A reminder that the process with these Carib Lit Plus Caribbean arts bulletins is to do a front and back half of the month, updating as time allows as new information comes in; so, come back, or, if looking for an earlier installment, use the search window. (in brackets, as much as I can remember, I’ll add a note re how I sourced the information – it is understood that this is the original sourcing and additional research would have been done by me to build the information shared here – credit and link back if you use).
RIP
To Harry Belafonte, who is US born with Jamaican roots and even spent part of his childhood there with his grandpartents. Belafonte’s musical career began in the late 1940s and his breakthrough album was Calypso in 1956 which sold by the millions with career-defining songs like the still popular “Banana Boat Song/Day-O” and “Mama look ah Boo-Boo Dey”, originally recorded by Lord Melody. While no Caribbean person would crown him King of Calypso (in a world in which Sparrow exists and, for Antiguans, the Monarch), it was a title, one he wore uncomfortably, assigned him in the US, given that he brought calypso into the American mainstream. Since Belafonte’s death on April 25th 2023, social media has also been rediscovering his activism including his substantial contributions to the US Civil Rights movement and involvement in making “We are the World” happen. Belafonte was also, of course, an actor, beginning in the 1950s with Hollywood classics like Carmen Jones and Island in the Sun through blaxploitation era pics like Buck and the Preacher and Uptown Saturday Night (both directed by and co-starring Bahamian-American Sidney Poitier, another recent loss to the culture) to most recently Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman.
Art and Culture
A production team from Trinidad and Tobago was in Antigua April 23rd – 26th to film Anthony N. Sabga awards for Caribbean Excellence arts and letters laureate Joanne C Hillhouse ahead of the June 2023 awards ceremony. Joanne, founder of the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize, was announced in March as the winner of the prestigius prize for her own writing and her contribution to the literary arts culture of Antigua and the Caribbean through her advocacy, activism, and action in this space. The team also filmed public health doctor Dr. Adesh Sirjusingh in Trinidad and Tobago – he is the Public and Civic Contributions laureate for 2023 – and agri-scientist Dr. Mahendra Persaud in Guyana – the science and technology laureate. Re the shoot in Antigua, I would like to express thanks to the team producer Robert Clarke, director Ryan Gibbons and audio engineer Kerron Lemessy. as well as to Marissa Walter and the staff and students of St. Andrew’s Primary, Barbara Andrea Arrindell and the staff of The Best of Books Bookstore, Ms. Mannix and her staff at the National Publi Library of Antigua and Barbuda, the owner and staff of Sips & Tips at the Northwalk Commercial Center, my family. (Source – Me)
Ghanaian born British writer with Caribbean roots Margaret Busby, editor of Daughters of Africa and New Daughters of Africa and Britain’s first female Black publisher has been named the new president of English PEN. ‘Busby said: “For some four decades, I have admired and supported the work of English PEN, and to be able to play a part in helping that work continue is a privilege.” As president of English PEN she looked “forward to helping enable the full potential of literature worldwide, with equality of opportunity for all”.’ From the Guardian UK. (Source – Twitter)
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In other PEN News, a reminder than US-based Jamaican writer Marlon James is a guest chair of the 2023 PEN World Voices Festival in New York. He will be having a fireside chat with fellow Booker Prize winner Ben Okri on May 13th 2023. Haitian-descended Roxane Gay will be in conversation with R F Kuang. (Source – PEN gmail)
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Art week (previously written about here on the blog) began April 16th in Antigua and Barbuda. At this writing, I’ve visited the exhibition at the airport and visited Edison Liburd‘s art gallery, announced as a stop on the art hop. While this is no longer so, it was nice to visit his new location in All Saints and see some of his works in progress and finished pieces. Speaking of, here are some pieces from the exhibition (one of two main exhibitions on mainland Antigua, not to be confused with the Barbuda activities) in the arrival area of the V. C. Bird International Airport.
From left to right the artists are Stephen Murphy, Nicoya Henry, and Argent Javan, and the images are lifted from their respective social media.
ETA: The other major art week exhibition is at Boom, a restaurant and spa spot that was a gun powder magazine in English Harbour back in colonial times. Here’s a teaser but definitely go check it out for yourself if you’re in Antigua – it’s worth the visit.
Art from left to right are by Murphy, Emile Hill, and Carol Gordon.
ETA: This artversation on ABS TV was also a part of Art Week.
(Source – I checked out both shows, watched the ABS live after being cued by Facebook, and travelled to Barbuda)
Accolades
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s When We were Birds has won the 2023 Bocas book prize; read about it here.
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A Caribbean writer has again made the Women’s Prize short list after Trinidad and Tobago’s Lisa Allen-Agostini (What the Devil Knead) did so last year. From 16 longlisted writers, Fire Rush by Jamaica-born British based Jacqueline Crooks is in the top six. The judges describe it as “a brilliant celebration of Black womanhood…a story about dub reggae, friendships, love, and loss which spans London, Bristol, and Jamaica”. Here’s the announcement.
Other shortlisted writers/books are Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris, Pod by Laline Paull, Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious literary prizes. It is awarded annually to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year. It has been issued for the last 28 years. Past winners include African American writer Tayari Jones for An American Marriage, Nigerian wrier Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, British writer of Jamaican descent Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, and Jamaican British writer Andrea Levy’s Small Island. (Source – YouTube)
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Summer Goodwin of Christ the King High School has won the Antigua and Barbuda Sailing Week Harper’s art competition for 2023. It is described in the Daily Observer as a “bold image depicting the coral reef being protected by a sea goddess/mermaid.”
This year’s theme was “Society, Coral Reefs, the Sea and You”. More than 70 entries were received. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco)
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“Hurricane Watch: New and Collected Poems by Olive Senior,” Carcanet Press, “has been shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award! The award, from the League of Canadian Poets, is for the best new book of poetry by an active League member. The prize was established to honour Raymond Souster, an early founder of the League of Canadian poets. The winners of the League Awards will be announced at a ceremony on Thursday 4th May – you can read more about the awards here.” (Source – Nature Island Literary Festival on Twitter)
First awarded in March 2017, the Jhalak Prize and its sister award Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, founded in 2020, seek to celebrate books by British/British resident BAME writers. This year’s announced Bocas fiction winner When We were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd is on the 2023 longlist.
(Source – Twitter)
Events
With my story “Evening Ritual” being in the ne 2023 abridged German translation of New Daughters of Africa, I thought I’d share some of the events in case, unlike me, you happen to be in the area. Like this April 28th discussion on empire at the University of Cologne and this one on June 20th at the Orangerie Theatre in Cologne.
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Haitian-American writer Edwidge Dandicat’s Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work has been adapted for the stage. Writer and director is Lileana Blain Cruz, a Drama League and Obie award winning, and Tony nominee. The play will be staged at Colony Theatre in Florida from May 4th – 28th 2023. This from artist director Michel Hausman: “Create Dangerously is a dream come true for Miami New Drama. We have the opportunity to work side by side with Miami native, Lileana Blain-Cruz, a Tony nominated artist, hailed as the future of the American theater. From the company’s founding it was my mission to collaborate with Lileana since we were both Artistic Fellows at New York Theater Workshop. Now, we have the opportunity to do so with a spectacular artist whom we admire and adore, a Haitian Miamian and National Book Award Winner, Edwidge Danticat. Her work is piercing, unbelievable, and like open heart surgery. Create Dangerously is a celebration ALL about the immigrant artist, an experience our company knows and feels deeply.” (Source – Edwidge Dandicat on Facebook)
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We’ve already told you, but here’s your timely update that Bocas is coming up and is once again live. This year there’s a decided focus on new and emerging writing talent from the Caribbean at the Trinidad-and-Tobago-based literary festival which will run from April 28th to 30th. Venue is the National Library in Port of Spain and a whopping 80 (!) events are planned. Booked authors include Kevin Jared Hosein, Sharma Taylor, and Cherie Jones – all of whom have been having breakthroughs in the last couple of years with major book deals, media attention, and prize listing.
“Seeking out and promoting new literary talent is something the NGC Bocas Lit Fest has become known for,” says festival and programme director Nicholas Laughlin. “It’s maybe the most exciting aspect of what we do, and we’re thrilled to have such a diverse and accomplished lineup this year. These are writers we’ll all be talking about in a decade — just as we’re right now celebrating authors like Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, who first shared her writing in an earlier Bocas New Talent Showcase years before she published her acclaimed novel When We Were Birds.” (Source – Bocas email)
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Domfesta, the Dominica Festival of the Arts, is held every May. Activities, scheduled but not organized by the Dominica Cultural Division will include…
(Source – Facebook DM)
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Carolyn Cooper previews the return of Calabash, May 26th – 28th, in Jamaica, with an Anansi spin. “Unlike Anansi, the founders of the Calabash International Literary Festival – Colin Channer, Justine Henzell and Kwame Dawes – did not selfishly hide the magical packey’s table full of nice eatables. They invited the world to share the literary feast they themselves conjured up. Since 2001, the festival has brought together a stellar cast of writers from the Caribbean and all across the globe to celebrate the power of the word. Both spoken and sung! Nobel Laureates have shared the Calabash stage with aspiring writers on the open mic. It’s an egalitarian festival.” – Jamaica Observer. (Source – Calabash Festival on Twitter)
Fun fact: I’ve been on the Calabash stage but not as an invited author (that’s still a dream) but as one of those writers scrambling (read: talking themselves into stepping) to the open mic. It was one of those feel the fear, do it anyway moments. I read from The Boy from Willow Bend and years later I realized the young writer signing us up was/would go on to be multi-multi-award winning author Marlon James. The author I was really excited (read: nervous) about meeting in real time, though, was Colin Channer and I had my fangirl moment. Channer’s Waiting in Vain was a favourite of my book club at the time and a personal favourite. It was one of those books that brought Caribbean books out from behind the glass cabinet (where they were kept at my local library) into easily accessible spaces while still, I like to think, having the respect of the academy. I was in Jamaica, along with a small contingent of Antiguan and Barbudan writers, in 2007, thanks to funding from the Commonwealth which we got together and applied for – and which I was subsequently invited to report on for a Commonwealth publication.
As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and To be a Cheetah – the latter scheduled for July 2023 release and available for pre-order wherever you buy books at this writing). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
A reminder that the process with these Carib Lit Plus Caribbean arts bulletins is to do a front and back half of the month, updating as time allows as new information comes in; so, come back, or, if looking for an earlier installment, use the search window. (in brackets, as much as I can remember, I’ll add a note re how I sourced the information – it is understood that this is the original sourcing and additional research would have been done by me to build the information shared here – credit and link back if you use).
Books and Other Reading Material
‘It’s important to point out that because I’m a shameless self-promoter who’s also fairly friendly that sometimes many people that I don’t know reach out to me because they like my work and offer to assist me with random things. (That’s tip number four — network, network, network) That’s also how I got funding for my very first audiobook, The Secrets of Catspraddle Village, an anthology of award-winning short stories. A Bookstafriend sent me a link about a seminar for an audiobook class which the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) was hosting. I signed up because I thought “eh, why not?”. What I thought would just be an informative seminar turned out to be an even bigger blessing. Every single person who attended was given studio time to help them record their audiobooks. (Shout out to the NCF for supporting Bajan culture, btw!) BUT please note that (a) I already had material written which was deemed good enough for my application to the writing retreat (b) Catspraddle Village was already compiled since I had planned to release the anthology this year. I say that to say this: (tip five) you don’t have to get ready if you stay ready. In both of those instances, I was (unknowingly) prepared.’ – Callie Browning guest post: Callie Browning has “done everything wrong” and That’s All Right: The Bajan Author on the Secrets to Her Success
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I (Joanne C. Hillhouse) opened Twitter today to see my face …which was quite jarring as, though I had been interviewed by Jacqueline Bishop for Jamaica Observer’s #InConversation series in Sharon Leach’s Bookends column, that had been some months ago and I had not realized it was scheduled to be published this Sunday, March 26th 2023. I also had not realized, as I now do per a Facebook comment by Leach, that this is the last entry in the series (which is an annual series for Woman’s History Month). So, while I initially thought she meant last ever, it makes more sense that she means last for this year – in which case, I’ve never been so happy to bring up the rear.
March 25th is the International Day of Remembrance of the victims of slavery and in particular the trans Atlantic slave trade. In memory, here are links to some past Wadadli Pen posts about chattel slavery in the Caribbean and Antigua and Barbuda in particular:
More People You should know – about Eliza Moore, who used the Emancipation act in the British West Indies and the fact that she was born in Antigua, part of the BWI, to secure her release from enslavement in St. Croix, which was still a slave state.
About Court or Klaas – about Antigua and Barbuda’s first national hero, leader of the failed 1736 rebellion who was subsequently broken on the wheel and his head hung on a pike at Otto’s pasture as a deterrant.
This post from A Writer’s Path and this recent posting on my Jhohadli blog both stress how pre-ordering can boost the success of forthcoming books. So let’s talk about some forthcoming books I’ve recently engaged or am involved with. Starting with Carol Mitchell’s debut novel What Start Bad A Morning. This is not Carol’s first book – in fact, she is a well-established independent author and publisher (including of two of my books). But this is her first full length adult contemporary novel with a traditional international press, Central Avenue Publishing. I read an advance review copy of What Start Bad A Morning for the purpose of blurbing and, as I do with books I like and/or have something to say about, I reviewed it for my Blogger on Books series.
The official publishing date is September 19th 2023 but it is already available for pre-order. Also available for pre-order is To be a Cheetah which, I’ve mentioned before is a collaboration with Antiguan and Barbudan artist Zavian Archibald.
This officially drops on July 4th 2023 – an easy date to remember right, especially as it’s with US publisher Sunbird Books. The third book I wanted to mention, meanwhile, is an abridged anthology of a previoiusly released (with US and UK publishers) anthology; the aa is with German publisher, Unrast. New Daughers of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby came out in 2019, 25 years after the similiarly seminal Daughters of Africa, aslo edited by Busby. Neue Töchter Afrikas– also edited by Busby who selected 30 of the 200 authors from the original anthology, including yours truly (my story “Evening Ritural”) for this German edition – officially launches June 20th 2023 in Cologne (wish I could be there) but it will be available for pre-order from April 25th 2023.
Pictured above, left to right, I am signing a copy of New Daughters at the Sharjah International Book Fair in 2019; that’s Margaret in the middle, a recent social media image, also with the book, and at right, the cover of the German translation. I’m excited about this because while it’s not the first time a creative work of mine has been translated, nor the first book in translation (see Perdida! Una Aventura en el Mar Caribe) but it is my first German translation and I am happy to see this amazing collection continue to penetrate new markets years after its release.
I’ll end by circling back to my fourth picture book, eighth book overall, To be a Cheetah. Best of Books bookstore will be hosting a launch in Antigua and Barbuda and I am looking forward to that. But to the theme of this entry, you can also pre-order from them if in Antigua and Barbuda, or even the Caribbean (I just signed copies of one of my books bought at Best of Books by someone placing the order from St. Kitts). Between this and all of the online options for purchasing, I do hope you will consider ordering now – it’s a small thing you can do for an author you love or a book you’re anticipating to help boost it in the marketplace. (Source – me)
Assistance
The Wadadli Youth Pen Prize has worked to nurture and showcase the literary arts in Antigua and Barbuda since 2004, as a legal non-profit since 2021. From its inception, Wadadli Pen’s work has been voluntary, and, at this writing, it remains so. If you want to work with us (either as a volunteer or an intern – the latter ideal for college students seeking experience and mentorship), see this page for details. To contribute to the 2023 Wadadli Pen Challenge season, or to Wadadli Pen generally, see here.
(Source – in-house)
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Antiguan artist and art teacher, Rhonda Williams, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She’s relocated to the US and needs assistance covering the costs for treatment. Here’s her go fund me. (Source – Intersect Antigua on Twitter)
RIPs
“From helping found the Environmental Awareness Group and the Antigua Yacht Club, to her invaluable work with the national museum, the incredible legacy of Lisa Nicholson will continue to reverberate for many years to come.” (Daily Observer by Newsco)
Nicholson died March 20th 2023 at age 88. With her husband Desmond, she was not just active but pioneering in Antigua and Barbuda’s yachting sector – and its byproducts, such as Antigua Sailing Week and the Classic Yacht Regatta, research and restoration in their local English Harbour community and the island generally – including the works of the Dockyard and Museum, and environmental preservation – via the EAG.
“And she was an active member of many community organisations including the Expression Choir, Friends of Holberton Hospital, Sunnyside School, and the St Paul’s Crisis Intervention Group.” (Observer by Newsco)
The Expression Choir sang for the longtime community activist shortly before her death as she had done (as a member of the choir) for many others over the years. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco)
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Montserrat is mourning the loss of its literary lion Howard Fergus.
Fergus died on March 23rd. He wrote poetry and non-fiction primarily if not exclusively about Montserrat. His publications include Montserrat: History of a Caribbean Colony, Volcano Verses, The Arrow Poems and Sunday Soup, Obama and Other Poems, and Road from Long Ground: The Twilight Years. (Source – House of Nehesi Publishers on Twitter)
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Our previous Carib Lit Plus shared the news of the passing of Dominican literary giant Alwyn Bully. We wanted to excerpt a couple of the tributes to enhance knowledge of his contribution to the arts. This one is from historian and writer also from Dominica Lennox Honeychurch (excerpt): “Alwin Bully was born in Roseau in on 23 November,1948 and was educated at the Convent Preparatory School, the Dominica Grammar School, the St. Mary’s Academy and the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. He returned to teach at his old Alma Mater, eventually serving as its headmaster. During this time, he was deeply involved in promoting all aspects of the arts in Dominica including drama, painting, dance, folk traditions, creative writing and carnival. In 1965 he represented Dominica at the Commonwealth Arts Festival in Britain along with members of the Kairi and Dominica Dance troupes. In 1978, with the encouragement of then Minister of Education, H. L. Christian, he established the ‘cultural desk’ in the Ministry of Community Development which became the Cultural Division. In 1987 he left Dominica to work at the regional office of UNESCO in Jamaica, applying his creative skills to the wider Caribbean. Alwin Bully designed the national flag in early 1978 in preparation for the gaining of independence from Britain later that year and the Cabinet made certain small alterations to the original design. The flag was legally established by Act No. 18 of 1978, The National Emblems of Dominica Act, signed by the Governor, Sir Louis Cools-Lartigue on 31 October 1978, Gazetted 1 November 1978 and effective 3 November 1978.”
This one is from St. Lucian researcher and poet John Robert Lee (whose email blasts I reference often in this series): “Alwin was a close friend from our years at Cave Hill from 1969. We acted together and taught theatre workshops in many islands. He was one of those seminal figures of my youth who remained a formative influence. Our friends were the generation of artists, writers, theatre persons throughout the Caribbean with whom we formed lasting friendships. Both our own age group and older friends like Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott, Rex Nettleford, Lorna Goodison and many others. We were children of those dynamic 70’s when so much was happening in our Caribbean in the arts and culture, popular music, politics, literature, ideas etc etc. He was the star, the leader among us. Now in our mid seventies, our generation is slowly but surely moving on….” (Source – JR Lee email)
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Jennifer Rahim, an award winning Trinidadian and Tobagonian writer of poetry, fiction, and literary criticism, has died. She is the author of Mothers are Not the Only Linguists: and Other Poems for which she was named writer of the year by the Writers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (1992), Songster and Other Stories (2007), Casa de las Americas prize winning Approaching Sabbaths (2009), Redemption Rain: Poems (2011), Ground Level: Poems (2014), Bocas prize winning Curfew Chronicles: A Fiction (2017), and Sanctuaries of Invention (2021). Paper-Based Bookstore in tribute to her said, “Her backlist remains sought-after by students, critics, as well as everyday lovers of literature. She was a thoughtful & tremendously intelligent correspondent, whose updates on new writing we always looked forward to receiving. We recommend her bibliography without hesitation.” ETA: Jennifer has a book, Goodbye Bay, forthcoming July 2023 with Peepal Tree Press.
Book synopsis: It is 1963, one year after Independence, and Trinidadians are beginning to wonder what they can expect. But for Anna Bridgemohan, the year is one of crisis. Her mother has just died, bringing to the fore issues about Anna’s parentage, and she has broken up with her boyfriend. Since they both work at the central post office in Port of Spain, she decides to take up a temporary post in the small coastal village of Macaima, remote and declining cocoa country whose simpler rhythms, she thinks, will give her space and time to reflect, away from the pressures of the city and the intense political discussions at work. But neither space nor time is granted; the life of Macaima passes through the post office, and there is no way Anna can hold herself aloof from the stories that the villagers bring. Long before the year is up, Anna has been immersed in an intense seasoning in Macaima that will change her for ever. (Source – Paper-Based Books on Twitter)
Events
The theme of this year’s US Virgin Islands Literary Festival & Book Fair, a virtual and in-person live event, set for April 13th – 16th 2023, is “Carrying: Recognition and Repair” – also the theme for volume 37 of The Caribbean Writer, currently being prepped for publication. The headliner will be Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, with Augustown author Kei Miller, A Million Aunties author Alecia McKenzie, Now Lila Knows author Elizabeth Nunez, and Fear of Black Consciousness author Lewis Gordon among the supporting cast of writers. Planned workshops cover topics like “Using Virgin Islands History to Write Fiction” by Tiphanie Yanique, “Teaching Caribbean/Virgin Islands Literature in Virgin Islands Classroom” by Velma Pollard, writing plot, building character, weaving setting, writing about political controversy, writing poetry, and writing for children and publishing. The popular Book Bacchanal reception will be held at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts. The festival also has a Children’s Corner and among the authors in this genre expected to hang there, real or remotely, are Denene Milner, Tohira Durand, Michael Fleming. The Festival will also pay tribute to unsung Virgin Islanders like Valerie Combie, Vincent Cooper, and Joan Medlicott. Announcement of prizes for pieces published in The Caribbean Writer will be announced during the festival. For more information visit: http://www.usvilitfest.com or email usvilitfest@gmail.com (Source – JR Lee)
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Soothe, a neo-soul-ish talent showcase and lime in Antigua and Barbuda was back to live events at Sugar Ridge on March 11th 2023 for the first time since the pandemic (a time during which they ran the online Sessions by Soothe series). The Resurgence, as it was called, included award winning pannist and Culture director Khan Cordice, soca queen Claudette Peters, among other singers – Arlen Seaton, Christian Ivy, etc., groups like the Serenade jazz ensemble, spoken word artist Kadeem Joseph, and singer Laikan (covered twicerecently in CREATIVE SPACE), among others; a reported 16 performers. And Soothe (started in 2014 by Gemma Hazelwood and Taslim Gordon) with its line-up and stylized ambience delivered the vibes to its stylish audience.
St. Anthony’s Secondary School ‘Make It Art Fest’ competition and family fun day has been announced for April 1st 2023. Categories include painting, drawing, and face painting. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco)
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HAMA Films, the independent film company (producer Mitzi Allen, and co-producer/director husband Howard Allen) that brought Antigua and Barbuda it’s first full length feature film with The Sweetest Mango back in 2001 premiered its fifth film, Deep Blue first in Barbuda, March 11th, and on March 25th, in Antigua. There was an advanced screening in Montserrat late in 2022 during the Alliougana Festival of the Word.
Early reviews of the premiere event and the film itself on social media have been positive. Example, this one from Colin John Jenkins, prominent architect known for his commentary on various things including life in Antigua and films, “
Movie Review: Deep Blue
Last night was a really nice outing man. Familiar faces, both ladies and gents dressed up and such, and the venue was aptly set for the first showing of Deep Blue.
Without giving away too much, the plot focuses on the familiar story of development in a small island state, corruption, village politics, and environmental issues. Very timely, if I don’t say so myself.
It was really cool seeing people I know stepping up like this and the cinematography was enjoyable as the punch lines.
We do have great access to actors here and I hope the film industry and these kinda events continue to grow.
Maybe I might even do a 15-minute short film after this inspiration right here.
Kudos to everyone involved! I enjoyed it.
(Source – various on Facebook)
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In Jamaica, there’s the ArtWalk Festival. What’s that? It’s a free public arts event, the last Sunday of the month, that showcases artistic and cultural talent (dancers, musicians, visual artists, poets, writers) in Jamaica. Partially funded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund, it is a Kingston Creative project started in 2018 and held in Downtown Kingston. March’s theme is Literature and Storytelling and poet and activist Stacey-ann Chin was the announced special guest for the March 24th meet-up and this is the March 26th festival line-up:
(Source – Twitter)
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The Bocas Lit Fest will be back live for the first time since the pandemic April 28th to 30th 2023 in Trinidad and Tobago. Booked authors announced include authors who’ve dropped acclaimed texts in the intervening years including Celia Sorhaindo (Guabancex, 2020, and Radical Normalisation, 2022), Sharma Taylor (What a Mother’s Love don’t Teach You, 2022), Cherie Jones (How the One-Armed Sister sweeps Her House, 2021), Alake Pilgrim (Zo and The Forest of Secrets, 2022), and Ayamna Lloyd Banwo (When We were Birds, 2022) among others. See also the kids’ programme. (Source – N/A)
Accolades
Jamaican writer Marcia Douglas has been announced as the 2023 winner of the Whiting Award for Fiction.
Read more about Marcia here. Here are all the current winners. (Source – Whiting Foundation on Twitter)
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Recognising the winners of Priest Kailash of Antigua and Barbuda’s annual African Heritage/Black History essay competiion and the programme itself. Winners were announced during an awards ceremony at Cortsland Hotel and received laptops and tablets. These are 12-year-old Gloria Sampson, Raffael Davis, and Tezjah Smith. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco)
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Sandra Pouchet Paquet of Trinidad and Tobago is this year’s recipient of the Bocas Swanzy Award for distinguished service to Caribbean Letters: “in recognition of her pioneering contributions to the fields of academia, literature, and cultural studies.” The award is for editors, broadcasters, publishers, critics, and others working behind the scenes in service to Caribbean literature. Pouchet Paquet is remembered as a pioneering scholar in the field of Caribbean literary studies – “her book The Novels of George Lamming (Heinemann, 1980) remains a seminal text” – and many of us, Caribbean writers, also remember her Caribbean Writers Summer Institute out of the University of Miami in the early to mid-1990s. I (Joanne C. Hillhouse) attended in 1995, the programme’s penultimate year; it was my first international workshop and reading – and it was life changing. Credit to Pouchet Paquet, the programme’s director, for, as Bocas said, “shap(ing) the careers of a generation of authors”. Pouchet Paquet is also the founder of Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal. She will receive her award on April 29th 2023. (Source – Bocas email)
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Jamaican writer Colin Channer is one of Poets & Writers announced recipients of the 2023 Writers for Writers award. A committee made up of present and past members of the P & W board of directors made the decision. The committee’s chair, literary agent Eric Simonoff, commented: “We are thrilled to celebrate these three [Channer, Reyna Grande, and Celeste Ng] outstanding authors and one extraordinary editor [Jennifer Hershey], who have each shown a deep commitment to broadening the literary conversation. Through their dedication to writers and writing and their insistence on the importance of representation, they have enriched the publishing landscape immeasurably—to the benefit of us all.” The awards will be presented on March 27th 2023. Channer is best known for his fiery first novel Waiting in Vain and for being a co-founder of the Calabash International Literary Festival. (Source – Christian Campbell on Twitter)
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Jamaican Ishion Hutchinson is to receive the Susannah Hunnewell Prize, which honors a writer for an outstanding piece of prose or poetry published by The ParisReview in the previous calendar year. The prize was established in 2023 in memory of Hunnewell, who worked with the magazine for over 30 years up to her three-year stint as editor, the role she held at the time of her death in 2019. Hutchinson is the prize’s first winner for an essay entitled “Women Sweeping”, published in the Spring 2022 issue (no. 239). (Source – JR Lee email)
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One of if not the Caribbean’s most coveted literary prizes, OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, has announced its 2023 long list. In poetry, the celebrated writers are Michael Fraser (The Day-Breakers), Anthony Joseph (Sonnets for Albert), and Pamela Mordecai (de book of Joseph); in fiction Marlon James (Moon Witch, Spider King), Ayanna Lloyd Banwo (When We were Birds), and Jasmine Sealy (The Island of Forgetting); and, in non-fiction, Ira Mathur (Love the Dark Days), Patricia Joan Saunders (Buyers Beward: Insurgency and Consumption in Caribbean Popular Culture), and Godfrey Smith (Diary of a Recovering Politician). Fraser is Canadian with Caribbean roots, Joseph and Banwo are UK-based Trinis, Mordecai a Canada-based Jamaican, James a US based Jamaican, Sealy a British born Barbadian Canadian, Mathur an Indian born Trinidadian, Saunders lives in the US (I am unsure of the specific island connection but she is part of the Caribbean diaspora) and Smith is a Belizean.
The winners of the genre and main prizes will be announced during the Bocas lit fest which returns to live for the first time during the pandemic, April 28th – 30th. This is the 13th year of the prize; past main prize winners are Derek Walcott (White Egrets), Earl Lovelace (Is Just a Movie), Monique Roffey (Archipelago), Robert Antoni (Like Flies to Watless Boys), Vladimir Lucien (Sounding Ground), Olive Senior (The Pain Tree), Kei Miller (Augustown), Jennifer Rahim (Curfew Chronicles), Kevin Adonis Browne (High Mas), Richard Georges (Epiphaneia), Canisia Lubrin (The Dyzgraphxst), Celeste Mohammed (Pleasantview). If you’re in to stats, that’s six writers from Trinidad and Tobago, three from St.Lucia, two from Jamaica, and one from the British Virgin Islands; and six books of fiction, four books of poetry, and two non-fiction books. (Source – JR Lee email)
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Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé, 89, is on the International Booker Prize long list. I mention her age as its been revealed that she is the oldest writer ever to make the list. Her longlisted book is The Book According to The New World, translated by her husband Richard Philcox. Per this article, “[they] are the first husband-and-wife team ever nominated for the prize. Condé, who has a degenerative neurological disorder that makes it difficult to see, dictated The Gospel According to the New World to Philcox, who then translated it into English.” Condé was previously shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2015. (Source – Facebook)
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Grenadian filmmaker Teddy Frederick’s documentary film New Land: The Kalinago Dream has picked up awards at the Tokyo International Short Film Festival and the Rome International Movie Awards.
It has received honourable mention at the Munich New Wave Short Film Festival, and is an official selection at the Amsterdam International Awards, the Berlin Lift-Off Film Festival, and the Nouveaux Regards Film Festival. These selections place it in contention for more accolades. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco)
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The Derek Walcott Prize was awarded in 2022 to Saddiq Dzukogi’s Your Crib, My Qibla. The prize, named for St. Lucia’s late Nobel Laureate, is awarded in a partnership between Arrowsmith Press, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Walcott Festival. (Source – JR Lee email)
Arts and Culture
Tropical Fete led off this year’s art and culture column series CREATIVE SPACE. It’s annual report, just in to my inbox,highlights its top three accomplishments of the past year as its cultural enrichment programmes in the areas of music and dance; the mas in Time’s Square and at the Brooklyn Public Library experiences; and providing college scholarships to two students. Twenty 23 goals include finding a location from which to operate 24 /7, game app development, and continued exploration of art and culture in relation to mental and physical health in a research setting. Read the full report.
Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority has announced a new festival: Antigua and Barbuda Art Week April 16 – 22. The line-up of activities notably omits literary arts despite the number of published books by Antiguans and Barbudans, and past community-organized literary art showcases like the Antigua and Barbudan International Literary Festival, Wadadli Stories Book Fair, and the Wadadli Pen organized Word Up!. That line-up, as published on visitantiguabarbuda.com, is a schools art competition just posted in Opportunities Too; an art week exhibition at the Boom at Gun Powder House and the V C Bird International Airport with artists like Heather Doram and Mark Brown and fashion designers like Argent and Nicoya Henry announced; art walks and studio tours (with stops at galleries like Zemis, Guava de Artist, Fig Tree, Edison Arts, the Hunts, Rhythm of Blue, Papa Zouk, Ana’s on the Beach, Copper and Lumber, Abracadabra, and Art Cafe in Barbuda); movies under the stars (not sure which movies are to be featured but the time and venue are April 19 and a place named “garrot blacks” – a name that perhaps needs some unpacking especially when you add its gorilla motif); an artist showcase on April 21st spotlighting performing artists in the musical and spoken word space (no names announced at the link); and on April 22nd, a sip and paint activity led by Gerron Farquharson at Greencastle Ranch. Here’s a posted promo video spotlighting Doram in her studio.
(Source – Daily Observer by Newsco.)
Opportunities
March 25th 2023 is the date for the previously reported Celeste Mohammed short story writing workshop. It is being held via zoom and costs US$100.
Get started here. (Source – Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival email)
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The Caribbean Media Awards is open for submissions and will remain so until April 12th 2023. Details of the various categories, across various media platforms and topics, are listed and linked in the Opportunities Too database. The awards are being held this year in partnership with the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, with the addition of a category focussed on a healthy Caribbean. Per an emailed press release, “As the effort continues to promote healthy food policies, the region’s lead advocacy body in this area, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) will be recognising print journalists who are covering this area, and doing so well.” The prize will include a trophy as well as a US$500 bursary for the award winner to produce additional material under the theme. Example of topics that would be a good fit for this theme include school food environments, healthy food fiscal policies, and efforts to strengthen regional food labelling. Entries must have been published between January 1st and December 31st 2023, and can be submitted through April 12th 2023. Again full award details here. (Source – personal inbox)
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.
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).
Accolades
Antigua and Barbuda Cultural Director Khan Cordice co-arranged and drilled Republic Bank Exodus to a second place finish in the panorama of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival. The presentation marked the return of local calypso legend King Short Shirt’s “Tourist Leggo”, their test tune, to TnT Carnival, after its popularity and outsider status resulted in it being banned from competition there in 1976. Khan and co-arranger Terrance ‘BJ’ Marcelle earned 280 points to the 283 points earned by winning pan orchestra Renegade. Khan holds the record as the youngest pan arranger to win in nantional competition, at 19, and ties with the late Victor ‘Babu’ Samuel for the most wins with eight. With this step, he is being hailed as a world class arranger. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco)
Books and Other Reading Material
Let’s use Trinbagonian writer (still based in Trinidad) Kevin Jared Hosein’s current book tour (every writer dreams of such a publisher push!) and, in particular, his recent appearance on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom (live in studio, not no zoom t’ing), to big him up on the publication of Hungry Ghosts, which is already getting Booker Prize talk.
In Hosein’s British TV interview, we receive some insights and reminders re how story gets made. “In my childhood village, I was interviewing some elders including my grandfather about some of the literatures that had vanished over time and I wanted to make a small compilation of those moments that might have been lost in time or relegated to memory,” he said of the genesis of the book, set in 1940s Trinidad. Bringing his biology and environmental science training to the table, “I drew from a lot of what I knew of symbiotic relationships between animals and their relationship with landscape and habitat, and I fit that together because at the time this novel is set…(Trinidad) was kind of like a frontier.” The cowboys of that frontier, the interview suggests, were the British who saw their influence waning and the Americans who “brought with them a version of the American dream”, and, then, of course, the local people of varying ethnicities and their journeys there. The interview touched quite a bit on colonialism suggesting some exploration of that as a major theme. But for Hosein it was about reclaiming his country’s stories before they slip from memory. “I wanted to give life to those illustrations in the history books.”
Just in his late 30s, Hosein is already an accomplished writer, with milestones including the regional win for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (2015 for “The King of Settlement 4”) followed by the main prize (2018, for “Passage”). He has been published in Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean (with “The Monkey Trap”, which was also shortlisted for the Small Axe Prize). He self-published his first book Littletown Secrets. Peepal Tree, a Caribbean focused press based in the UK, published his second book The Repenters, in 2016, and The Beast of Kukuyo was a Burt Award winning title published with Jamaica-based Blue Banyan imprint Blouse and Skirt Books in 2018. The Repenters was long listed for Bocas and nominated for the International Dublin IMPAC Award. Hungry Ghosts is published by Bloomsbury, a British worldwide publishing house.
Congrats to Kevin Jared Hosein and as a reminder of the journey, read “Kevin Jared Hosein breaks it down” published to Wadadli Pen in 2017. (Source – Kevin Jared Hosein on Facebook/image via Bocas on Twitter)
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Antigua-born, Virgin Islands-raised, Switzerland-based poet Althea Romeo-Mark has a summer 2023 release planned.
On the Borders of Belonging, she said, is dedicated to “my forefathers, the Finches, Marshes, Josephs, Hendriksons, Willetts and Maynards, who willingly and unwillingly crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean Islands from European and African shores; my parents, Gilbert Romeo, Daisy Marsh Romeo with whom my siblings and I had our first immigrant experience and whose animated storytelling lit my imagination; and immigrants who have sacrificed everything in search of new homelands. For most, these are havens, the secondhand homes, which, though ill-fitting at first, eventually become the accepted abode after several decades. Despite living on the edge of belonging, passing time, and survival instincts, allow most to settle well in heart and mind, in new SHELL/ters.” (Source – ARM in the Caribbean Writers group on Facebook)
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Barbadian writer Karen Lord‘s The Blue, Beautiful World – described as a space opera – has an August 29th 2023 release date.
Synopsis:
“The world is changing, and humanity must change with it. Rising seas and soaring temperatures have radically transformed the face of Earth. Meanwhile, Earth is being observed from afar by other civilizations . . . and now they are ready to make contact.
Vying to prepare humanity for first contact are a group of dreamers and changemakers, including Peter Hendrix, the genius inventor behind the most advanced VR tech; Charyssa, a beloved celebrity icon with a passion for humanitarian work; and Kanoa, a member of a global council of young people drafted to reimagine the relationship between humankind and alien societies.
And they may have an unexpected secret weapon: Owen, a pop megastar whose ability to connect with his adoring fans is more than charisma. His hidden talent could be the key to uniting Earth as it looks toward the stars.
But Owen’s abilities are so unique that no one can control him and so seductive that he cannot help but use them. Can he transcend his human limitations and find the freedom he has always dreamed of? Or is he doomed to become the dictator of his nightmares?”
Lord who has wracked up several awards (the William L. Crawford Award and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature) and nominations (the World Fantasy Award ) in her career has announced that two books from her backlist (Redemption in Indigo and Unravelling) have been acquired and are slated for re-release. “The reprints will have new covers, and extra material. I’ve written four short stories about our favourite characters from Cygnus Beta, filling in some offscreen events.” (Source – Karen Lord on Twitter)
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Jamaican writer Jacqueline Bishop has published her eighth book.
Patchwork: Essays & Interviews on Caribbean Visual Culture has been issued with the support of Intellect Publishing and the University of Chicago Press. On the cover is an image of the writer’s great grandmother Celeste Walker holding up one of her patchworks and it seeks to shine a spotlight on Caribbean women like Ms. Walker, whose art is ripped from cloth and reflects their African heritage. Bishop’s previous books are Fauna, My Mother who is Me, The River’s Song, Writers who Paint Painters who write, Snapshots from Istanbul, The Gymnast and Other Positions, and The Gift of Music and Song: Interviews with Jamaican Women Writers. (Source – the author via JR Lee email)
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“Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won’t have as much censorship because we won’t have as much fear.” – this Judy Blume quote inspired a post featuring Antiguan and Barbudan Children’s Literature <—check it out. (Source – in-house)
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“Notoriously, Caribbean slave owners extracted greater profits from working an enslaved person to death and purchasing a new one than from providing for a slave until old age and creating the conditions for natural reproduction.” – p7 from Troubling Freedom #whatimreading
Their are still spots – and financial aid to participate – in two of Breadloafs’ summer workshops. Worth it – I’ve been.
Though, alas, the fiction workshops are closed. See what’s still available in Opportunities Too. See also Opportunities. (Source – in-house)
Events
Antigua and Barbuda’s Ministry of Education, Sports, and Creative Industries will be holding the 2023 National Literacy Festival on March 2nd 2023 under the theme “Enriching Lives and Preserving Our Culture”. All citizens are invited to Drop Everything and Read for at least half an hour. The Ministry hopes that all business places and corporations will join the activity. We at Wadadli Pen hope that all participants will make it an Antiguan and Barbudan book.
(Source – Daily Observer by Newsco.)
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The classic Caribbean film The Harder They Come is having a stage run at The Public in New York. Twenty 22 was the 50th anniversary of the film’s 1972 release and activities included an exhibition in its country of origin Jamaica and this stage play whose run has now been extended.
Like the film, the play features the music of reggae legend Jimmy Cliff and other Jamaican artists, including the titular track. The film was produced and directed by Perry Henzell and co-written by Trevor Rhone. Pulitzer prize winning playwright, who has also written new music for the stage adapation, Susan Lori-Parks is responsible for bringing it to Broadway.
Choreography of this stage musical is Edgar Godineaux, and Sergio Trujillo and Tony Taccone are co-directors. (Source – The Public Theatre on Twitter)
Google them. (Source – St. Martin Book Fair email)
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HaMa Films will have the first local screening of their fifth feature film, Deep Blue, on Barbuda – this is after a screening during Montserrat’s Alliougana Festival of the Word. The local premiere is scheduled for Feburary 18th 2023, 7 p.m. at McChesney George Secondary School.
Call 776-3339 for tickets. HaMa’s previous films are The Sweetest Mango, a first for Antigua and Barbuda and the OECS, No Seed, Diablesse, and The Skin. (Source – Daily Observer by Newsco.)
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.
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
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)
“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.
‘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.
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.
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).
Events
Island Scribe’s writing retreats launch in Catara, Tobago in May 2023, with two dates – Mayb 6th and May 11th – reportedly all booked up. Island Scribe is curated and hosted by Trinidadian born, US based writer Simone Dalton who is described as a teaching artist and writing coach. (Source – Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival email)
Obit.
Gordon Rohlehr (1942-2023), literary scholar and emeritus professor at the University of the West Indies’ St. Augustine, Trinidad campus, has died. The Guyana-born cultural commentator, considered by the many writers who have been commenting on social media since learning of his death, as a vital part of the Caribbean arts community, was reportedly 80 at the time of his passing.
“He was an authority on West Indian literature and the calypso,” UWI international relations professor Mark Kirton was quoted as saying.
That same article in the Demerara Waves, provided the following biographical notes –
“He graduated in 1964 from the University College of the West Indies, Jamaica, with a First Class Honours degree in English Literature, after which he wrote a doctoral dissertation titled “Alienation and Commitment in the Works of Joseph Conrad” at Birmingham University, England (1964-1967).
His publications include: Pathfinder: Black Awakening in “The Arrivants” of Edward Kamau Brathwaite (Tunapuna: College Press, 1981); Cultural Resistance and the Guyana State (Casa de las Américas, 1984); Calypso and Society in Pre-Independence Trinidad (Port of Spain, 1990); My Strangled City and Other Essays (Longman Trinidad, 1992); The Shape of That Hurt and Other Essays (Longman Trinidad, 1992); A Scuffling of Islands: Essays on Calypso (Lexicon Trinidad Ltd, 2004); Transgression, Transition, Transformation: Essays in Caribbean Culture (Lexicon, 2007); Ancestories: Readings of Kamau Brathwaite’s “Ancestors” (Trinidad: Lexicon, 2010) and My Whole Life is Calypso: Essays on Sparrow (2015).” (Source – social media/various)
Arts and Culture
Some news re the Commonwealth Short Story Prize: not sure how this compares to other prizes but the current cycle – the shortlist of which will be announced in April – netted 6,640 submissions were made by writers living in 54 countries, from Canada to Gabon to India to Samoa. Four-hundred and seventy-five stories were written in languages other than English and a further 141 were translated into English from other languages. I’m going to ask them for the submission by Caribbean territories and when I get it, I’ll share the breakdown. (Source – Commonwealth Foundation email)
Tropical Arts is a new online marketplace and gathering spot for artists, creatives, photographers, and collectors. Operating out of Curacao, it invites registration broadly from creatives in the Caribbean and the diaspora. “The site’s goal is to support the livelihoods of the creative community as well as to rewards collectors with works (both digital and physical), digital assets, and storytelling that illuminates the rich culture and traditions of the region.” (Tropical Arts) Once signed in, artists can create an account and upload digital works. “You can spotlight any of your works and we’ll pay for the minting so you can show them off as NFTs. Or you can list them for sale in the marketplace.” (promotional artist email) This is strictly For Your Information; please do your due diligence – especially as I am not knowledgeable about non-fungible tokens (though the site includes a FAQ that explains all that) – and ensure you understand fully what you are signing up for. (Source – promotional artist email)
Accolades
“Rashad Hosein has won the 2022 NGC Bocas Youth Writer Award, which comes with a cash prize of TT $5,000, sponsored by the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited. The announcement was made on Saturday 7 January at an award ceremony honouring the young finalists for the award, hosted at The Writer’s Centre by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest.
The 24-year old author was selected as the winner from four finalists, with his short fictional work “Saga”. Hosein has already established himself as an writer to watch, after winning the John Steinbeck Award for Fiction last year from Reed Magazine. He has also been a finalist for the BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Caribbean Writers, was longlisted for the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize, and shortlisted twice for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2019 and 2021.
Launched in 2021, the NGC Bocas Youth Writer Award recognises and celebrates young authors of T&T birth or citizenship, aged 25 and younger.” (Source – Bocas email)
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A Caribbean writer has again won the T S Eliot Prize (the last was Roger Robinson in 2019). “Anthony Joseph has won the TS Eliot prize for his collection Sonnets for Albert, described as “luminous” by the judges. Joseph takes the £25,000 poetry prize, which this year saw a record 201 submissions.” (The Guardian) “Sonnets for Albert, which was shortlisted for the Forward prize for best collection last year, is an autobiographical collection that weighs the impact of growing up with a largely absent father.” Joseph is an accomplished poet who has published five poetry collections and eight albums to critical acclaim and awards recognition. The Trinidad and Tobago born Joseph is resident in the United Kingdom. The T S Eliot Prize is named for one of the 20th centuries greatest poets who was a founding member of the Poetry Book Society which started the prize now run by the T S Eliot Foundation. Derek Walcott, a Nobel Laureate, of St. Lucia became the first non-white and explicitly Caribbean writer (previous winners having come from Ireland, England, the US, Scotland, Canada, and Australia). He won in 2010, 17 years after the prize was launched. Robinson, UK of Trinidad and Tobagian ancestory, followed, and now Joseph.
(Source – various on Facebook)
Books and Other Reading Material
Volume 36 of The Caribbean Writer, Disruptions, Disguises and Illuminations, was released in December 2022. “Volume 36 is an imaginative collection of creative expressions from among the best writers within the region and its diaspora,” said editor Alscess Lewis-Brown. “The many permutations of this year’s theme make for a very powerful chorus of Caribbean voices.” This issue’s prize winners are: Monique Clendenin Watson (Daily News Prize for a US or British Virgin Islands author), USVI writer Eliot Richards (The Canute A. Brodhurst Prizefor best short fiction for “Dying of the Light”), USVI writer Shawna K. Richards (TheMarvin E. Williams Literary Prizefor “I Think About Water A Lot”), Barbadian poet Winston Farrell (The Cecile deJongh Literary Prize to a Caribbean author whose work best expresses the spirit of the Caribbean for “A Notion of Cricket”), and Trinidadian short story Otancia Noel (The Vincent Cooper Literary Prizeto a Caribbean author for exemplary writing in Caribbean Nation Language for “Muslimean Memory”).
Gail Widmer who is based in St. Croix is the cover artist with her piece “After the Storm”.
The theme for the next issue, due to be published in 2024, is “Legacy: Reckoning and Repair”. (Source – N/A)
Bookstagrammer If this is Paradise in Jamaica is now a published author with the inclusion of her essay “From the Omen to Saint Maud: A Black Queer Revelation” in Divergent Terror: At the Crossroads of Queerness and Horror (Off Limits Press). “I explore the different relationships I had with two Catholic horror films at two different points in my life: The Omen when I was a child and Saint Maud as an adult,” she posted. If this is Paradise – actual name Akilah or Kiki – is a freelance critic currently leading the Reading Jamaica Kincaid | Akilah | Substack as reported before in Carib Lit Plus. (Source – Kiki on instagram)
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Book of Cinz‘s January 2023 newsletter, in addition to listing her January – March 2023 book club picks (Neruda on the Park by CLeyvis Natera of the Dominican Republic, Things I have Withheld by Kei Miller of Jamaica, and River sing me Home by Eleanor Shearer, who is a British writer of Caribbean descent), she lists several 2023 Read Caribbean releases.
The listed books include Trinidad and Tobago writers Kevin Jared Hosein’s Hungry Ghosts, Lesley-ann Brown’s BlackGirl on Mars, The God of Good Looks by Breanne McIvor, and When the Vibe is Right by Sarah Dass; Afro-Puerto Rican Jennifer Maritza McCauley’s When Trying to Return Home; St. Vincent descended Brit Alexis Keir’s Windward Family: An Atlas of Love, Loss and Belonging; Soraya Palmer’s The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts, said to be a Brooklyn-based coming of age story of two Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters; Guadeloupean legend Maryse Conde’s The Gospel According to the New World; Camille Hernández-Ramdwar’s multi-country collection Suite as Sugar: and Other Stories; Lorraine Avila’s The Making of Yolanda la Bruja; Jamaican Safiya Sinclair’s memoir How to say Babylon; Queen of Exile, a Haitian narrative by Vanessa Riley; Dominican writer Elizabeth Acevedo’s Family Lore; Jamaican folktale River Mumma by Zalika Benta-Reid and Donna Heman’s House of Pain.
The book club next meets on January 25th. (Source – Book of Cinz’s newsletter)
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Brenda Lee Browne who is a British born Antiguan writer and former Wadadli Pen judge was one of the editors of the Commonwealth Writers Speak Out! series alongside Peter Sipeli of Fiji, Rifat Munim of Bangladesh, and Beatrice Lamwaka of Uganda. Speak Out! has four issues consisting of poems and creative fiction and non-fiction from around the Commonwealth. The theme broadly is freedom of expression. The Caribbean writing included in the editions (of which I’ve at this writing read three of the four) include Jamaicans Nadine Tomlinson, Topher Allen and Lloyd D’Aguilar, Dominican Lisa Latouche, Shanette Monrose, Belizean Calpernia Nicole Charles, Guyanese Hannah Singh, and Tobagonian Lynette Hazel. Browne is credited as the editor of Speak Out! 3 and says in her editorial, “The beauty of storytelling is that it speaks to us as humans—people, no labels—as we all carry stories that we would like to share.” You can read my thoughts on 1, 2, and 3 in the Jhohadli Blogger on Books series. I haven’t read the 4th and final installmetn as yet. (Source – N/A)
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Barbara Arrindell who is a local book retailer and author, in addition to being a Wadadli Pen director, is interviewed by Carol Mitchell of Caribbean Reads publishing in her Book Club column in Inter Caribbean Airways’ Cacique magazine.
She talks about the book industry, the arts, and her own writing. The column also recommends three books by Caribbean authors – the Machel Montano biography King of Soca, Sharma Taylor’s acclaimed novel What a Mother’s Love don’t teach You, and children’s book The Coquies Still Sing. (Source – Carol Mitchell on Instagram)
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.
Why six? Because 10 gets too much attention and it’s been six months so far this year and I thought it’d be an interesting variation to indicate one thing you’ve missed each month of 2022. What’s AntiguanWriter? That’s me. Nice to meet you. Or if you’re a regular, welcome back and thank you for already […]
Me on a panel with Eric Jerome Dickey at the ABILF
Just a little throwback to when Antigua and Barbuda was ahead of the curve with this literary festival – first held in 2006 – that attracted some of the biggest names in literature (especially from the Black diaspora). It’s not a thing anymore and that’s a shame. That’s me in green between, far left, Linda Duggins, who was at the time director of publicity for the Hatchette Book Group, acclaimed author Elizabeth Nunez, and, on my right, Eric Jerome Dickey. Yeah, my imposter syndrome was itching like a rash that day – though to be honest, there was some external reinforcement of it (something said) but also affirmation (something else said). The something else was from Eric Jerome Dickey who affirmed my place at the table; the late New York Times bestselling author also opened the door to me landing an agent and endorsed me on his social media when my novel came out. Eric died last year and things like this that he did grow bigger in my mind. He was just a real, generous dude. The lady to my left, Elizabeth, while continuing to write acclaimed books, has also done things to boost my writing and that of others – including reccing my novel Oh Gad! on NPR. Blessings to her for that; she didn’t have to do that – and because of how no-nonsense she is, I know she wouldn’t have picked it (nor add it to her course list) if she didn’t think it was good. I remember Linda as having a warm presence and this was reaffirmed when I ran in to her in the crowd at the Miami Book Fair and she greeted me like we had seen each other just yesterday – when I was sure she wouldn’t remember me at all – it was 11 years later, after all. Yeah, I’m pretty sure this was 2007 because one of the things I remember about this event was I met the head of the Friends of Antigua Public Library, Beverly George, on the lawn of Anchorage Inn at this event, and she right away invited me to New York where I went that December as the FOAPL’s first Author in Residence and FOAPL would host me again in 2012 when Oh Gad! came out.
What I like about the flashback memes sometimes is it can be a reminder of how far you’ve moved when it feels like you’re stagnating or maybe even moving backwards, or maybe are just too busy working to pay attention to those movements at all.
Anyway just a pic and a reminder to self and whoever needs to hear it to keep moving.
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. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
Wadadli Pen 