribbean Spirit, The Sea” (poetry, all subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Women Writers – 2008

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Soca Night” (fiction, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) and excerpt from Oh Gad! (fiction, a novel subsequently published by Simon & Schuster, 2012) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Rhythms” (fiction) and “Ah Write!” (poetry, later published, 2010, in PEN America: a Journal of Writers and Readers) (both subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 18 – 2004

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Martin, Dorie, and Luis: a Love Story” (fiction, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Jamaica Observer Literary Arts – 2004

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Philly Ramblings 8” (poetry, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Ma Comère: Journal of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars Volume 3 – 2000

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – “Bitter Memories” (fiction) and “Hope Springs Eternal” and “Old People” (poetry, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) – Collective Soul – 1998

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

Excerpt: “A sister pimping her soul
A baby with a gun in his hand
Love gone cold”

HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – reading from novel Oh Gad! published by Strebor/Atria/Simon & Schuster (USA) in 2012 at the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop participant readings showcase at Brown University, Rhode Island (USA) – 2012

HOLDER, ZURI – “The Scary Night” (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

HUNT, SIENA K. MARGRIE – “Nuclear Family Explosion” (fiction, 2004 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

HUNTE, JOSEPH ‘CALYPSO JOE’ – “Bum Bum” (calypso lyrics – 1970 Carnival road march tune)  – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

ISAAC, D. GISELE – Excerpt from In Search of a Road (fiction, unpublished-in-progress novel) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

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

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

JACKSON, ANNETTA – “Unlearning Anti-Blackness” – in intersectantigua.com – 2020

Excerpt: “It is Sunday, May 4th, 2014 and I am in my bathroom with blue handle scissors cutting off 6 years’ worth of permed hair from my head. My afro is like a mushroom and my face looks like a boy. I had been growing my hair out for a few months and my biological mother had been washing my scalp with red stripe and aloe. I got tired of battling with the two textures, so I cut it off.”

JACKSON, NAOMI – “Her Kind: On Losing and Finding My Mind” – in Harper’s – 2023

Excerpt: “Now I am reacquainted with myself as a writer, which is to say that I am reacquainted with myself.”

JACOBS, OGLIVIER ‘DESTROYER’ – “Message from Gorkie” (calypso – from his album The King and The Patriot) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

JAMES, S. E. – (fiction) Excerpt from the chapter Carnival in her book Tragedy on Emerald Island Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

JARDINE, AKILAH – (fiction) Excerpt from the chapter Blue Devils in her book Living Life the Way I Love ItCarnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

JARDINE, ARTHUR ‘BUM’ (youngest member of Brute Force, the first recorded steelband) – “The Man and His Pan and My Travels with Brute Force” (non-fiction from memoir in progress The Man, His Pan, and The Conflict), “Pan Rhapsody” and “Song for Fundu” (poetry) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

JARVIS-GEORGE, TAMEKA – “Woman to Woman” (fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014

JARVIS-GEORGE, TAMEKA – “Ugly” (poetry) – featured in/providing narrative structure for film of the same name

JARVIS-GEORGE, TAMEKA – “Dinner” (poetry) – featured in/providing narrative structure for film of the same name

JENNINGS, HUDLE – (visual art – illustration for Shakeema Edwards’ “The Curse of the Kumina” and for Devra Thomas’ “Sand and Butterflies” (2011 Wadadli Pen art and fiction) – Anansesem (the Best of Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

JOSEPH, CLIFTON – “That Night in Tunisia”  – performed in the documentary Dark Arts in the Plastic Hallway – 2009

JOSEPH, CLIFTON – “I Remember Back Home” & “Slo Mo ” (poetry) – 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”

JOSEPH, JAMAL – “Returning to Natural Roots” (visual art) – intersectantigua.com – 2020

KINCAID, JAMAICA2021 Langston Hughes Festival – Evening Ceremony Honouring Jamaica Kincaid – 2021

KING, X-SAPHAIR – “Turmoil Within” and ” Strength through Pain” (visual art – painting) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014

KINSELLA, MARIE – “Drum Man @ Boy”, “Two Pan Drummers”‘, and “The Joy of Pan” (visual art – painting) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014

LAKE, EDGAR O. – “Little Richard’s Second Coming” (poetry) – Calabash – 2007

Excerpt: “But, the Faithful wait for the King of Pommade, Tuti
The Monarch of Mascara, pre-Pink Floyd, Tuti-Fruti
He’s turned his back on Hollywood – protesting!
He’s the King of Rock-and-Roll – will take it back –
“This Little Light of Mine – Say What?”
The tired Daughters of the Carolinas toss their curls
Little Richard’s seen the fork in the road – and took it

Praise his name!”

LAKE, EDGAR O. – “Walcott Reads to Brodsky’s Godmother” (poetry) – Calabash – 2007

LANGLEY, CHARLES – “Black Woman Cry” (poetry) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014

LAWRENCE, LISCIA – “The Day I saw Evil” (fiction, Wadadli Pen award winning story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

LAVELLE, ARDIS – “PreSchool Days” (poetry, 2011 Wadadli Pen award winning story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

LI, DENISE – “Carnival 1988” (visual art – drawing) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

LI, SARAH ANN – “Lucky Dollar” (fiction, 2005 Wadadli Pen award winning story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

LIBURD, EDISON – “Mysteries and Contradictions”‘ – Caribbean Writer 29(visual art, cover art) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 29 – 2015

MARTIN, COLIN ‘WANGA’ – selected images (visual art – costumes: Bush Doctor, reminiscent of the old time medicine; Calabash and Can Cup, one time household utensils; Cane Cutters, referencing the sugar plantations that once dominated; Can Can and Hot Pants, referencing past fashions; and Perry Grey Ghost, referencing an old time folk character) from Reveller’s Mas Troupe’s 2003 presentation ‘Ole Time Something Come Back Again’ and ‘Spirit of Carnival’ (designed for 2005 Antigua Carnival Queen finalist Kimmorna Otto, to her ReggaeSoCalypso theme) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

MCDONALD, HILDA – “Dawn and Evensong” – KYK-OVER-AL No. 22: Anthology of West Indian Poetry, edited by A. J. Seymour (p. 47) – 1957

MEADE, SHANNON – “I, Atlas” (fiction) – intersectantigua.com – 2020

MEADE, SHANNON – “My Old Foe” (poetry) – intersectantigua.com – 2020

MEDICA, HAZRA – “Discretely Antiguan and Distinctly Caribbean ” (non-fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014

Excerpt: “Near twenty years ago and entirely by chance, I discovered my first Antiguan novel.”

MEDICA, HAZRA – “The Greeting” (fiction) – Poui: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing XIII- 2012

MEDICA, HAZRA – “Ode to a Night in Ale” – finalist in the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest – 2010

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.”

MENTOR, KEILLIA – “Mongoose in a Hole” (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

MERANTO, JENNIFER – “‘Carnival Mask”‘ (visual art – photography) – originally shot 1996; silver prints  – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

MINGS, KIMOLISA – “Little Red Hoodie” (fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014

NANTON, ERROL ‘BUMPY’ – “‘Dance of the Masks” and selections from Dynamics’ 2007 mas which revisited the best of Antigua’s Carnival over 51 years (visual art – costumes; 2001’s presentation ‘Dance of the Masks’  grew out of Nanton’s fascination with the tribal masks of Africa) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007

NICHOLAS, NNEKA – “Naima” and “Forgiveness” (fiction) – in intersectantigua.com – 2020

NICHOLSON, KEMAL OSMEL – “Ma Belle” (fiction, 2006 Wadadli Pen short story award winner) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

NICHOLSON, LIA – “Tekin’ Ahn Dey” (fiction, 2004 Wadadli Pen short story award winner) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011

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, Oh Gad!, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, and The Jungle Outside). All Rights Reserved. Please do not repost artist images without permission and credit. If you enjoyed this post, check out myJhohadli  page and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen, my books, and my freelance writing-editing-coaching-workshop services. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.

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SANDS AND BUTTERFLIES BY DEVRA THOMAS

cover art by Hudle Jennings, winning entry in the visual arts category of the Wadadli Pen Challenge 2011.

“Mommy, how many sand on the beach?” Kyle asked from the back seat of the car.

I adjusted the rear view mirror to observe my six-year-old. The hat on her head did nothing to hide her uncombed hair and
curious expression.  “No se,” I responded in Spanish.

“Why?”

“There are too many to count, sweetheart.  So, are you ready for the beach?” I asked.

“Don’t forget to pick up Haley, mommy! She said she is going to help me count the sand.”

I thought to myself, this is going to be a long day.

Kyle is a free spirit with a wild imagination. I remembered the day her teacher called to let me know that Kyle brought her teddy bear to school and insisted that he get a desk and table right next to her.

“Mommy, daddy say you can’t drive.”

I smiled as I made a mental note to settle that score with Tom.

“He said you drive slow.”

“The word is slowly, Kyle.  Not slow.”

“Mommy, look cane!”  She pointed as we approached a stop with a vendor selling cane and coconut water.

“Two bags, please,” I shouted as we approached the vendor.  He smiled as he handed me the bags.

“Mommy, what happened to his teeth?” Kyle asked softly as we drove off.

I passed a cane to her without responding.  We spent the next few minutes of the drive in silence.

“We are coming close to Haley’s house, sweetheart.”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile, “Haley’s daddy said their road is a pond.  What is a pond, mommy?”

“Well, it’s just a body of water; almost like the beach.” I answered.

Haley lived on the way to the beach and as we entered her road I immediately understood why Haley’s dad said what he did. The road was filled with numerous potholes.

“Where is the pond?” Kyle asked as she looked all around her.

“Well,” I started uncertainly, “the pond is all dry right now because we haven’t had any rain for a while.”

She opened her mouth to respond but then saw Haley running towards the car.

“Kyle, you want to see my bath suit?” Haley said as she entered the car.

We drove away from the house as slowly as we approached it.  The car was filled with the excited chatter of two six-year-olds who could have easily passed for twins.  I was forgotten.

“We are here!” I said a few minutes later.

“Yeah!” they both shouted.

The small beach was filled with tourists and a few vendors selling souvenirs.

“Mommy,” Kyle whispered, “they are all white.”

I looked at her with understanding and decided to take the bull by the horn.  I led them back to the car.

“Kyle, remember those butterflies we saw in the garden yesterday?”

“Yes.” She answered.

“What colours were they?” I asked her.

“Yellow and blue and…” she said.

“Were they not all butterflies?” I interrupted her.

“Yes, mommy and they were pretty.”

“Well, we are like those butterflies Kyle.  We have many different colours but we are all God’s people and we are all beautiful!”

“Mommy, can we go out now?” They had heard enough.

“Let’s go count some sand,” I said.

“No, Mommy,” Kyle said as she held Haley’s hand and ran ahead of me, “we are going to count butterflies.”

But there are no butterflies here, I said to myself.

I laughed out loud as I heard her say: “one white, two white, one pink…”  I had to catch up fast.  It was time for another chat.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sands and Butterflies, winner of the 18 to 35 category and overall winner in the Best of Books Wadadli Pen Challenge 2011, was written by Devra Thomas. The All Saints Road resident, formerly a bilingual client services associate at Stanford International Bank, says she now works “in the employ of my 18 month old daughter as ‘mommy-in-charge’.” She’s also been engaged in the past in youth work at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, the Boys Training School and the Sunshine Home for Girls; and has offered to assist with Wadadli Pen in future – we will be taking her up on that. A self-described passionate reader, Devra, says she favours stories with a moral: “I must finish my reading a bit wiser – with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.” She is a passionate writer whose writing, she says, reflects her Christian faith; and who is looking
forward to expanding beyond her personal writing to honing her skills and writing pieces that will inspire and educate the public, particularly youths.

Devra accepting the ABII trophy

With Sands and Butterflies, she and Wadadli Pen’s children’s lit challenge proved a match made in heaven.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION & TERMS OF USE
Copyright of the winning Wadadli Pen stories and/or art work featured on this site belongs to the creators of the individual works and are used here purely for promotional and educational purposes. Other blog content, except otherwise noted, is created and/or maintained by Joanne C. Hillhouse. Site content should not be copied, distributed, transmitted, used for commercial purposes, altered, transformed, or built upon without the consent of the copyright holders.

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FINALISTS – WADADLI PEN CHALLENGE 2011 (VISUAL ARTS)

Hudle Jennings is the winner of the 2011 Wadadli Pen visual arts challenge. She also scored the second spot with the third spot going to eight-year-old Freya Platts-Costeloe.

The challenge was to create supporting art for the short listed stories in the 2011 competition – the idea of illustrations seemed a
good fit given that we’re focused this year on children’s, teen and young adult literature. Art teacher, Renee Philip created the guidelines, which challenged the artists to, among other things, create illustrations that “reflect at least the theme or a specific passage from the stories.” Artists had to pre-register; each was then issued at least two of the stories and charged to go forth and
create. The already small field of registered artists dwindled, but we still got some interesting submissions out of it.

Jennings’ cover art for Devra Thomas’ Sands and Butterflies
most impressed, followed by her cover art for Shakeema Edwards’ The Curse of the Kumina:  Jennings describes her art as ‘computerized collage’.  A graduate of the CTTEC Microsoft Certification Center, she is an aspiring graphic artist who currently works as a customer service representative in the banking industry.

Freya Platts-Costeloe is a third grader at Island Academy and one third of a triplet for her parents.
Her mom, Nettie, informs us that she is a very enthusiastic young artist who is passionate about drawing and painting
in all mediums and on any surface from stones found on the beach to leaves found in the rain forests. “She pays an incredible amount of attention to detail and was thrilled at the prospect of illustrating a short story,” Nettie said. No surprise then that Freya submitted three pencil drawings – the most submissions of any registered artist.
Two were for Zuri Holder’s The Scary Night, one in particular impressing with itsattention to detail and the way it captured the atmosphere of the story:

Congrats to both Hudle and Freya. The art pictured here – as well as other submitted art have also been posted with the stories they’re designed to complement.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION & TERMS OF USE
Copyright of the winning Wadadli Pen stories and/or art work featured on this site belongs to the creators of the individual works and are used here purely for promotional and educational purposes. Other blog content, except otherwise noted, is created and/or maintained by Joanne C. Hillhouse. Site content should not be copied, distributed, transmitted, used for commercial purposes, altered, transformed, or built upon without the consent of the copyright holders.

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THE CURSE OF THE KUMINA BY SHAKEEMA EDWARDS

cover art by Hudle Jennings, second placed in the Wadadli Pen 2011 art challenge.

It wasn’t so long ago that I was condemning Eve with the rest of my Sunday school class: she was a sinner, she had wilfully
defied God and she deserved to be punished. However, it wasn’t so long ago either that I had tasted my first real bite of temptation.

In many ways it was all my granny’s fault, she was the instigator; she knew the type of child I was, curious to a fault, yet
she let it slip on afternoon on our way from the market that I was never to enter Mother Kumina’s yard.

“And why not?” I asked with hands on hips, eyes rolling back, and defiance etched into my face.

“If you want the curse of the Kumina child go right ahead,” Granny replied.

“Curse! Please, I don’t believe in no curse! It’s mango season and you’re telling me I can’t pick mango because of a curse?”

“Girl, nobody say you can’t pick mango. You can pick mango from every tree in the village but not from Mother Kumina tree.”

Why did she have to say that? Once I heard Granny’s words I realized that I had tasted the sweet, the sour, the bitter,
and the rotten fruit of every mango tree in the area except that of Mother Kumina’s tree. Instantly, my curiosity stood up and began an incessant screaming. She would not be satisfied; all food lost its flavour, all mangoes were sour, and every drop of water evaporated on my tongue. My curiosity and I would not rest without a taste of that forbidden fruit.

Thus, four hours after my granny’s warning I climbed over Mother Kumina’s fence and slithered up her mango tree like a
fugitive lizard. As I was sitting on a thick branch wondering which plump treasure to seize first I suddenly heard the disconcerting sound of grass being trampled. I looked towards the source of the sound and my sight was accosted by three large pit-bulls coming my way.

There was no time to think. Hastily, I grabbed a single mango and jumped out of the tree; skinning my right knee as I hit the
ground. Without looking back I made a run for the fence and slithered over it with even more speed than I had the first time.

I was basking in my triumph for all of two seconds when the first pit-bull burst through a hole in the fence.

 “Oh Father!” I yelled as they chased me down Pineapple Avenue, up Orange Lane, and across Cocoplum Drive. They were relentless and they chased me all the way to Old Maggie’s pasture. Both of my Bata slippers burst during the chase; cassie pierced me in my unshod feet, I splashed myself with dirty water as I ran through pothole after pothole trying to escape, still the dogs ran on, and all the while I clutched my conquest firmly in my left hand.

After circling the village almost two times I was able to lose my pursuers and ran home as quickly as I could.

“Curse, schmursh!” I cackled as I looked at the orange-red mango in my hand. With a cursory wipe on my tank top, I skinned
it with my teeth and took a great bite out of the fruit. It was the sweetest mango that ever was; even though it griped my belly for an entire week, and every mango I have had since has tasted like ash, I’ll never regret taking that mango from Mother Kumina’s tree.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The Curse of the Kumina was written by Shakeema Edwards. Born in 1993, she began reading at age three and quickly developed an aptitude for English and Literature. She started writing poems and short stories for friends and family at age eight. But it wasn’t until 2008 that she started entering literary competitions. That year, she won the Women of Antigua V-Day essay contest and the Best of Books/Joanne C. Hillhouse Next Chapter contest for the book Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, winning both. The former Antigua Girls High School and current Antigua State College student has also fared well in the Antigua and Barbuda Independence Literary Arts Competition, earning a spot in a weekend writers retreat specifically for young writers who distinguished themselves in that competition.  Inspired by ‘Classical’ novelists such as Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell, whose works have withstood all tests of time, Shakeema aspires to see her own name (or a creative pseudonym) etched into the spine of a novel that will change generations of people.

She’s off to a good start with her wins in the 13 to 17 age category in the 2010 Wadadli Pen contest and second place spot in both the 13 to 17 age category and the
overall competition in 2011.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION & TERMS OF USE
Copyright of the winning Wadadli Pen stories and/or art work featured on this site belongs to the creators of the individual works and are used here purely for promotional and educational purposes. Other blog content, except otherwise noted, is created and/or maintained by Joanne C. Hillhouse. Site content should not be copied, distributed, transmitted, used for commercial purposes, altered, transformed, or built upon without the consent of the copyright holders.

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