Carib Lit Plus (Early to Mid February 2023)

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).

Obits.

The passing of Gordon Rohlehr was noted in the last Carib Lit Plus. This tribute is by Patrick Anthony of St. Lucia.

gordon-rohlehr-1942-2023-tribute-pabaDownload

(Source – JR Lee email)

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Local historian and writer Ivor Ford has died. Ford worked in the public service and in retirement was vocal – primarily on radio – on national issues. He is considered to be someone who has done considerable research in to Antiguan and Barbudan history, and worked on a number of publications in this lane, e.g. a 1984 commemorative magazine on the teacher for whom the T N Kirnon school is now named, and compiling and editing the 2004 posthumous edition of Novelle Richards’ The Struggle and The Conquest. A number of personal dedications to Ford’s life online alerted me to his passing beginning with this one from Senator Shawn Nicholas (a co-editor on The Struggle and The Conquest):

“Today, I lost one of my proudest and loudest cheerleaders, Ivor Bernard Ford. So much I could say about this man. Though diminutive in frame, his stature was larger than life. Rest in peace, my friend.” (Source – Facebook)

Accolades

The Dublin Literary Award longlist 2023 (culled from titles nominated by libraries across the world) has been published and I didn’t note any Caribbean titles (with the exception of An Unusual Grief by Yewande Omoto, listed as a Barbados/Nigeria/South Africa). So I decided to share it because there should be Caribbean titles – put forward even if they don’t make the cut, every time, and I am not convinced that there are. I am not confident that libraries across the Caribbean, including right here in Antigua and Barbuda, are combing through each year’s releases and putting up what they consider to be the best, and if my uncertainty is true then that’s a disservice to a literary community that already has so few opportunities to break through. If I am wrong, I hold that L but I don’t think I’ll have to. That said, congrats tot the titles that did make the list and good luck on March 28th and May 25th the days when the shortlist and winners, respectively, are announced. (Source – Word by Word)

Art and Culture

The Derek Walcott Library has been opened in the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College using a collection of pieces from the St. Lucian Nobel Laureate’s personal collection. The official opening formed part of the country’s Nobel Laureates annual week of activities. (Source – Nature Island Literary Festival on Facebook)

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The Big Issues on Observer Radio Antigua and subsequently the Observer newspaper have been exploring the film development model for Antigua and Barbuda – incentives to international productions to use the islands as locale, investment in indigenous filmmaking, a hybrid model that uses the big Hollywood dollars to finance local film development (e.g. through location fees) – in the wake of reporting on a possible Citizen by Investment backed joint venture initiative between French filmmaker Philippe Martinez and Canada-founded APEX Capital Partners, an advisory firm for CIPs?

‘Howard and Mitzi Allen, alongside Dr Lisa Tomlinson and Dr Alvin Edwards, sat down with host Barbara Arrindell to discuss the film culture in Antigua and Barbuda.

Mitzi Allen, who is best known as the co-founder of HaMa Films, and co-producer of the film ‘The Sweetest Mango,’ said that while it is important for foreign investment, she noted that there was a lack of interest in the development of local filmmakers in the country.

She argued that “bringing in international productions, absolutely yes, but it is not sustainable if we do not have the training on the ground, we do not have a film industry.

“So, when I hear that there is going to be employment for as many as 200 people, I would like to know who those people are, and where they exist, because we are on movie number five and we have had to go outside of Antigua in order to raise the bar in the productions that we do.”

Mitzi Allen argued that a fund needs to be set up to develop the local creative industries for a more sustainable employment market.

Howard Allen also reiterated the need for a local film industry, noting that the jobs the government is touting would be created, once the international filmmaker leaves, many of the locals employed would be again returned to their regular jobs.

“If we really want to build a viable film industry, the government has to take the lead on that, and throughout the islands, the politicians really do not see the value of our stories, and so their real interest is just bringing in international productions here,” he said.

Dr Lisa Tomlinson, who is a lecturer at the UWI Mona Campus in the Institute of Caribbean Studies, teaching Caribbean and African Diaspora Film courses and documentary narratives, spoke about what the region could learn from Jamaica, where the government has invested in developing youth filmmakers.

“We have the JAMPRO…and through that, they have a branch called the [Propella Initiative by the Jamaica Film and Television Association] where they take local filmmakers and go through a process of training and developing their films, and once they are finished, they enter national and international film festivals and competitions,” Dr Tomlinson said, although she did note that it was still not to the level of economic sustainability compared to other industries like music.’ – read the article in full. (Source – various)

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Black Panther star Letitia Wright paid a visit to her homeland, Guyana, where she engaged in a number of activities, including urging peace and love while addressing parliament. It was the British actress’ first trip home in 20 years. In addition to playing Shuri, little sister of T’Challa (played by the late Chadwick Boseman, RIP), Letitia has recently appeared in and co-produced Silent Twins, about a pair of sisters of Barbados origin who were institutionalized in Britain after years of silence and teenage rebellion, among other films. (Source – The Daily Observer Newspaper by Newsco)

Books and Other Reading Material

Jamaican writer Alecia McKenzie’s acclaimed A Million Aunties has a new paperback edition with a new cover.

Originally published in 2020 with Akashic in the US and Blue Banyan/Blouse and Skirt in the Caribbean, it has been described as “a compelling novel about unlikely love, friendship, and community, with several surprises along the way. The story takes place against the backdrop of rural Jamaica, New York City, and Paris, France.” It has been shortlisted for the 2020 Caribbean Readers’ Awards (Best Adult Novel) and longlisted for the 2022 DUBLIN Literary Award. This paperback edition released February 2023 is with Berlin based Dialogue books. (Source – Alecia McKenzie on linkedin)

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Hands across the Sea, a non-profit out of the US, and former Wadadli Pen patron, continues to gift books to schools in the sub-region, including a recent cache to students in Antigua and Barbuda. Read about it here. (Source – Daily Observer Antigua by Newsco)

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Kittitian-British writer Caryl Phillips’s Radio Plays, anthologized and contextualized by Bénédicte Ledent, consists of his collection of plays broadcast by the BBC between 1984 and 2016 including: “The Wasted Years”; “Crossing the River”; “The Prince of Africa”; “Writing Fiction”; “A Kind of Home: James Baldwin in Paris”; “Hotel Cristobel”; “A Long Way from Home”; “Dinner in the Village”; and “Somewhere in England.” Contextualized by a scholarly introduction by Bénédicte Ledent, this volume introduces these works in the published form for the first time, allowing readers a better grasp of Phillips’s narrative techniques, offering fascinating vistas into his imaginary world, which ranges from the history of the African diaspora to the predicament of displaced individuals the world over. (Source – JR Lee email)

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John Robert Lee of St. Lucia writes about two book of essays on Derek Walcott published in 2022. Between Fury and Peace: The Many Arts of Derek Walcott and Tributes to Derek Walcott, 1930-2017: In Various Light are, per John, “among the first reflective reviews of the man and his work since his death in St. Lucia in 2017…They will make valuable additions to libraries and the collections of those who want to better understand the substantial contribution of this Caribbean poet to world literature.” (Source – JRLee email)

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Since the first CREATIVE SPACE of the year, CULTURAL CONNECTION, linkedin the first Carib Lit Plus of the year, there have been two more installments: PARTY DONE: MUSINGS ON THE ART OF CAMPAIGNING and ART HOP; four if you count the digital exclusive The Right to Bare Arms Redux (CREATIVE SPACE Coda).

Also, as teased in the Antiguan Writer Poll post, on the Jhohadli blog this month is a Black History Month one minute reads of journaled stories (28 days, 28 stories). The stories are also saved as audio in a playlist on my Antiguan Writer YouTube channel. (Source – JCH)

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Peepal Tree Press (UK) in January released a poetry collection, Not Quite Without A Moon by Trinbagonian-Guyanese writer with Antiguan roots Ian McDonald.

McDonald, who now resides in Canada, is the author of the classic The Hummingbird Tree. (Source – Peepal Tree Press on Facebook)

Events

The Antigua Dance Academy hosted a student exhibition and bélé launch on Saturday 4th February and it was dope (I was there). The Daily Observer newspaper coverage (written by Orville Williams) agrees. He noted that the presentation “displayed the tenacity, confidence and undeniable talent of the dancers who featured, as well as Yearwood’s brilliant artistic vision.” This was ADA’s first production since before the pandemic “but there was no sign of rust or nerves,” Williams reported.

For more on ADA, see this 2016 post on their milestone anniversary here on Wadadli Pen and, on my Jhohadli blog, CREATIVE SPACE #8 of 2019 – ADA: It’s about Storytelling. (Source – various)

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Bright Hill Press begins a new season of Word on February 23rd 2023 with British Virgin Islands poet laureate Richard Georges and St. Lucian poet MacDonald Dixon. The zoom starts at 7 p.m. Watch live on Zoom or Facebook.

(Source – Nature Island Literary Festival on Facebook)

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The Antigua Girls High School’s Honey Bee Theatre is staging a revival of its award-winning play Whispers in Wallings”, February 11th 2023 at the Dean William Lake Cultural Centre. Per the playwrights and screenwriters page here on the blog, Whispers in Wallings, written and directed by Zahra Airall won eight prizes at the 2015 national secondary schools drama festival. For tickets and information re the February staging, check Woods Pharmacy, the Best of Books bookstore, or contact 779-6634 for more info. (Source – Daily Observer newspaper by Newsco)

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St. Lucia launched its Nobel Laureate Festival in January 2023 –

Activities will continue in to February with the February 7th performance of Kendel Hippolyte’s play Cashpandora, the February 9th National Awards of Excellence, a Night of Poetry on February 11th, and a February 21st Independence Quiz. (Source – Jako Productions 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, and The Jungle Outside). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.

Reading Room and Gallery 47

Things I read or view or listen to that you might like too. Things will be added – up to about 20 or so – before this installment in the Reading Room and Gallery series is archived. For previous and future installments in this series, use the search feature to the right. Possible warning for adult language and themes.

Presentations

The Antigua and Barbuda Conference has been held each year since 2004/5 with papers and various reviews subsequently published in the Antigua and Barbuda Review of Books. More about these activities here https://bartiguastudies.org This is my third time presenting at this event. My paper was entitled: “The New [Caribbean] Daughters of Africa: A Review Focused on Caribbean Women’s Voices in New Daughters of Africa”.

Conversations

“As a writer, I don’t think it’s my job to create characters that people love or hate, but to create a scenario where a character’s motivation is believable, to make sure readers understand why a character takes a certain action.” – Donna Hemans in conversation with Jacqueline Bishop, both Jamaican, for the Jamaica Observer’s Bookends

donna-hemans03-04-2023Download

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Two from CREATIVE SPACE, my art and culture column – the first with independent romance and erotica author Kimolisa Mings & the second me with two of my girls from the Cushion Club, now young women talking –

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Jacqueline Bishop in conversation with Jamaican-Brit Hannah Lowe for Jamaica Observer’s Bookends.

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Marita Golden celebrates 40 years as a published author with a conversation on her journey as a writer, mentor, and literary activist.

Music

The way I had hoped to see this song (featuring American singer Jessy Wilson and Beninese-American singer Angélique Kidjo) performed at the 2022/2023 Academy Awards but I don’t think the song even made the long list. In fact, the entire film, The Woman King, about the Dahomey warriors who inspired Marvel’s Black Panther all-female dora miloji, irl the Agojie (which I wrote about in my She’s Royal series some time ago), produced by and starring Viola Davis and directed by Gina Prince Bythewood (here’s how she did it), both Black women, not a small point (as Bythewood points out in this Hollywood Reporter article), was completely shut out of this year’s Oscars, though deserving across multiple categories. See for yourself. It’s coming to Netflix on February 16th 2023 though; check it out.

Poetry

“I don’t take long drives to nowhere anymore,
West Bay doesn’t follow the coast anymore,
I don’t always know where I am anymore,
Only that I’m in a place where no one knows me.
Fifty three years I have lived here,
Anonymous as a pig on a factory farm,
Invisible as the breath of a ghost long gone,
My hands can’t take hold of the dark sunlight,
My voice calls out without answer or echo,
I am the only one for a thousand miles to hear it
Even as the faceless crowds press closer,
Like each one of them, I am lonely as a moon.” – “Erasure” in Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters by Lynn Sweeting (RIP)

Creatives on Creating

“The book or author I came back to
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Though short, it was absolutely unbearable as a teenager. I never even made it to the part with the sharks. A decade later, however, after an unlucky streak of story submissions, the tale became much more relatable.” – Kevin Jared Hosein in The Guardian’s The Books of My Life series

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“It’s increasingly valuable to just have that headspace where if I want to take the time and do some thinking, then I do it.” – Alberta Whittle (10 years ago) on her Fresh Milk (Barbados residency)

Fiction

“As for Mr B, the one good thing mi can say is that him never once put man-and-woman argument to mi and try get inna mi panty. That is more than mi can say for some bosses mi did have. And at least Mr and Mrs B don’t have no likkle pickney mi need to run behind and clean up after.” – from What a Mother’s Love don’t Teach You by Sharma Taylor, with an introduction from the writer, in Wasafiri

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““She rolled her one good eye” … (and asked) ‘Child, stick break in your ear?'” – a reading from Alake Pilgrim’s Zo and The Forest of Secrets on the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival’s Cocoa Pod podcast

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“I was born and raised in Haiti; Celeste Rita Baker is from the Virgin Islands; and Tonya Liburd is from Trinidad and Tobago. The three of us gathered together over a few months and designed a unique fictional universe deeply inspired by Caribbean culture and society—synthesizing its folklore and mythology and shared history that culminated in a seventeen-page “Story Bible” that housed the world. Thereafter, we three invited Joanne C. Hillhouse from Antigua and Barbuda to write within this world.” – Fabrice Guerrer in “ON CARIBBEAN FUTURES, SPECULATIVE FICTION AND THE “SKY ISLANDS” FICTIONAL WORLD” introduces stories – “Magic Mangoes“, “Rock, Feather, Shell“, “Ixie and Izzy” – published in Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters.

Essays/Non-Fiction

“You would not have loved him,
my friend the scholar
decried. He brushed his teeth,
if at all, with salt. He lied,
and rarely washed
his hair. Wiped his ass
with leaves or with his hand.
The top of  his head would have barely
reached your tits. His pits
reeked, as did his deathbed.

But the nightingale, I said.” – poem by Diane Seuss excerpted in “On the Mundane Letters of John Keats” by Geoffrey D. Morrison in LitHub

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“Miss Robinson broke down color and class barriers when she opened her own school for children of all races, classes, and faiths in a country where British colonialism had imposed class and race inequalities upon people of non-white backgrounds.” – ‘Nellie Robinson, the Antiguan hero who brought secondary education to black children on the island‘ by Mweha Msemo in Face 2 Face Africa

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“Whether you’re a painter, a graphic designer, an author, or a scriptwriter, there’s one thing you’ll always have that AI can never compete with – the human touch.” – Creative Job Security in the Age of AI Art by Miles Oliver

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‘By the time she was 15, Hinton had already been churning out stories and poems for eight years. She wrote about what she knew: the ongoing battles between the haves and have-nots. In interviews over the years, Hinton described herself as an observer who grew up in North Tulsa “greaser” (slang for their greased-back hairstyles) territory but wasn’t beholden to any one group. She was a tomboy who loved to read and yearned for honest teenage representation.’ – “S.E. Hinton Is Tired of Talking About ‘The Outsiders.’ No One Else Is” by Pat Sauer for Smithsonian Magazine

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“I literally exclaimed “nooo” when Aycayia’s scales started coming back, though conflicted about the limitations that being a woman would impose on her – something she herself was contemplating as she transitioned from one life to the other…and then back again, mournfully. It’s the paradox of the thing you’re not sure you want, until you have to let it go, a part of your heart breaking at the loss.” – from my review of Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch on Jhohadli Blogger on Books 2022 main page.

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“[Earl] Lovelace (The Wine of Astonishment) taught me about creating empathy in the reader for an anti-villain…I love how [Jamaica] Kincaid (A Small Place) made the personal political for me…In it (Miguel Street) I think [V S] Naipaul demonstrates his mastery of characterisation and also his ability to capture Caribbean life in all its beauty, lyricism and complexity…Haunting is the word I’d used to describe [Edwidge] Dandicat’s work (Everything Inside) and its effect on me…Her (Olive Senior/Dancing Lessons) treatment of her subject matter is gentle, nuanced and economical…” – Barbadian writer Cherie Jones (How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House) writes on the website for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (which she was shortlisted for in 2021) about “5 Caribbean Writers to Discover“.

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On the Bocas 100 Caribbean Books that made Us podcast, contemporary Caribbean writers deliver audio essays on books making the list. At this initial writing (January 24th 2023), that so far includes Kevin Jared Hosein on fellow Trinidadian and Tobagonian novelist’s Harold Sonny Ladoo No Pain like This Body, Vashti Bowlah on fellow Trinidadian and Tobagonian short story writer Sam Selvon’s Ways of Sunlight, and aspiring Trinbagonian poet Desiree Seebaran’s of Canada-based M. Nourbese Philip’s Zong! The last is especially engaging from a presentation standpoint.

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“You know who loves books that are already a success? Publishers. In June 1902, the book was officially acquired by Frederick Warne & Co., one of the publishers who had originally rejected it” – Literary History: Beatrix Potter, tired of rejection, self-publishes her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

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, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my blog, including my CREATIVE SPACE art and culture column, which is refresthed every other Wednesday, 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.

NEW: Internship, CREATIVE SPACE, Stats — jhohadli

Internship In 2021, Andre W. became my first intern. I did work with one back in 2017 when former finalist Michaela H. interned with the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize of which I am coordinator. But I was more hesitant to take on someone in my personal capacity. As it happens, Andre is also a former […]

NEW: Internship, CREATIVE SPACE, Stats — jhohadli

Carib Lit Plus (Mid to Late October 2022)

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).

Art and Culture

Check the database of Antiguan and Barbudan Writings if you haven’t already and one of the sub-lists, Non-Fiction Antiguan and Barbudan Books, both just updated with a missed credit of a Natasha Lightfoot publication. Speaking of Professor Lightfoot was one of the voices called to weigh in recently after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Here she is on NPR.

“The Commonwealth, as a collective of former colonized nations, represents a kind of strength-in-numbers approach. To postcolonial statecraft, it fosters collective trade agreements. It, you know, encourages collective climate solutions. But it should be said that these member countries, as a conglomerate of mostly developing nations, need these collective solutions provided by the Commonwealth in part because of the centuries of extractive colonialism.”

(Source – Natasha Lightfoot on Twitter)

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Jhohadli’s art and culture column CREATIVE SPACE which runs this and every other Wednesday in the Daily Observer newspaper on October 19th 2022 features three Antiguan and Barbudan lyricists, composers, singers, players Laikan, Joy Lapps, and Asher Ottos’s latest releases.

Read about it. (Source – me)

Events

The Bocas UK Tour continues to November 3rd 2022. The October 29th 2022 events will be available for viewing online for free. To access go to the British Library ticketing and use the discount code  BOCASDIGI100. Programme highlights for Saturday include Ways in the World featuring Barbara Jenkins, Ira Mathur, and Grace Nichols; The Trouble with History featuring Cecil Browne, Ingrid Persaud, and Amanda Smyth; An Island is a World featuring Celeste Mohammed, Jacob Ross, and Celia Sorhaindo; Don’t call it Magic featuring Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Karen Lord, and Pauline Melville; Mothers, Fathers, Daughters, Sons featuring Sophie Jai, Anthony Joseph, and Shivanee Ramlochan; and Beyond every Boundary featuring Canisia Lubrin, Tessa McWatt, and Nadifa Mohammed. There is a grand finale includes the performance of songs from Playboy of the West Indies: a Musical, adapted from Mustapha Matura’s original play, as long as presentations by Grace Nichols, Fred D’Aguiar, Shivanee Ramlochan, John Agard, Randolph Matthews, and Melanie Abrahams. (Source – Literary Arts Barbados/Ayesha Gibson-Gill email)

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Motion Picture Association Antigua & Barbuda.

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The University of Iowa’s International Writers Program will celebrate International Creole Day, on October 28th at 6:00 p.m. CDT, with a special reading: Rasanbleman Literè Kreyòl / World Creole Literature Gathering. Creole writers from countries around the world—including Jamaica (Dr. Donna Aza Weir-Soley) and Haiti (Jeanie Bogart, Patrick Sylvain, Jean Dany Joachim, Wilson Maceno, Jean-Andre Constant, Lokandya Fenelon) —will give readings in Kreyòl, live via Facebook. The event will be cohosted by Haitian journalist, novelist, and scholar Beaudelaine Pierre, whose debut novel Testaman was awarded the 2002 Prix Woman Kreyòl Jounal Bon Nouvèl, and IWP Director Christopher Merrill. (Source – IWP email)

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The Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies at University of Glasgow has announced that Antiguan-American historian Professor Natasha J. Lightfoot will deliver the 7th Annual James McCune Smith Lecture, set for 7pm on 17 November. Register to watch online. (Source – Natasha Lightfoot on Twitter)

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Late October to early November is Independence season in Antigua and Barbuda, the home country of the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize. We became independent on November 1st 1981 making this our 41st anniversary of Independence. Full programme below.

(Source – Ministry of Creative Industries and Innovation on facebook)

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These are some scenes from the inaugural Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley Festival was held on Saturday (October 15) in Gordon Town, St. Andrew. Named for the late Jamaican poet and activist who popularized folk storytelling and use of the local vernacular in said storytelling, the festival formed part of Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of Independence. The festival was organized by Jamaican writer Opal Palmer Adisa who in 2021 edited a book entitled 100+ Voices for Miss Lou: Poetry, Tributes, Interviews, Essays (pictured in the collage above; one of Ms. Lou’s books is pictured below).

Opal is quoted by the Jamaica Information Service as saying, “At a time, under colonial rule, when Jamaican language, Jamaican culture, and ‘Jamaicanism’ wasn’t respected, Miss Lou stood steadfast, and that is why we are here. I am here… because I want to make sure every Jamaican child understands the work that Miss Lou has done and that we continue to salute her and study her work, not in a one dimensional way, but in the nuance and multiple ways that Miss Lou wrote. She was a tremendous writer.”

If you’re Caribbean, not just Jamaican, you’ve likely heard if not read Ms. Lou. Do you have a favourite? (Source – various, online)

Accolades

The Bocas Lit Fest Children’s Book Prize has announced a long list below:

Children of the Sun: Caribbean Stories for Children (published by Frontline distribution International) by Eintou Pearl Springer (of Trinidad and Tobago), illustrations by Clinton A. Hutton

I write Rhymes: a Novel (published by 123 Mango Tree LLC) by Nadine Johnson (of jamaica)

The Land Below (published by JAV Publishing) by Aarti Gosine

Petra and The Pan Man’s Daughter by Philip Simon, illustrations by Lindell Lara

The Whisperer’s Warning by Danielle Y. C. McClean

Zo and The Forest of Secrets by Alake Pilgrim

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ABS TV’s director of news, Garfield Burford, originally of Jamaica but resident in Antigua and Barbuda, is in the US participating in the State Department funded International Visitor Leadership Programme, specifically the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists. Burford was nominated by the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, as was Barbados-based Stetson Babb.

Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy Bridgetown, Simone Kendall poses with Garfield Burford following a meeting in Barbados

The US Embassy Bridgetown said in a press release, “Over the course of the two-week program, participants from several countries will review the history and importance of press freedom in the United States; examine the structure, practices, and future of broadcast journalism in the United States; illustrate how new technologies shape the way news is gathered, reported, distributed, and consumed; and explore the crucial role of responsibility and accuracy in reporting in a democracy.” I reached out to find out how any of you reading this might qualify for opportunities like this and was advised that participants for this programme are nominated by an Embassy representative (working closely with NGOs, GOs, and various civil society partners; to proactively seek out opportunities). See the Embassy Education and Exchanges link. (Source – ABS TV on instagram and email from the US Embassy in Barbados)

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Jamaican novelist Nicole Dennis-Benn has reportedly inked a deal for her next book. Per Publisher’s Weekly, “Nicole Dennis-Benn sold her new untitled novel to Random House’s Marie Pantojan at auction. Julie Barer at the Book Group represented Dennis-Benn in the North American rights agreement. The novel follows a young Jamaican girl named Faye who grows up with her family in a small coffee-farming village and returns home after a unhappy time as a model to find a community she no longer recognizes. Dennis-Benn is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Here Comes the Sun and Patsy, both published by W.W. Norton’s Liveright imprint. The former, her 2016 debut, was named a New York Times Notable Book and was a finalist for a 2017 Young Lions Fiction Award. Patsy, published in 2019, won a Lambda Literary Award.” (Source – Nicole Dennis-Benn on twitter)

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US-based Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp will collect the Silver Musgrave medal in November 2022. Per Jamaicans.com, “Awarded annually in recognition of excellence in art, science, and literature, the Musgrave Medal is named in memory of Sir Anthony Musgrave, the founder of the Institute and the former Governor of Jamaica.” Philp’s award is for literature. The author of 12 books, he has another, Archipelagos, forthcoming, and is working ona Marcus Garvey themed graphic novel. (Source – Geoffrey Philp on Twitter)

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Jamaica has bestowed previously announced national honours on various recipients (143 of them) including a number of people in the arts. The list includes, among others, original Dreamgirls cast member Sheryl Lee Ralph, a veteran actress currently featured in an Emmy award winning role in Abbott Elementary on TV; dancehall artiste Agent Sasco; and jazz pianist Monty Alexander.

(Source – Daily Observer newspaper/Antigua)

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Jamaican poet Kwame Dawes is the 2022 winner of Narrative magazine’s fourteenth annual poetry contest with The Forgettable Life and Other Poems. Their Fall Story Contest remains open to October 28th 2022. Meanwhile, this is only the recent accolade (after his Emmy, Forward, and Windham Campbell Prize) for the Ghanaian born poet who has spent much of his life in Jamaica and, I believe, is now resident in the US, where he teaches at the MFA level. (Source – Narrative email)

Wadadli Pen Stats

The YouTube channel – traffic is up but subscription could be a lot better. Top content for 2022 so far is 1, AB TODAY BEST of BOOKS International Literacy Day FEATURE, 2, GMAB June 2nd 2021, and, 3, World Book and Copyright Day Chat with Barbadian Author Cherie Jones.

This blog – Site visits are down (no down credited in part to us not having a Challenge this year and to there being fewer new posts overall) and here too subscription/follows could be a lot more. Top content this year has been 1, “Nobody go run me” (a classic by calypsonian Short Shirt from our lyrics page), 2, Antiguan and Barbudan Cultural Icon – Paul King Obstinate Richards (proving that there’s interest in our calypso content), 3, and About WADADLI PEN.

A reminder to engage with and share our content. (Source – in-house)

Books & Other Reading Material

UK writer Ann Morgan has published a new edition, 10 years on from the first, of her book A Year of Reading the World. This new Vintage edition is paperback with a new foreword. Reading the world started out as a project Morgan blogged about during the London Olympics, and here we are. To get primed, you can read about Ann’s project in this previous Wadadli Pen post, and about the first Reading the World book and the Caribbean presence in it here. And remember, like Ann said on Twitter, “Indie bookshops, like indie publishers, are heroes of the book world.” (Source – Ann Morgan on Twitter)

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The winning stories in the 2022 BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean and Caribbean-American Writers have been posted. Ther former is Bahamian writer Alexia Tolas’ “The Fix” and the latter is Haitian-American Yveka Pierre’s “Nadege goes Home”.

Alexia’s “The Fix” was described by judges as “a poetic story which deftly matches form to function with the verse format of the ‘spells’ driving the action forward. This psychological examination of an insecure lover embodies the scale of a fable while delivering an intimacy through the voice of the narrator. The Fix revels in its aurality and orality and delivers a full sensual experience that haunts the reader long after the final sentence.”

Pierre’s “Nadege goes Home”, meanwhile, has been praised for its “use of metaphor [which] invokes the poetry of Haitian Kreyol. The language of the story moves with a rhythm most strongly discernible in its dialogue. Metaphor, language and rhythm combine in this story about siblings to touch deep feelings and create a texture rich with the sense of lived experience.”

Hear more about these stories and other Caribbean literature on the BCLF Cocoa Pod[cast].

Per the BCLF website, “The BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest is an annual writing competition geared towards unearthing and encouraging the distinctive voice and story of the Caribbean-descended writer and expanding the creative writing landscape of Caribbean literature. It aims to provide a conduit through which writers of Caribbean descent find encouragement and empowerment to weave and share their stories. Both of the contest’s prizes are directed to the two distinct voices and perspectives which comprise the Caribbean identity – writers who were born and live in the Caribbean and those who reside in the diaspora.” (Source – BCLF email)

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The latest collection of shortlisted stories from the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story prize is now available to read on Adda. One set is published here and another set is published here. As a reminder Adda has also published the Speak Out! series and I have now published in Blogger on Books my thoughts on Issue 1 of Speak Out! (Source – Commonwealth Foundation email)

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The annual Antigua and Barbuda Conference took place on October 13th and 14th 2022. I was a presenter. You can view my presentation and read the entire presentation on the Appearances page on my Jhohadli blog and/or the New Daughters of Africa Blogger on Books page. (Source – me)

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Viré: The English Version, a novella by Maëlla K., producer of the Karukerament podcast, hit the marketplace in September 2022.

This is her first novella. (Source – promotional author 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, and The Jungle Outside). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.

Carib Lit Plus (Early to Mid July 2021)

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)

Remembering

Bunny Wailer (1947-2021) died earlier this year and though I am late in marking this seismic moment in music, I couldn’t let the transitioning of the last of the iconic Wailers, which included legends Bob Marley (1945-1981) and Peter Tosh (1944-1987), go by just so. (Source – JR Lee email)

News

Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters out of the Virgin Islands have teamed up with Syllble Inc out of the US (its founder is out of Haiti) to stimulate the writing and boosting of Caribbean speculative fiction. “The story bible founders will design an overview of the fictional universe. As short stories get written the story bible is expected to grow. The best short stories will be short listed for Moko’s consideration.” Read more in this press release. (Source – Syllble email)

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Plans advance for an African Slavery Museum in Antigua and Barbuda.

It is to be constructed at Tomlinson’s Estate and is spearheaded by the African Slavery Memorial Society founded by Edith Oladele to preserve African heritage and memory in Antigua and Barbuda. Details of the planned museum can be read here:

museum-floor-plan-revised-legend-6-30-21Download

(Source – ASMS email)

Events

The publishers of The Caribbean Writer Vol. 35 have announced an after reading dinner affair reader response discussion series for July 15th 2021, 6 to 8 p.m. They will be discussing the poems in tribute to the late Kamau Brathwaite published in volume 35. RSVP here and order volume 35 here. (Source – TCW email)

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I’ll be reading at the Medellin World Poetry Festival in August. Read about my recent test and watch a preview in my latest reading journal. (Source – Jhohadli)

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July 12th 2021 is Caribbean Literature Day. This started last year (I believe) and I’m not sure what activities are planned (will update as able) but let us know how you’ll be celebrating. (Source – N/A email)

Accolades

It’s become hard to keep up with the awards and award nominations scooped up by Antiguan and Barbudan Shabier Kirchner for his cinematography on Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ – hereafter known as one of the most egregiously snubbed anthology series of the 2021 Emmys season. Kirchner who previously picked up nominations and/or awards for Small Axe from the New York Film Critics Circle (win), the National Society of Film Critics Awards, the Lost Angeles Film Critics Awards, (win), International Online Cinema Awards, International Cinephile Society Awards, Florida Film Critics Circle, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, British Society of Cinematographers, Boston Society of Film Critics, among others, added to his haul with a trophy from the BAFTA TV Craft awards for Photography and Lighting: Fiction. He was also a 2021 Independent Spirit Award nominee for best cinematography for ‘Bull’. Talk about a year and a career on the rise. (Source – various)

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Late on this one but St. Lucia’s Canisia Lubrin (Poetry) and Trinidad and Tobago’s Dionne Brand (fiction), both Canada-based were announced among the eight recipients of the Windham-Campbell Prize, one of the richest international literary prizes with its US$165,000 purse to each writer. The money is strings-free, allowing them to focus on their work without the pressure of financial commitments. (Source – JR Lee email)

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The winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize has been announced. It is Sri Lankan author Kanya D’Almeida. Her story ‘I cleaned the – ‘ can be read here. The regional winner for the Caribbean is Jamaican writer Roland Watson-Grant. You can read his story, ‘The Disappearance of Mumma Dell’, here. (Source – Commonwealth Writers email)

Roland

Opportunities

Also see Opportunities Too for pending deadlines.

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The UNESCO-sponsored cultural/creative industries mapping project is requesting the participation of artists in Antigua and Barbuda in its data collection phase before October 31st 2021.

Cultural advisor with the Creative Industries Minister Dr. Hazra Medica advises us that data gathered during this phase and the resultant reports will serve as “the most important advocacy tool in our lobby arsenal–both inside and outside of Antigua and Barbuda– for our cultural/creative industries.” They have framed it as a help us help you scenario for local artists and cultural practitioners, and while we have been asked to register before, Dr. Medica insists that this time is different. The goal, she indicated, is to move beyond talk. I have talked more with Medica on this and hope to say more about it in a future edition of my CREATIVE SPACE column (subscribe to Jhohadli) to make sure you don’t miss it. Meanwhile, here’s where you can complete the data collection form. (Source – Dr. Medica email)

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The Bocas Lit Fest has adjusted the criteria for its first ever children’s book prize which is open for entries to July 30th 2021. The word count is now 1,500 words (down from 6,000) and the books no longer need to be structured as chapter books to be eligible. The books must still be appropriate for children 7 to 12 years old, and must have been published between January 1st 2020 and July 31st 2021. Self-published books are eligible and the author and/or publisher do not need to be Caribbean based. Details on the Bocas site & below:

blf-childrens-book-prize-guidelines-rev-finalDownload

(Source – Bocas 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, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.

“I would recommend this workshop…”

JWP #Onthehustle

 

JHOHADLI WRITING PROJECT – NEXT CHAPTER

Building on the success of the Jhohadli Summer Youth Writing Project , on the potential I see every Wadadli Pen Challenge season, on the opportunities I’ve had to work with youth and writers here in Antigua and Barbuda (and beyond), Untitled3band drawing on my experiences as a freelance writer, journalist, editor, and educator, I’m proposing a series of developmental writing sessions. READ MORE.

My summer youth writing project

I’ll be doing a writing programme for young people over the summer. It’s not a Wadadli Pen project and I don’t want to muddy the waters (i.e. create any misunderstanding) by pushing it too hard here. I will mention it because it’s a literary project and this site has been about spotlighting not just Wadadli Pen but  the literary arts. However, to keep abreast of the still evolving plans for that project (a project I’m pursuing in my capacity as a freelance writer and workshop facilitator, go to my Jhohadli site). Here’s the post announcing the programme.