Carib Lit Plus (Mid to Late November 2020)

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. (in brackets, as much as I can remember, I’ll add a note re how I sourced the information)

News

Before the end of November, news of another passing and another blow to the local calypso fraternity. In a year that took former kings Edimelo and Swallow (one of the Big Three), Calypso Joe, who claimed the crown in 1971, has died (per a report from ABS TV). We have nothing further to report but remind you that you can read about Calypso Joe here on the blog. With songs that are part of the fabric of Antiguan and Barbudan life in the 20th century, songs that are part of the story of Antigua and Barbuda, he truly was a classic. And thanks to TEDx Antigua a few years ago, we got to hear his story.

(Source – Facebook)

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Remember to D.A.R.E.
(Source – Daily Observer newspaper)

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Antigua and Barbuda’s Culture Minister Daryl Matthew has had Education added to his portfolio in light of the arrest of the Education Minister Michael Browne on unspecified (for legal reasons) charges and Browne’s removal from Cabinet (unclear at this time how this affects his elected office as representative for All Saints West). Matthew is reported to be the Minister of Education, Sports, and Creative Industries. The confusion that creates for me is is this a rebrand of the Ministry of Sports, Culture, National Festivals and the Arts, of how we think about art and culture, or an erasure of same. If you’ve read my thoughts on Culture developmentally on this blog, you already know I don’t think the PTB have been nearly proactive, intersectional, nor intentional enough (nor have they prioritized the kind of continuous engagement with and engagement of the artistic community I would like to see as a member of and advocate for that community) and I wonder how/if this will shift that. Beyond that, trippling Education with Sports, and the Arts (assuming its embedded in the catch-all ‘creative industries’ term) makes sense as all have a built-in youth development agenda. Perhaps I’ll be able to discuss these and other issues with the new Creative Industries minister for my CREATIVE SPACE series at some point. (Source – local news and social media generally)

Professional Development

Antiguan and Barbuda commercial producer-director, visual artist, and owner of Palette Designs Ad agency Lawson Lewis “is among 30 professionals from within the region who are participating in a virtual script writing and film production programme sponsored by the Caribbean Export Development Agency. The intense sessions cover areas such as story development, screen writing, film scheduling, film budgeting and pitching.” (Source – Daily Observer newspaper November 20th 2020 pages 8-9)

Story and Book Recs

Dominican writer Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea is an undisputed classic of West Indian literature. Here’s my review of the book. But this post is about the recent Royal Society of Literature event ‘What’s So Great About… Jean Rhys with Linda Grant, Shivanee Ramlochan, Lauren Elkin and Shahidha Bari’. You can find my review of another Rhys favourite discussed in this conversation, After Leaving Mr McKenzie, here. You can view the whole RLS conversation here. Framing it at the beginning, the Caribbean person on the panel Trinidad and Tobago’s Shivanee Ramlochan, said, “In a year in which we are having this phenomenal event, it’s heartbreaking to know that Rhys’ childhood home in Dominica was demolished in May to make way for commercial properties. What I find instructive about that is that on the one hand it is for someone like me an unbearable tragedy but in looking at the responses of Dominicans many of which were suffused with grief, there are others that quetion the legitimacy of Rhys to that climate, to their environment, to the idea of why a white Dominican woman who spent scant time in Dominica should be venerated in a certain way. So the response to Rhys is not just one thing; it’s comprised of so many interweaving and complex parts about what makes Caribbean identity and what makes a Caribbean writer.” I’m listening to this after reading an article of Louisa Mae Alcott (of Little Women fame’s) house. I’ve toured that house in Concord, Massachusetts (and took with me a rich appreciation for the opportunity to do so, and a mug with Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy, and a kite) and appreciate what it means to hold certain spaces, not just because of the individuals but because of the stories they have told about those spaces. Also, since this is substantially what matters in the Caribbean, there is missed literary tourism value – I think of the times I’ve been contacted with inquiries about Jamaica Kincaid’s childhood home here in Antigua (which spoiler alert has not been preserved nor exploited for whatever value it holds to literary wanderers) and about the time I took a literary bus tour (a BIM book fair event) in Barbados that included spaces chronicled in literature and the homes of some who either made or facilitated the making of literature about Barbados. It was fascinating. And too often we are shortsighted – especially when it comes to the arts. (Source – via email from The Royal Society of Literature)

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Trinidad and Tobago writer Barbara Jenkins’ ‘A Good Friday’ was plucked from the pages of Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean for reading by former Reading Rainbow host (and Roots start) Levar Burton on his Levar Burton Reads podcast which began in the early days of COVID quarantine in America. We’ve just added it to the latest Reading Room and Gallery but wanted to big her up here as well. His Trini accent not bad. (Source – via email from John Robert Lee of St. Lucia)

Publications and Postings

I have uploaded the video, in fulfillment of my grant requirement for the Catapult Caribbean Creative Arts online, to my YouTube channel AntiguanWriter. Please view, like, comment, share, subscribe.

(Source – Me!)

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Intersect Antigua-Barbuda has launched its online platform with a huge upload of stories, poems, and art consistent with its particular brand of gender artivism.

You can read and listen to the to the stories (which includes Carnival Hangover by Wadadli Pen founder and coordinator and Belonging to Barbuda by Wadadli Pen team member Barbara Arrindell) on the site. Kudos to the Antiguan and Barbudan activists that spearheaded this regionally-focused global initiative, and who, thanks to an international grant, have been able to take it to the next level. (Source – initially, social media, primarily instagram)

Kudos

To Ingrid Persaud and Monique Roffey, two Caribbean writers, both originally of Trinidad and Tobago, who have been shortlisted for 2020 Costa Book Awards – Persaud for best first novel for Love After Love and Roffey for best novel for The Mermaid of Black Conch: a Love Story. (Source – initially Ingrid’s page on instagram which led to research on the Costa page)

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Happy 50th to Hansib Publications: the Caribbean focused, UK press was founded in 1970. Per its latest catalogue, “Hansib’s legacy as a campaigning
publisher has few equals in Europe, let alone Britain, as victims of bigoted bureaucracy, police brutality, nazi savagery and even internecine violence found a platform and a template for resistance in the weekly newspapers later founded under the Hansib umbrella: Caribbean Times, Asian Times and African Times.” It continues, “The flame which was fanned by these
assorted ventures abides in the content of the tomes which Hansib continues to publish. Professional wordsmiths with international
reputations jostle with first-time authors within a catalogue that stands as a monument to Caribbean ingenuity and West Indian obstinacy and speaks truth to power that Caribbean nations provided the first examples of
modern multi-cultural societies. …Hansib Publications is proud of its
reputation in providing an outlet for the many voices that remain unheard. It continues to encourage the personal narratives that are testimonies of struggle, survival and success that cannot get beyond the portals of mainstream publishers.” Among the narratives published by Hansib are Antiguan and Barbudan titles like London Rocks by Brenda Lee Browne, Antigua and Barbuda: a Little Bit of Paradise Seventh Edition (which I had the opportunity to work on as an editor), The Art of Mali Olatunji: Painterly Photography from Antigua and Barbuda by Mali Olatunji and Paget Henry, King Short Shirt: Nobody Go Run Me: The Life and Times of Maclean Emanuel (a book longlisted for the Bocas Prize) by Dorbrene O’Marde, Shouldering Antigua and Barbuda: The Life of V. C. Bird by Paget Henry, and my first book The Boy from Willow Bend (2nd and 3rd edition). There are also intriguing titles like Before Windrush: West Indians in Britain by Asher and Martin Hoyles, Daughter of the Great River by Khalil Rahman Ali, Lest We Forget: The Experiences of World War II Westindian Ex-Service Personnel by Robert N. Murray, and West Indian History and Literature by Frank Birbalsingh Here’s their current catalogue:

hansib-catalogue-autumn-2020-emailDownload

Hansib is listed in the Publisher’s section of our Opportunities page. (Source – email from Hansib)

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The Caribbean Writer literary journal out of the US Virgin Islands has announced its 2020 prize recipients. They are Carmelo Rivera (The Daily News Prize for ‘About My Identity Journey’), Eugenia O’Neal (Canute A. Brodhurst – best short fiction – Prize for ‘Harold Varlack’s Return’) w/honourable mention to Sara Lynn Burnett (‘Occasional Moonlight’) and Rafael Gamero (Gringo Pobre), Natalie G.S. Corthésy (The Marvin E. Williams Literary Prize for ‘The Helper Experiment’) w/Chike Bukka Roots Pilgrim (Ananci) and Althea Romeo Mark (The Returned, Los Cocolos) also shortlisted, Rajiv Ramkhalawan (The Cecile de Jongh Literary Prize for ‘An Unkept Heart’) w/Latoya S. Smith (‘Diaspora Darling’) and C. Andie Davis (‘Spinner’) shortlisted), and Rohan Facey (The Vincent Cooper Literary Prize for ‘Fi We Language’). (Source – initially one of the prize recipients on social media; then the substantial list from TCW via email)

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(Source – Social media – Facebook, specifically)

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Jamaican Curdella Forbes, based in the US, won this year’s Hurston Wright fiction prize for A Tall History of Sugar . See the full Legacy awards breakdown here. (Source – Hurston Wright email)

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Hell’s Gate Steel Orchestra, the oldest surviving (uninterrupted) steel orchestra in the world, has gotten its roses. This Independence (November 2020) they were bestowed the award of National Institutional in The Most Precious Order of Princely Heritage (Gold). “We are truly thankful that our commitment and contributions to the the Steelpan artform and Antiguan Culture for 75 years has not gone unnoticed. We have toiled tirelessly over the years to keep the artform alive and pass it on to future generations,” the band posted to its facebook page. “Many have made sacrifices to help make this band what it is today and this award is proof that those sacrifices have not gone in vain.” Hell’s Gate is the first group and/or band in Antigua and Barbuda to receive a national award.

(Source – the source of the image and quote is the band’s facebook page, but I first heard about their award during the announcements on radio here in Antigua and Barbuda) ETA: Observer article announcing the award

daily-observer-re-hells-gate-awardDownload

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, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure/Perdida! Una Aventura en el Mar Caribe, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page on WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.

CARIB Lit Plus (Mid to Late July 2020)

Acclaim

A couple of Caribbean writers have been named among the Hurston Wright Award nominees for 2020. I spot among the Fiction nominees Jamaican writers Nicole Dennis-Benn (Patsy) and Curdella Forbes (A Tall History of Sugar). Read the full list here.

Book News

Not book news but screenplays are the books of the film world and the last CREATIVE SPACE focused on Antiguan and Barbudan films available online. The series runs every other Wednesday in the Daily Observer and on my blog.

Caribbean Literary Heritage used the inaugural Caribbean Literature Day as an opportunity to kick off its Caribbean A – Z of lesser known books series. A is for Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie, Gwen, Lilly, Pam, and Tulip (1983) is presented by Keja Valens @kvalens, who writes, “Kincaid’s story narrates a moment of first contact between Caribbean natives and conquistadors, from the point of view of the Caribbean natives who are also constituted by the history that will result from that meeting. It features the stylistics, themes, and even characters for which Kincaid is well known: a deceptive simplicity, a deep concern with the colonial and post-colonial experience of Caribbean girls and women, and Annie and Gwen.” They’ll be doing the whole alphabet – including an F entry by me, so check them out by clicking on the page name above.

Myriad Publishing in the UK has lots of news re the global anthology New Daughters of Africa, featuring more than 200 Black women writers from around the world, and edited by Margaret Busby. First, the recipient of the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa award, made possible because all participating authors waived their fee, went to Iza Luhumyo of Mombasa. Additionally, 500 copies of New Daughters have been donated to schools in the United Kingdom via The Black Curriculum, a social enterprise that campaigns for black British histories to be taught from reception through to A Levels. Myriad’s publishing director Candida Lacey said, “It feels more urgent now than ever to improve the way we educate our children and young adults and to share with them the richness, range and diversity of African women’s voices and across a wealth of genres.” The paperback edition of New Daughters will be out in September.

Caribbean Reads Publishing has announced that it is actively seeking #ownvoices manuscripts for middle grade readers, roughly 8 to 13 years, with a Caribbean setting. There’s no published cut off date but don’t sleep on it. Go here for submission details. Caribbean Reads has also recently released a reading guide for its Burt Award winning title Musical Youth. Download it for free here.

A reminder that Caribbean Reads publishing is accepting middle grade manuscripts. “What’s a middle-grade novel? These are books for readers in the last years of primary school and early years of high school. These readers are beyond picture books and early chapter books but not ready for the themes in YA novels. Age range of readers: 8-13 years. This is a large range and will include simpler, shorter books for the 8-10 range and slightly longer, more involved ones for the 11-13 year olds. Length: 15,000 – 50,000 words. This is a guide. There are longer middle-grade books. Character ages: 10-14 years old. Generally children like to read up, so the protagonists should be slightly older than the children in your target age range. They can’t be too old or the concerns that are most realistic for your characters will be too advanced for your readers. General features: The story must have a compelling plot line and at least one sub-plot (this is one of the features that distinguishes the middle-grade novel from the earlier books).
Adults should have minor roles. They should never step in to solve the children’s problem. The book should show a clear understanding of the protagonist’s point-of-view and concerns as a child. The books may be one of a variety of sub-genres: realistic, fantasy, historical, humorous, etc.” For more, go here.

The Voice of the People’s reading of Keithlyn and Fernando Smith’s To Shoot Hard Labour continues all July (July 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st). Don’t forget the youth tie-ins.

And the live trivia, prizes for which include copies of books by local authors

ETA: I’ve uploaded week 1 of the reading club discussion to my AntiguanWriter youtube channel

Carnival 

What’s there to say? Carnival is cancelled. Or is it? As we settle in to this new normal the news that Carnival has been cancelled has morphed in to some aspects of Carnival is going online. There will be a t-shirt mas via zoom and a party monarch with a $15,000 purse. Registration is ongoing at this writing. I’m going to link the Antigua Carnival page though I was not able to find, with a little digging around, info on these announced events – it is a (too) busy page though so I maybe missed it; either that or it’s not updated yet which would be confounding considering it’s already been in the news. But here’s the page– otherwise, google.

Black Lives Matter

Yes, here in the Caribbean too. A recent addition to the conversation – the part of it having to do with the dismantling of racist iconography – is an op-ed by writer-publisher Mario Picayo, who resides in the VI and in the US.

Mario Picayo’s Little Bell Caribbean published my book With Grace, which centres a dark-skinned Black girl in her own faerie tale.

Entitled Healing the Present by Owning the Past, it was published in the St. Thomas Source and took shots at things in public spaces named for slaver-pirate Francis Drake, colonialist ruler King Christian IX of Denmark, and other things European (and American).

‘Francis Drake was a pirate for the English Crown, and an early slave trader. Together with merchant John Hawkins, a relative, Drake made several trips to Africa between 1561 and 1567 and participated in the triangular trade. During their first trip they reported capturing “at the least” 300 Africans in Sierra Leone through a campaign of destruction and violence. As late as the 1580’s Drake enslaved people during his trips through the Caribbean. In one instance he took “300 Indians from Cartagena, mostly women” as well as “200 negroes.” In Marin County, California, Drake’s statue will be removed and the name Francis Drake Boulevard will be changed.’

Antigua and Barbuda actually has some experience with this – the changeover of European names to one of more local significance, more generally, but the changeover of things named for Drake and Hawkins specifically as well. When I was a child there were streets named for them. Post-Independence, King Obstinate did a song, ‘Sons of the Soil/True Heroes’ that as a child and still I believe changed attitudes and policy regarding some of the things named for European colonists and enslavers. There are still many things named for them, of course, but gone were Drake and Hawkins streets, and two other parallel streets in St. John’s City, and in their place were streets named for legendary cricketers Sirs Vivian Richards and Andy Roberts, and future national heroes King Court and Nellie Robinson. Still no Short Shirt Village nor Swallow Town though.

Read Mario’s full article here.

RIP

Dame Edris Bird (born 1929), former resident tutor of the University of the West Indies Open Campus (Antigua and Barbuda)/University Centre, has died. She has been offered an official funeral “in celebration of (her) selfless contribution to nation building”. In an obit I recommend reading in full, the Daily Observer newspaper speaks of her considerable (and little known to those of us who came after) arts advocacy (for example for the details of the time she stood up to then Prime Minister and Father of the Nation and her brother in law Papa Bird in defense of free expression on the nation’s station).  “The University of the West Indies under her leadership was a mecca for education, the arts, cultural expression, and exploration of self-awareness and self-fulfillment. She encouraged theatrical performances (see RULER IN HIROONA and CEREMONIES IN DARK OLD MEN), and nurtured great playwrights and actors like Dorbrene O’Marde, Edson Buntin, Eugene ‘Rats’ Edwards, Irving Lee, Dr. Glen Edwards, and the cast of Harambee Open Air Theatre. Pan blossomed and flourished, as did African drumming and creative and contemporary dancing. Public speaking and debating thrived; poetry and prose performances all found room for expression at the University Centre. It is without fear of contradiction that we declare that the University Centre under Dame Edris Bird was the cultural and educational hub in Antigua and Barbuda.”

Lit Events

ETA The read2Me_TT bedtime readings are ongoing. Happy to have been included  sure to check out their channel.

Intersect is a Caribbean gender justice advocacy group out of Antigua and Barbuda which recently invited me to participate in a discussion on colourism and more in my Burt award winning teen/young adult novel Musical Youth. Here’s the full instagram live video.

ETA: Weekes is part of the faculty of the new Faculty of Culture, Creative and Performing Arts on the UWI Cave Hill campus. It launches online August 1st 2020 at 6 p.m. our time with performances and speaches. Here’s a link.

 

ETA – this event has come and gone; here’s a report. ETA: And here now is the uploaded video of day one of the event – subscribe to the page for notifications re day 2 and more going forward. View my reading during the event on my page AntiguanWriter which you are invited to subscribe to as well

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, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure/Perdida! Una Aventura en el Mar Caribe, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page on WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.