Press release, St. John’s, Antigua – January 16, 2017: Poets, spoken word artists, creatives and persons who want to write poetry will have an opportunity to work with award winning, Montreal based poet, teacher and producer, Tanya Evanson at a one day Just Write Writers’ Retreat on Saturday, January 21, 2017 at the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda.
Evanson will teach a session on Bothism, which traverses silence and sound in the creation of spoken word. As Evanson explains participants will do more than write: “Through meditation, investigation, magical editing and unique vocal exercises, we will turn quiet literature into loud orature that is unleashed in a non-competitive spoken word cabaret. And all the participants need is passion, patience, paper, pen, mind, body and voice.”
This is the fourth Just Write Writers’ Retreat organised by writer, Brenda Lee Browne and is the first focusing on spoken word: “The popularity of spoken word events over the last five years has unearthed a wealth of talent and I believe that all writers and creatives can benefit from working with other writers/creatives. This one day retreat is open to young, established and persons thinking about writing poetry, dub/hip hop performers, story tellers and writers. And it is a fantastic opportunity to work with such a talented and passionate creative.”
Past Just Write Writers’ Retreat facilitators include: Joanne C. Hillhouse, Marie Elena John, Chadd Cumberbatch and Mark Brown.
The One day retreat will cost EC$100 for persons U21 and EC$150 for adults 22 and over. Scholarships are available. Interested persons can email: brendalee.brownemail.com or check the Just Write Face Book page.
Bio: Tanya Evanson is a Montreal poet, performer, producer, educator and program director of Banff Centre Spoken Word. She tours internationally, has released four audio recordings, six artist books of poetry and in 2013 received the Golden Beret Award and was Poet of Honour at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. Recent work includes guest editing Arc Poetry Magazine (Fall 2015) and publication in Arc, Oratorealis, Cordite, Litlive, WomanSpeak, More Caught in the Act: an anthology of performance art by Canadian women (YYZBOOKS 2016) and Where the Nights Are Twice As Long (Gooselane 2015). Spoken word performance highlights include Edinburgh Book Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Tasmanian Poetry Festival, Australia’s Story-Fest, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, Vancouver Writers Fest, Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Calgary Spoken Word Festival, Blue Met, Suoni per il Popolo, Words Aloud, Bowery Poetry Club, Verses, CBC and SLAM stages worldwide. She is currently at work on a short film, poetry manuscript and performing in support of her latest recording ZENSHIP. mothertonguemedia.com
February 7th 2017 – the Literacy Festival that forms part of Education Week, this year with a focus on expressive literacy at the Secondary and Tertiary levels. The students will be engaged in an impromptu speaking activity and a dramatization of an extract from a text of any genre. In addition, there will be a display of original writings by teachers as well as local and regional authors as models of literacy.The event will take place at the Multipurpose Cultural Centre beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Relatedly, congratulations to Desryn Collins on her appointment as Education Officer, Language Arts, (Ag.) as of January 3rd 2017.
February 6th – Wadadli Youth Pen Prize Annual Challenge deadline. Must be Antiguan and Barbudan and 35 or younger to participate. See details at Wadadli Pen 2017. Teachers, youth workers, parents encourage the young people in your lives to create and submit; young people, we, at Wadadli Pen, look forward to reading your efforts.
January 28th – 10:30 a.m. – Antigua Dance Academy will be hosting a Creole Headtie Workshop at the Red Cross Headquarters on Old Parham Road. It is part of their year-long 25th anniversary celebrations.
January 23rd – Start of 12-week sculpting and painting workshop. Register at the Cultural Development Division on Nevis Street.
January 21st – Tanya Evanson will be hosting a special master class ‘Bothism’ for poets, spoken word poets and creatives during the one Day Just Write Writers’ Retreat on Saturday, January 21, 2017, upstairs Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, Long Street 10 am to 5pm – EC$150 (22 and over). Young writers 21 and under PAY ONLY EC$100 AND scholarships are available.
This page has grown fairly quickly, so I’m breaking it up in to two pages. For N – Z, go here. For books, go here. This is exclusively for creative pieces by Antiguans and Barbudans accepted to established literary journals, festivals (and other notable literary platforms), and contests (not pieces posted only to personal blogs) as I discover (and in some cases, re-discover) them. Primarily, the focus is on pieces accessible online (i.e. linkable) because those are easiest to find; but it is not limited to these. It is intended as a record of our publications and presentation of creative works beyond sole authored books. Naturally, I’ll miss some things. You can recommend (in fact, I welcome your recommendations), but, as with all areas of the site, additions/subtractions are at the discretion of the admin.
AARON, GLENROY – ‘Summer One’ and ‘Coconut Man’ (visual art – painting) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
ADAMS, RILYS – Fictional Reality (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
AFLAK, ALLAN – (visual art – photography – also published in Alexis Andrews’ book Images in 2007) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
AIRALL, ZAHRA – – Island Expressions in St. Kitts – 2016
AIRALL, ZAHRA – The Looking Glass (fiction) – in Theorizing Homophobias in the Caribbean – Complexities of Place, Desire and Belonging – 2012
Excerpt: “They’d met at a conference in Mexico, she was from Dominica, and Laurie was instantly drawn to that thick French accent when Marie spoke.”
ANDREWS, ALEXIS – (visual art – photography) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
ARMSTRONG, VEGA – Legend of the Sea Lords (fiction, 2012 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem – 2012 + Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
Excerpt: “Suddenly Freya dove under the water, the others quickly followed her. When they caught up with her they too saw the mysterious creature.”
ARRINDELL, BARBARA – Belonging to Barbuda (fiction) – Caribbean Feminist Stories, intersectantigua.com – 2020
ARRINDELL, BARBARA – Scholarship Child (fiction, from her book The Legend of Bat’s Cave and Other Stories) – Interviewing the Caribbean (Caribbean Childhood: Traumas and Triumphs Part 2) edited by Opal Palmer Adisa – 2020
ARRINDELL, BARBARA – A LIFE, a spirit…a name (fiction, subsequently published in 2017 anthology The Black Notes edited by Althea Prince) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
ARRINDELL, BARBARA – How Snake Stories became Anansi Stories (fiction, fable) – Womanspeak: A Journal of Writing and Art by Caribbean Women, Volume 7 – 2013
AUGUSTUS, CARL – Isolation (visual art and poetry) – in intersectantigua.com – 2020
AUGUSTUS, CARL – Live Free (visual art) – in intersectantigua.com – 2020
AUGUSTUS, CARL – Take Flight (visual art and text) – in intersectantigua.com – 2020
BARNES, SYLVANUS – Harp of Gold (poetry, from his book Barney’s Wit and Wisdom) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
BARTON, SHARON – ‘Evolution’ (visual art – designer gown, worn by Antigua Carnival Queen first runner-up Kimmorna Otto, which, in 2005, won best evening gown; it attempts to capture the colour and flow of reggae and calypso) and ‘Wild Orchid’ (visual art – designer gown worn in 2006 by Antigua Carnival Queen runner-up Charmaine Morgan) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
BATSON, NADIA – Expose (song lyrics, the Trinidad and Tobago singer/songwriter penned the tune for Antigua-Barbuda soca band El A Kru) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
BEAZER, CHATRISSE – The Legend of Banana Boy (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen short story) – Anansesem (Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
BENJAMIN, AKEILE – The Adventures of Mr. Coconut (fiction, 2012 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem – 2012
BROWN, MARK – ‘Jumbie’ and ‘Queen of the Band’ (visual art – painting) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
BROWNE, BRENDA LEE – Granny Cecelia’s Travelling Handbag – Womanspeak: A Journal of Art and Writing by Caribbean Women Volume 8 – 2016
Excerpt: “Dante’s mother asks if he is getting married as he smells as sweet as a bride and he had been getting ready since about 5pm – well since midday when he went to the barbers for a trim and a shape.”
BROWNE, BRENDA LEE – For my Father & Untitled (poetry) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
BROWNE, BRENDA LEE – Betty Sope – Womanspeak: A Journal of Writing and Art by Caribbean Women, Volume 7 – 2013
BROWNE-BANNISTER, TAMMI – Wee Willie Winkie (fiction, winner of the 2016 Marguerite Cobb-McKay Prize) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 29 – 2015
BROWNE-BANNISTER, TAMMI – Stabs in the Dark (fiction) – Akashic’s Mondays are Murder series – 2014
BROWNE-BANNISTER, TAMMI – Strange Fruit (fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
Excerpt: “The director’s walk was ceremonious not in haste, perhaps from years of practice. He carried one hand lying in the other at the back of his buttocks and he went along with his head bowed.”
BROWNE-BANNISTER, TAMMI – Coo Yah (fiction) – Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters (online Virgin Islands journal) – 2014
BROWNE-BANNISTER, TAMMI – Cocks, Hens, Dogs and Swine (fiction) – in St. Somewhere (online literary journal) – 2013
BROWNE-BANNISTER, TAMMI – The Bird who saved his Food (fiction) – Anansesem (online Caribbean Children’s Literary Journal) – 2013
Excerpt: “Once upon a time an albatross got caught in a fisherman’s net that was spread out at sea.”
BROWNE-BANNISTER, TAMMI – Mango Belly and Mango Belly Part 2 (fiction) – Anansesem (online Caribbean Children’s Literary Journal) – 2011
Excerpt: “He ate each and every kidney, tantalizing his classmates with every suck, pick, slurp and lick. Their mouths watered and their eyes followed the golden juices that gushed down his hands.”
BUTLER, LORINDA T. – Antigua Me Come From (poetry) – The Caribbean Writer, Volume 8 – 1994.
CADOGAN, DAVID – ‘Rasta Pan’ (visual art – painting) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
CHARLES, KENNELLA – Awaken to the Night – (fiction, 2005 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
CHRISTOPHER, MARCUS – Lyrical Sampler (calypso lyrics) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
DIXON, S A – (visual art – illustration for Market Day by Latisha Walker-Jacobs, award winning art and story in Wadadli Pen 2011 Challenge) + Cocos Nucifera (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen short story) – Anansesem (Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
DORAM, HEATHER – Isolation 1 – in intersectantigua.com – 2020
DORAM, HEATHER – ‘Moonlight on Butterflies’, ‘Serenity’, and ‘Rightful Place’ (visual art – painting) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
DORAM, HEATHER – ‘Spirit of Carnival’ (visual art – mixed media painting on felt, cover art capturing the colour, glitter, and masking of the Carnival season, and illustrating the mythical connection with the inner self that happens during Carnival) and ‘Mama Looka Mas!’ (visual art – painting); and ‘Genesis’ (used a metaphor for Carnival and life, worn in 1994 by Lesley-ann Brown) and ‘CARICOM Woman’ (exploring the concept of “us coming together as a people, as a region” worn in 1992 by Diana Horsford) and ‘Spirit of Africa’ (worn by 1993 Antigua Carnival Queen Charmaine Bailey) and ‘Lady in Red’ (worn by 1988 Antigua Carnival Queen Irma-Marie Senhouse) – (visual art – costumes with builder and husband Connie Doram). Additional costumes for Vitus mas troupe (a highlander costume, 1997’s ‘Cocks Crow’, 2000’s ‘Folktales’ including characters like Anancy in his spider’s web, and 2003’s ‘Peace and Love’ (the stiltwalker section High High High)) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
D’ORNELLAS, ANNALISA -Toes in the Sand (poetry, national contest selection) – 2009
Excerpt: “I was once a girl that played on these shores. I gathered the shells in bundles and scores. I wore them on my neck and strung some as bangles I noticed their twinkling and delightful angles.”
ECKERT, DEBORAH – ‘Lornette and Oriane’ (visual art – painting) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
Excerpt (from Johnson’s introduction): “The stories, riddles, and proverbs given in this collection were recited by George W. Edwards, a native of Greenbay, Antigua, British West Indies…George Edwards is a man fifty years old. In giving the bulk of this material, he exhibited unusual memory-power. Aside from prompting, suggestions, and riddles Nos. 34, 39, 42, 45, and 47, he alone is responsible for the entire collection. He has lived in New York for the past ten years. His greatest aid in recalling the stories has been his wife, who is about thirty years of age and also a native of Greenbay, Antigua. She is the informant of the five riddles mentioned above.”
EDWARDS, GEORGE W. (AS TOLD TO JOHN H. JOHNSON) – The Chosen Suitor from Folklore from Antigua, British West Indies, Journal of American Folklore Vol. 34 No. 131 – as reproduced in Bluebeard (ed. D. L. Ashliman) – 1999 -2014
Excerpt: “Dere’s a woman had one daughter an one son. Dis boy coco-bay, boy, an’ he was an’ ol’ witch too.”
EDWARDS, SHAKEEMA – Diaspora & That Laugh (poetry)- Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
EDWARDS, SHAKEEMA – The Curse of the Kumina (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (Best of Wadadli Pen Special Issue) – 2011
EVANSON, TANYA – Poetry Africa (Durham, South Africa) – 2018
EVANSON, TANYA – performs at the 8th Word N Sound International Youth Poetry Festival in Newtown Johannesburg – 2018
EVANSON, TANYA – Temple Exercises as feature poet at Vancouver Slam – 2016
EVANSON, TANYA – GRIOTS OF ALL TIME – live spoken word @ The Club, The Banff Centre, Banff AB Canada / 2014 Spoken Word Program
EVANSON, TANYA – Word Aloud Festival (Durhan, Canada) – 2014
EVANSON, TANYA – Mundo Gumbo – Canadian Festival of Spoken Word – 2013
EVANSON, TANYA – Apocalypsiata (poetry) – Womanspeak: A Journal of Art and Writing by Caribbean Women, Volume 7 – 2013
Excerpt: “Soon there’ll be nothing left to burn/books, beds, bodies on the Barbie”
EVANSON, TANYA – reading/performing at Calgary Spoken Word Festival – 2013.
EVANSON, TANYA – reading/performing (including “An-teee-ga”) at the Calgary Spoken Word Festival – 2012
Excerpt: “Let me tell you bout that place/in Caribbean/clear blue water/sand sat between your toes/in hot sun/and the people/my people/and not my people/Antigua” (An-teee-ga)
EVANSON, TANYA – Zamizdat Scat at Calgary Spoken Word Festival – 2011
EVANSON, TANYA – Dervish Weaponry (poetry, from the 2008 CD Memorists) – on Badilisha Poetry X-Change – 2008
FARARA, JAN – ‘Steel and Sparkle’, ‘Rhythm at Sunset’, ‘Carnival Pride’, and ‘Carnival Stilts’ (visual art – paintings) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
GEORGE, GEMMA – Stray Dog prepares for the Storm – (fiction, 2004 award winnin g Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
GEORGE, LINISA – The Rebellion (poetry) – intersectantigua.com – 2020
GEORGE, LINISA – In the Closet (poetry) – BBC Poetry Postcards series – 2014.
GEORGE, LINISA – Brown Girl in the Ring (poetry, theatrical monologue) – performed during the CARA Festival, Antigua – 2009 + published in the World Record (a publication of global artistes invited to perform at the 2012 Poetry Parnassus staged to coincide with the 2012 Olympics) + Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014 + featured in the Charlotte Caribbean Festival, and, 2015, in the Shakespeare festival in the Bahamas.
GONSALVES, GAYLE – Miss Ellie (fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean – 2014
Excerpt: ‘Ellie points to England, a land that is far from the Caribbean Sea, and smiles at her daughter, “This is where it all started.”’
GORDON, CAROL – ‘Ancestral Call’, ‘Dance’, ‘Friend’, and ‘Nubian’ (visual art – painting) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
GORDON, ORIQUE – The Lost Coin (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen short story) – Anansesem (Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
GRANT, DEBESHA – Blue Mountain Hike (fiction, 2005 award winning Wadadli Pen short story) – Anansesem (Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
GREGORY, JAMILA – ‘Bird of Paradise’ (visual art – costume design intended as a play on the word ‘Bird’, depicting the flower ‘Bird of Paradise’ and also the bird ‘The Great Bird of Paradise’. It was the first costume to ever to be presented on stilts in the pageant’s history. It was built by Johnson Browne, Jamila Gregory, and the Vitus Mas Troupe. Gregory, the 2006 Carnival Queen, won the costume segment of the Antigua Carnival Queen competition) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
HECTOR, LEONARD ‘TIM’ – Excerpt from The Art of Carnival and the Carnival of Art (non-fiction, previously published in The Outlet newspaper) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
HENRY, E.T. – Christmas Stringband (visual art – greeting card),
‘Calypso Dancers’, and John Bull painting (visual art – painting) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Ah Write!, She Lives There, She Works, Ghosts Lament, When We Danced, Ode to the Pan Man, excerpt from With Grace, Da’s Calypso (poetry, fiction) – Festival Internacional de Poesia de Medellin (samples ‘Una Oda al Pan Man’ [An Ode to the Pan Man], ‘El Lamento de las Fantasmas’ [Ghosts’ Lament], ‘Ella viva Alla’ [She lives There], ‘Ella Trabaja’ [She Works], ‘El Calipso de Da’ [Da’s Calypso], and ‘Escribo!’ [Ah Write!] also published on the Festival site and ‘El Lamento de las Fantasmas’ [Ghosts’ Lament] and ‘El Calipso Da Da’ [Da’s Calypso] p. 279-282 in the official festival publication ‘Revista Prometeo Numero 115-116’ Agosto de 2021 Revista Prometeo 115-116 – August 10th 2021
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Times A-Changing (fiction) – CREATIVE SPACE #15 of 2021 in the Daily Observer newspaper
Excerpt: “The already narrow road was made narrower by the line of cars. There were always cars there, even when the bars up and down both sides of the road were officially closed due to Lockdown.”
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Antigua, at Night (poetry) – in BIM: Arts for the 21st Century Volume 10 – 2021
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Carnival Hangover (fiction) – in intersectantigua.com – 2020
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – reading excerpt from Rhythms (poem, Vol. 18, The Caribbean Writer) and Ode to the Pan Man (poem, Vol. 27, The Caribbean Writer) – (virtual) lit conference and journal launch of The Caribbean Writer – 2020
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – – reading excerpts from award winning teen/young adult novel Musical Youth as part of St. Lucia’s Caribcation Caribbean Author Series – 2020
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure read during the Read2Me virtual series out of Trinidad and Tobago – 2020
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Grandmother and Child, Waste Not, Weather Patterns (poetry) – Skin Deep magazine Is this the End? (UK) – 2020
HILLHOUSE, JOANNEC. – readers sharing an excerpt from With Grace at the Barnes Hill Reservoir Park Black History Month event (fiction) – 2019
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Development and Summer One (poetry) – Angles of Light series on Chapel FM (UK) – 2019
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Ode to the Pan Man during Antigua and Barbuda Independence literary arts showcase (poetry) – 2019
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – excerpt from Musical Youth during Antigua and Barbuda Independence literary arts showcase (fiction) – 2019
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – The Night the World Ended (fiction) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 32 – 2018
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – A Life in Mas (non-fiction) – Moko: Caribbean Art and Letters – 2018
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Papa Jumbie (flash fiction)- Akashic Books’ Duppy Thursday series – 2017
Excerpt: “… he choops to heself. Only picknee believe in jumbie. Dead na speak an’ Papa dead long time.”
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – The Other Daughter (fiction, included in a test question in the Denmark Ministry of Education’s 2019 English Evaluation Written Exam for upper secondary and higher preparatory students. Plus there’s analysis and breakdown on the Danish version of study net – 2019) – Adda (the Commonwealth Writers online literary magazine) – 2017
Excerpt: “The day we went uphill, my corn-rowed head level with Mom’s melon-sized chest, my inquiries about where we were going were met with silence and a determined tug on my arm as I dragged my feet.”
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Little Prissy Palmer (flash fiction) – The Machinery – 2017
Excerpt (from Something Wicked): “Essie is flamboyant as ever; her full and curvy frame hugged up by a red bustier straight out of a burlesque show, black leather pants, and dangerously (sexy, she would say) red heels that still only bring her up to Claudette’s chin. Claudette is also in black, tall and svelte in a black strappy ankle-length maxi dress, black combat boots and a black beaded cloche hat someone like Louise Brooks might have worn during the jazz era; her red-red lip stick and the red beading in the fitted cap, the only pop of colour. Essie had given the whole get-up an eye roll when she’d picked her up. Claudette had done her own mental eye roll at the way her friend, enviably comfortable in her own skin, still doesn’t get the concept of size-appropriate clothing.”
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Carnival Blues (fiction, also published as Something Wicked in The Missing Slate), Is Like a Like It (screenplay excerpt), Music and Ode to the Pan Man and On Seeing Euzhan Palcy’s Rue Cases Nègres (poetry) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 27 – 2013
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – All Fall Down (fiction) and Feather in Her Ear, Another Garden, Prison for Two, and Corporal Punishment (poetry) – Womanspeak: a Journal of Art and Writing by Caribbean Women Volume 7 – 2013
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – The Cat has Claws (flash fiction) – Akashic Book’s Monday’s are Murder online noir series – 2013
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – Soca Night (fiction, subsequently published in Dancing Nude in the Moonlight: 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings – 2014) and excerpt from Oh Gad! (fiction, a novel subsequently published by Simon & Schuster, 2012) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
HILLHOUSE, JOANNE C. – reading excerpts from unpublished manuscript Closed for Repairs (fiction) and Second Middle Passage and Apocalyptic Dance (poems) while a participant in the Caribbean Fiction Writers Summer Institute at the University of Miami – 1995
Excerpt: “A sister pimping her soul A baby with a gun in his hand Love gone cold”
HOLDER, ZURI – The Scary Night (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
HUNT, SIENA K. MARGRIE – Nuclear Family Explosion (fiction, 2004 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
HUNTE, JOSEPH ‘CALYPSO JOE’ – Bum Bum (calypso lyrics – 1970 Carnival road march tune) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
ISAAC, D. GISELE – Excerpt from In Search of a Road (fiction, unpublished-in-progress novel) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
ISAAC-GELLIZEAU, DOTSIE – Home (poetry) – national contest selection (no word of announced publication) – 2009
Excerpt:”Her soul and heart rejoiced Upright and locked position”
“It is Sunday, May 4th, 2014 and I am in my bathroom with blue handle scissors cutting off 6 years’ worth of permed hair from my head. My afro is like a mushroom and my face looks like a boy. I had been growing my hair out for a few months and my biological mother had been washing my scalp with red stripe and aloe. I got tired of battling with the two textures, so I cut it off.”
JACOBS, OGLIVIER ‘DESTROYER’ – Message from Gorkie (calypso – from his album The King and The Patriot) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
JAMES, S. E. – (fiction) Excerpt from the chapter Carnival in her book Tragedy on Emerald Island – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
JARDINE, AKILAH – (fiction) Excerpt from the chapter Blue Devils in her book Living Life the Way I Love It – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
JARDINE, ARTHUR ‘BUM’ (youngest member of Brute Force, the first recorded steelband) – The Man and His Pan and My Travels with Brute Force (non-fiction from memoir in progress The Man, His Pan, and The Conflict), Pan Rhapsody and Song for Fundu (poetry) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
JARVIS-GEORGE, TAMEKA – Woman to Woman (fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
JARVIS-GEORGE, TAMEKA – Ugly (poetry) – featured in/providing narrative structure for film of the same name
JARVIS-GEORGE, TAMEKA – Dinner (poetry) – featured in/providing narrative structure for film of the same name
JENNINGS, HUDLE – (visual art – illustration for Shakeema Edwards’ The Curse of the Kumina and for Devra Thomas’ Sand and Butterflies (2011 Wadadli Pen art and fiction) – Anansesem (the Best of Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
JOSEPH, CLIFTON – That Night in Tunisia – performed in the documentary Dark Arts in the Plastic Hallway – 2009
JOSEPH, CLIFTON – I Remember Back Home & Slo Mo (poetry) – performed at the Words Aloud 4 Spoken Word Festival in Canada – 2007
Excerpt: “It wasn’t all bright smiles, sea sand, sun and fun/Back home had its share of oppression in the sun/ Back home had its share of dreams burnt in the sun”
KING, X-SAPHAIR – Turmoil Within and Strength through Pain (visual art – painting) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
KINSELLA, MARIE – ‘Drum Man @ Boy’, ‘Two Pan Drummers’, and ‘The Joy of Pan’ (visual art – painting) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
Excerpt: ‘But, the Faithful wait for the King of Pommade, Tuti The Monarch of Mascara, pre-Pink Floyd, Tuti-Fruti He’s turned his back on Hollywood – protesting! He’s the King of Rock-and-Roll – will take it back – “This Little Light of Mine – Say What?” The tired Daughters of the Carolinas toss their curls Little Richard’s seen the fork in the road – and took it
LANGLEY, CHARLES – Black Woman Cry (poetry) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
LAWRENCE, LISCIA – The Day I saw Evil (fiction, Wadadli Pen award winning story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
LAVELLE, ARDIS – PreSchool Days (poetry, 2011 Wadadli Pen award winning story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
LI, DENISE – Carnival 1988 (visual art – drawing) – Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
LI, SARAH ANN – Lucky Dollar (fiction, 2005 Wadadli Pen award winning story) – Anansesem (the Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
LIBURD, EDISON – ‘Mysteries and Contradictions’ – (visual art, cover art) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 29 – 2015
MARTIN, COLIN ‘WANGA’ – selected images (visual art – costumes: Bush Doctor, reminiscent of the old time medicine; Calabash and Can Cup, one time household utensils; Cane Cutters, referencing the sugar plantations that once dominated; Can Can and Hot Pants, referencing past fashions; and Perry Grey Ghost, referencing an old time folk character) from Reveller’s Mas Troupe’s 2003 presentation ‘Ole Time Something Come Back Again’ and ‘Spirit of Carnival’ (designed for 2005 Antigua Carnival Queen finalist Kimmorna Otto, to her ReggaeSoCalypso theme) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
MCDONALD, HILDA – Dawn and Evensong – KYK-OVER-AL No. 22: Anthology of West Indian Poetry, edited by A. J. Seymour (p. 47) – 1957
MEADE, SHANNON – I, Atlas (fiction) – intersectantigua.com – 2020
MEADE, SHANNON – My Old Foe (poetry) – intersectantigua.com – 2020
MEDICA, HAZRA – Discretely Antiguan and Distinctly Caribbean (non-fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
Excerpt: “Near twenty years ago and entirely by chance, I discovered my first Antiguan novel.”
Excerpt: “I see my father motioning for me to come to him. His face is grim- the inspector had not been kind to him. On the drive home I think of Mr. Massiah and his stained clothing. Mr. Massiah has calloused hands. His hands make me think of the banana trunk in my dream.”
MENTOR, KEILLIA – Mongoose in a Hole (fiction, 2011 award winning Wadadli Pen story) – Anansesem (Wadadli Pen special issue) – 2011
MERANTO, JENNIFER – ‘Carnival Mask’ (visual art – photography) – originally shot 1996; silver prints – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
MINGS, KIMOLISA – Little Red Hoodie (fiction) – Tongues of the Ocean (special issue – Artists and Writers of Antigua and Barbuda edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse) – 2014
As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Musical Youth, Oh Gad!, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure). All Rights Reserved. Please do not repost artist images without permission and credit. If you enjoyed this post, check out myJhohadli page and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen, my books, and my freelance writing-editing-coaching-workshop services. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
I was of two minds about attending the writing under the influence workshop. Not because I didn’t see the value in writing workshops; I’ve participated in enough of them over the years – as student and teacher – to deeply appreciate the value of flexing your muscles lest they atrophy. No, my hesitation had to do with how my once promising day had collapsed on itself. I couldn’t stand the thought of being around people just then. But I decided to chance it anyway. And not only did my writing muscles get a work out, my spirits were lifted.
Tanya Evanson’s ice breaker exercises put you off kilter enough to get you out of your head and then Rumi, Rumi, Rumi…and then group writing…oh how I hate group writing exercises…because my creative route goes brain-heart-spirit to fingers…group work short circuits the path with a detour to the tongue…and as it happened I didn’t verbalize much (read: at all) while the group writing chain linked and clinked itself together…truth is …by the time my puzzle piece of words lined themselves up someone had already jumped in and the chain had another link…always a beat behind, I held my tongue…but then we were sent our separate ways to reshape this chain into something of our own making…this part I loved…this part flowed heart-brain-spirit-fingers…I edit and write for a living so it felt almost like second hand…but then this was no simple edit… no, the words started reforming into something entirely new…and I felt alive in the process…and that gave me the key to the poem…by the time I was done I was quite eager to share it…so eager in fact that my heart was beating a wild tattoo against my rib cage…I could hear it…truth be told…the rhythm was also driven by my body’s instinctive rejection of public speaking …I do it, have done it multiple times, will again …as soon as this coming weekend…but boy do I hate it…boy do I fear it…but true to my mantra…feel the fear, but do it anyway…I leap into it…so I decided to do just that…I volunteered to go first. And because we had to be creative in our presentation I decided to incorporate my yoga (breathing) practice into the exercise. It fit the poem after all and was less about performance and more about melding with the audience. Once I was done, I could relax and enjoy the rest of the presentations and didn’t even think about my craptastic day again until I stepped outside of the cocoon of the workshop and back into the real world.
This was the chain from the group exercise:
Live in silence
Close your eyes
Speak only to yourself
Hear without ears
Feel without touching
Sense without being
This beauty is only for the blind
For those who can see won’t understand
Follow your thoughts
To their rest
I’m unable to speak
But I can use my hands
Truth cannot fill an overflowing cup
Sense the spirit that lives outside
I’m glad for this glass door that’s hiding me from deception
Ask no questions
My body shows it all
Guided by the feetless walk
Upon winding paths of the mind
Trees move not
Hear not sound
Mind sees and hears all
My redraft (entitled Truth):
Close your eyes
(a beat)
Close your eyes
Speak only to yourself
Without ears
Without words
Absent sight and sound
Live in silence
Come alive to yourself
The beauty you shield
Is only for the blind
For only those without
Sight
Can understand
Understand yourself
Follow your thoughts
Use your feet
Use your hands
Do not speak
Let your truth fill this cup
So it overflows
Swirls around you
Like spirits’ touch
Do not flinch
From it
Do not hide
From yourself
Live in silence
Come alive to yourself
The water becomes the mirror
In which you
See yourself
No more deception
No need for hiding
Come alive to yourself
Swim in this truth
Follow the currents
Where they
Lead
Let your instincts guide
You
Trust yourself
Here where
There is
No sound
No sound
No sound
Only you
In the silence
Speaking truth
To yourself
Blind one-word evaluation (one from each member of the group):
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, 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.
Antiguan-Canadian visiting Poet and Spoken Word Artist Tanya Evanson is an experienced arts educator, and will be facilitating a workshop entitled “Writing Under the Influence” on Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 6-8pm at Best of Books on Lower St. Mary’s Street , St. John’s Antigua.
UPDATED! With more from the author:
This poetry and performance workshop will explore the intoxication that comes from drinking the wine of a different tavern. Participants will fall under the spell of mystic poetry, create spontaneous work, get tips on the power of creative presentation and perform in a non-competitive “Alphabet SLAM” where everybody wins. Requirements: Passion, Patience, Paper and Pencil.
– 2013
– 2016
‘Spirit of Carnival’ (visual art – mixed media painting on felt, cover art capturing the colour, glitter, and masking of the Carnival season, and illustrating the mythical connection with the inner self that happens during Carnival) and ‘Mama Looka Mas!’ (visual art – painting); and ‘Genesis’ (used a metaphor for Carnival and life, worn in 1994 by Lesley-ann Brown) and ‘CARICOM Woman’ (exploring the concept of “us coming together as a people, as a region” worn in 1992 by Diana Horsford) and ‘Spirit of Africa’ (worn by 1993 Antigua Carnival Queen Charmaine Bailey) and ‘Lady in Red’ (worn by 1988 Antigua Carnival Queen Irma-Marie Senhouse) – (visual art – costumes with builder and husband Connie Doram). Additional costumes for Vitus mas troupe (a highlander costume, 1997’s ‘Cocks Crow’, 2000’s ‘Folktales’ including characters like Anancy in his spider’s web, and 2003’s ‘Peace and Love’ (the stiltwalker section High High High)) – in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
Christmas Stringband (visual art – greeting card),
– in Carnival is All We know: an Anthology Celebrating 50 Years of Antigua’s Carnival and the Creativity of Our Writers & Artists (edited by Joanne C. Hillhouse and published as a supplement in the Daily Observer) – 2007
(visual art, cover art) – The Caribbean Writer Volume 29 – 2015
