No you didn’t sleep through the tail end of hurricane season, Independence season (if you’re in Antigua and Barbuda), nor, heaven forbid, Christmas season, but book blogger Kristen Kraves Books has announced this tag and as a Caribbean literary space, we never miss the opportunity to talk books…Caribbean books. So I’ll be answering the tag questions but in Caribbean. Read through and play along.
Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
I don’t remember exactly when I started it but I would love to finish Trinidad and Tobago writer Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch. It’s picked up tons of awards, is in translation in many places, is critically acclaimed, is a book I’ve even used in the Jhohadli Writing Project workshop as it has some great craft moments, but, yes, I still need to finish it and I really really want to.
I should finish it at least before the new The Little Mermaid comes out (right?) just so I can check any notion when I write about it (because it feels like one of those books I’ll be wanting to discuss in Blogger on Books) that non-white mermaids do not exist, because in any world where mermaids exist at all, we’ve been there.
ETA: Finished before the end of 2022 and, as promised, discussed in Blogger on Books, my online book review series. Post excerpt: “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.”
Do you have an autumnal book to transition to the end of the year?
I’m going to interpret this as books with endings since we don’t have autumn in the tropics and I’m going to be very literal about it since I’ve been reading Antiguan-Barbudan writer Gayle Gonsalves My Stories have No Endings, because it’s right there in the title and because I am in sight of the ending. This is an indie which has picked up several indie awards and which I’ve read in waves and stops; hoping to hit another wave.
ETA: Not quite finished as end of year looms (fingers crossed though) but check the Antiguans and Barbudan Awarded page here on the blog to see some of the prizes this indie has picked up.
Is there a New Release you’re still waiting for?
Based on Kristen Kraves Books response, this one is about books that have been announced but are not yet on the market. But I’m going to take the opportunity to boost a recent release from an Anguillan author, Cassilda Brookes who reached out to me recently to share news of the official launch of children’s book Anansi and The Hurricane, which has been in the market since earlier this year.
I met Cassilda when I went to the Anguilla Literary Jollification in 2015 and, a reminder that you never know how your energy is impacting another’s journey, because she said I helped motivate her and I appreciate her saying that. Maybe I needed to hear that. And we stan an Anansi tale in the Caribbean. So much is generational now that I tested this by asking my youngest kid about Anansi recently and, yep, he knew all about the trickster spider so we’re still passing on knowledge of this West African demi-god by continuing to tell our own Anansi tales. This one seems timely too with its focus on hurricane preparedness.
What three books you want to finish before the end of the year?
I would like to finish books I’ve started before turning to new books, so I’m going to list three in-progress books. Jamaican writer Curdella Forbes’ Songs of Silence, set so far in rural Jamaica, Reclaim Restore Return: Futurist Tales of the Caribbean edited by Barbadian writer Karen Lord and Grenadian and US and British Virgin Islands author Tobias S Buckell, and Fortune, which is shaping up to be a historical epic beginning in the oil fields of Trinidad, by T & T writer Amanda Smyth.
ETA: I finished Songs of Silence by Curdella Forbes in November 2022 and shared my thoughts in Blogger on Books, but at this writing I’m only up to page 57 in Fortune and am even further behind in Reclaim Restore Return.
Is there a book that could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?
I don’t think I’d be shocked but, keeping it Caribbean, I have finished and am working on my review of New Daughters of Africa. This book is almost 800 pages and there were times I thought I wouldn’t finish it. It was a marathon and right now, in addition to the review, I am working on a paper focussed on Caribbean authors in NDOA for the Antigua and Barbuda Conference, organized annually by the Antigua Studies Association, and focussed this year on “The Current State of the Global Black Struggle”. It’s in a couple of weeks. I may be in over my head.
new Penguin edition
Challenging as this book was in terms of sheer volume, it is easily a top tier read, and, yes, possibly my favourite of the year.
Have you started making reading plans for 2022 2023?
I don’t make reading plans as such, though I do have an ever-growing TBR and do want to get caught up especially on Caribbean releases of the last few years. As there’s lots of exciting new content and I haven’t been able to keep up.
How about you?
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.
Time for an update re what’s trending on Wadadli Pen YouTube and blog – the last one was in January. The goal with these trending posts (I do it on my Jhohadli blog as well) is to boost engagement (comments, shares, likes, subscriptions or follows) toward building support. If nothing else, it’s an opportunity to catch up with what you missed. So let’s go.
Trending on YouTube (1-5) since the last trending post –
AB TODAY BEST OF BOOKS International Literacy Day FEATURE (uploaded September 16th 2022)
“Do we learn only in a building? I think we recognize no, we can learn anywhere.” – Wadadli Pen team member Barbara Arrindell
GMAB June 2nd 2021 (uploaded June 3rd 2021)
“This is a journey for me and I’m not going to stop…I’ve always wanted to write a book.” – 2021 Wadadli Pen winner Kevin Liddie
Sheniqua Greaves on GMAB (uploaded June 6th 2021)
“I really want to speak to my demographic as a woman of colour.” – Sheniqua Greaves, 2021 Wadadli Pen challenge honourable mention
World Book and Copyright Day Chat with Barbadian Author Cherie Jones (May 4th 2021)
“For me, I think people are complex and therefore the characters in my fiction should be as well.” – Cherie Jones, Barbadian writer
Misinterpreted (uploaded February 9th 2021)
“You have carried this baggage with you for so long that it has become a part of you. It is choking you.” – “Misinterpreted” by Liscia Lawrence, honourable mention in 2005 Wadadli Pen challene
Trending posts and pages on Wadadli Pen blog over the last quarter (1 – 5) –
Nobody go run me (lyrics) – from Wadadli Pen’s project to build a data base of all writing from Antigua and Barbuda including song lyrics
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.
“He is quite simply amongst the very best of Caribbean poets who warrant an international reputation. Kendel Hippolyte’s poetry moves easily, boldly between the worlds of public engagement and the intimacies of domesticity. What unites this movement are the distinctive sounds and rhythms of his voice, and whilst some poems have a named recipient, and some are addressed to himself, all engage the reader in an implicit dialogue.”
In addition to being an award winning poet, Kendel is also a celebrated playwright, director, and anthologist.
I like origins stories and a desire to share a quote from Kendel, from a recent interview, in which he discussed his origins as a writer, among other things, prompted this post. Here it is:
“I was a shy child and having to go and stand in front of a class and read something, especially something personal like that – horror! But disobeying the teacher was out of the question so i somehow reached the front of the class with my exercise book and i read the poem. (A very attentive audience, my memory tells me, but no doubt attentive for reasons other than the pleasure of poetry.) i finished reading … And the class burst into spontaneous applause! Not a bad introduction to the world of composing poetry and performing it.” Read the full interview here.
Oh and I’m not trying to hog his spotlight but the only picture I have of Kendel is this one from the Caribbean Congress of Writers event in Guadeloupe.
As with all content on Wadadli Pen, unless otherwise indicated, this is written by author and Wadadli Pen founder and coordinator Joanne C. Hillhouse. All rights reserved.
Shout out to Antiguan and Barbudan writer, Tammi Browne-Bannister, included in the collection So Many Islands – announced earlier this year, published this month.
The collection also includes works by
Tracy Assing • Trinidad and Tobago
Heather Barker • Barbados
Angela Barry • Bermuda
Cecil Browne • St Vincent and the Grenadines
Sabah Carrim • Mauritius
Damon Chua • Singapore
Marita Davies • Kiribati
Fetuolemoana Elisara • Samoa
Kendel Hippolyte • St Lucia
Erato Ioannou • Cyprus
Emma Kate Lewis • Malta
Karlo Mila • Tonga
Jacob Ross • Grenada
Melanie Schwapp • Jamaica
Mere Taito • Rotuma, Fiji
Mikoyan Vekula • Niue
Afterword by Sia Figiel
The collection which includes a foreword by Marlon James is edited by Nicholas Laughlin and Nailah Folami Imoja.
November 30th 2017 was publication day for my latest book, the children’s picture book, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure which tells the story of Dolphin, an Arctic seal who finds himself stranded in the Caribbean.
On December 1st 2017, the illustrator (Trinidad and Tobago artist and poet Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné), publisher (CaribbeanReads), and I (author Joanne C. Hillhouse) engaged in a promotional live facebook chat, which I’ve copied (with minor editing and a bit of jigsawing) below. Oh, there were emoticons but you’ll just have to picture (most of) those; I’ll keep the hashtags.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …Since I first read Lost! and started illustrating, I’ve been wondering about the true story of Wadadli the seal. It’s fascinating! Joanne, did the idea for a book come to you immediately?
Joanne C. Hillhouse …Immediately, no. Actually Wadadli’s story was some years before I wrote this. I was as surprised as anyone that it had imprinted on me in any particular way. I do think because I was doing a lot of school visits at the time and because I read to children as a volunteer reader with the Cushion Club, I kind of wanted to experiment with writing a children’s story. And the children at one of the schools I visited and the kids of the Cushion Club were actually the first to hear this story.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …An image of the actual seal Wadadli that inspired this story (quite literally finding himself stranded in the waters off Antigua and having to be helped home). I think you did an amazing job re-interpreting him and creating all of the other creatures he meets along the way, plus the world of the story.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …Yes, I think this was one of the first photos I saw in the early stages! It’s sometimes hard with animals, to give them human expressions, but luckily Wadadli had those gorgeous eyes to begin with.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …Very soulful eyes, yes.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …I’m always curious about a visual artist’s process… how did you approach this project?
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …I wanted to get a feel for all the characters’ personalities, especially Dolphin. I wanted to bring out those qualities of curiousity and playfulness that make him so endearing in the book. It was a joy to illustrate because the underwater setting made it the perfect fit for watercolours, my medium of choice.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …I always thought your aesthetic and style would be a good match for this story. #superfan
CaribbeanReads …I agree this definitely fit your style. As soon as I saw some of your earlier work I knew it would work well.
CaribbeanReads …How did this story come about Joanne?
Joanne C. Hillhouse …Wadadli, of course – the arctic seal who had made big news here and in environmental circles in the wider Caribbean after being stranded in waters off of Antigua. The need to have an actual children’s story for this children’s author label I carried erroneously (lol) for so long (since my first book The Boy from Willow Bend). The invitation the story extended for me to delve in to fantasy, which fascinates me. And the characters, the characters are always a draw, the main draw, when I’m writing – the main character’s challenge of making new friends when you’re in a strange place and feel like you’re sort of a weird one yourself (that’s actually what came first and everything kind of filled in around that). So that meeting scene between new friends is the first thing I remember clearly.
CaribbeanReads …Why did you picture him as a daydreamer?
Joanne C. Hillhouse …lol projection?
Joanne C. Hillhouse …He’s clearly a lover of stories – see his bond with his nema – and stories are all about living a little bit in your head. Plus it helped define him as a little bit different from his friends and provide an instigating incident for his adventure.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …I say that after the fact; in real time, as I was writing him, because he was a daydreamer.
CaribbeanReads …It definitely works
Joanne C. Hillhouse …Thanks.
CaribbeanReads …How did that day dreaming influence your illustrations, Danielle.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …Dolphin’s daydreaminess really helps define him, I think. It was the first thing that struck me when I started doing concept sketches of each of the characters. It set him apart from his friends…. aside from his nose of course. In the illustrations, I wanted his eyes to always be wide and filled with wonder.
CaribbeanReads …You definitely got that right!
Joanne C. Hillhouse …CaribbeanReads, as a publisher with an independent press, you have to be careful in your selections as your booklist is much shorter…what moved Lost! up the list in your mind? Why did you want to publish this book?
CaribbeanReads …We fell in love with the story. The two main characters are so different and equally loveable. The words conjured up beautiful images.
CaribbeanReads …We do have to be very careful about what we invest in but this was a no-Brainer. Children will love the story and the characters.
CaribbeanReads …My only concern was finding an illustrator to do it justice. I think we all agree that was a success.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …yep, agreed.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …Yay! Such an honour. I agree that children will love the story and the characters. It’s a bedtime favourite in my house already.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …Danielle, have you illustrated any other books or was this a new type of project for you?
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …I’ve worked on a few illustration projects, but this was definitely one of my favourites as I got to do full watercolour, every single page! 😀 I’ve always wondered, Joanne, how do you choose illustrators? Do specific ones come to mind for a book, or is it a process of looking through several options?
Joanne C. Hillhouse … Cool. It’s the publisher’s choice ultimately. But I was asked to make recommendations and you were at the top of my list …the only mark against you was that you weren’t Antiguan and I like to rope Antiguan artists in to my projects if I can…but I didn’t hold it against you (lol)…and clearly I didn’t know if you did book illustrations though I knew your art…and really it was your art …there was one underwater piece in particular that made me think heeeyyy …it was a woman sort of suspended and the suggestion of movement and at the same time stillness/solace…don’t remember the name…but really your entire oeuvre generally…, your style, your aesthetic, something about the delicacy and beauty and flow of your lines and the whimsy of your artistic voice (different in some ways from your poetic voice) that made me think you could see the world I imagined. I’m glad to know I was right.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …Lost! was really a delight to work on. Thank you for inviting me to be such a big part of Dolphin’s story. 😊
Joanne C. Hillhouse …☺️
Joanne C. Hillhouse …Danielle, any particular challenges during the process?
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …Working with a wee one-year-old assistant clinging to my legs! 😂 My little one, Rafael, was so fascinated by the illustrations. Other than that, not at all. CaribbeanReads was a pleasure to work with, and the story was so visual and lovely.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …😆😀
Joanne C. Hillhouse …And thanks. I’m just glad the story didn’t leave you uninspired. Lol.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …Joanne, how do you switch so seamlessly from children’s fiction to poetry to blogging, etc? And you do each one so well. I’m in awe. #superfantoo
Joanne C. Hillhouse …It’s not seamless at all, but it helps that I don’t think in terms of genres. I don’t like boundaries around art (and some of the snobbery that inspires it) either as a reader or a writer. I write from character and curiousity (the things I’m trying to understand, or in this case the what if…). I did learn, and this was the challenge, that editing something you’ve written for a young reader poses certain unique challenges – in terms of reading level, vocabulary, abstract v. non abstract thinking etc.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …That makes a lot of sense. I find that when I don’t think of myself as a ‘poet’ or ‘writer’, but just someone trying to explore an idea through poetry or painting, the work is so much stronger. I love that idea of writing from curiousity.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …Yeah writing helps me process and make sense of the world. So if you see me being miserable, I’m probably blocked.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …Me too! It all feels like chaos when I’m blocked. 😂
Joanne C. Hillhouse …For me, it feels like being cut off from myself. Hate that space.
Joanne C. Hillhouse …Oh, you know what else I’m curious about, the process visually of distinguishing between the world of the Arctic and the world of the Caribbean…underwater.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …I had to show some restraint with the Arctic underwater world, not go too crazy with colour. Lots of cooler blue hues, less undersea life. When Dolphin got to the Caribbean Sea, I used lots of warmer tones, swirls, different kinds of application techniques.
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné …And CaribbeanReads was really great about giving feedback!
Joanne C. Hillhouse …p.s. for anyone who doesn’t know Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné and I first met in 2008 when we were presenters at a panel Celebrating Caribbean Women writers in Barbados (early in both our writing journeys) – so thrilled to have had the opportunity to work on a project with her FINALLY – she is one of our distinctive modern poetic voices. Don’t sleep on her talent. It’s actually not fair that she’s just as talented with images as she is with words.
(So that’s pretty much it. We opened it up to anyone to ask questions but, short of that, had fun having that conversation among ourselves; I think you’ll agree there were some interesting insights.)
Joanne C. Hillhouse …This was a rare treat. …Thanks for hanging Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné and CaribbeanReads … Joanne C. Hillhouse signing off from Antigua. Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure to the world. #bestseller #speakingitintoexistence
This just popped in to my social media newsfeed so I had to pause to big up Floree Williams Whyte who now has her own publishing imprint, Moondancer.
Floree Williams Whyte is part of the Wadadli Pen team: she’s been a judge since 2012 and, in 2016, became a part of the core advisory and action team as we move toward becoming a formal non-profit and solidifying the foundation we’ve been building since we launched in 2004. So, we had to take a moment to shout her out and big her up for this major milestone on her publishing journey.
Per Moondancer’s facebook page: Moondancer Books is a small press, publishing Caribbean based books. This ever expanding brand, owned by Floree Williams Whyte, encompasses anything that is creative, inspiring and literary.
She’s also announced on the page that this book is coming soon:
Per us: Floree is a talented writer who first hit the market with Pink Teacups and Blue Dresses, a book of sometimes quirky and always authentic vignettes of growing up, Antiguan. Her second book was Through the Window.
While Floree has self-published before (Through the Window), setting up an imprint is a different level (a level at which you’re a business woman with an independent publishing house). Kudos to her for taking that step.
And you can be sure we’ll be trying to grab her for a guest post or Q & A about this new step here on Wadadli Pen soon.
As with all content on Wadadli Pen, except otherwise noted, this is written by Antiguan and Barbudan writer Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Fish Outta Water, Musical Youth, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings, and With Grace; also a freelance writer, editor, writing coach and workshop facilitator). All Rights Reserved. If you like the content here follow or recommend the blog, also, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. Thank you.
On Wednesday 21st December 2016, the Best of Books bookstore on St. Mary’s Street hosted the launch of the latest book by Antiguan and Barbudan writer Joanne C. Hillhouse. The book, With Grace, a Caribbean faerie tale, is the sixth book and second children’s picture book by the local writer.
“In With Grace, Joanne has shared a magical story set in familiar Caribbean places,” said Best of Books manager Barbara Arrindell. “I enjoyed reading it to myself and I can’t wait to read it to some of the little people in my life.”
The book, in summary, is the story of Grace who leads a carefree life in Grace’s Peak, looking down on the villagers, until a little girl comes in search of assistance, changing both of their lives forever.
Hillhouse said, at the launch, that she was happy to create a book in which young Caribbean children could see themselves reflected – see someone, a girl and a faerie/fairy who looks like so many of them – as this is rare in the fairytale sub-genre.
Among those who’ve submitted endorsements of the book are Alscess Lewis-Brown, editor of the Caribbean Writer, published by the University of the Virgin Islands, who’s written on the book jacket, “With Grace explores a Caribbean space richly woven with magic, mystery, and fantasy – an engaging fable not only for young readers but any reader poised for a new reading experience that twists and turns on a suggestion of allegory.”
With Grace is published by Little Bell Caribbean and Mario Picayo, publisher and children’s author in his own right, described the book on the jacket as “beautiful, well thought, and meaningful.”
At the launch, excerpts from With Grace were read by Tamare Banis and Anya Hull of the Cushion Club reading club for kids, with which Hillhouse served as a longtime volunteer, and by the author herself. She also fielded questions about the book and her writing career. Absent from the launch but celebrated for the quality of her illustrations in the book was Barbadian artist Cherise Harris.
While the kids were entertained at the launch with colouring sheets, adults had a chance to win as a door prize an earlier Hillhouse book, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings. This prize was claimed by Agnes Meeker.
The formalities were followed by the purchasing and signing of With Grace, now available at the Best of Books and soon to be in other bookshops and markets – regionally and internationally.
The launch event was emceed by Best of Books supervisor Glen Toussaint.
Here, Wadadli Pen will be celebrating award wins (including sometimes award nominations and long and shortlisting, and accolades received) by Antiguan and Barbudan writers. It came about because I’d bump in to laudatory accomplishments (beyond publishing) but couldn’t figure out where to put them. The Antiguan and Barbuda Writings pages are bibliographies, and neither the Reviews page nor the journal publications page were right. So, here we go. Please note, this page is a work-in-progress. As with the other named sections, it will be updated somewhere between when I find updates and when I find the time to post them. I’m not ranking the awards at this point (some are local, some regional, some international, some prestigious, some not so much…I’m just adding them as I can). Primary focus will be on awards related to literary arts. No omissions or errors (and there are plenty, no doubt) are intentional. As always if you have information that will help me flesh out the content, let me know. Conversely, if you wish to be removed, no problem, just let me know that too.
Wadadli Youth Pen Prize Challenge wins are not listed here but if you want to see the winners of that in-house prize through the years, go here.
2022 –
Kimolisa Mings claimed an EC$1000 cheque for submitting the winning piece to the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority’s ‘Love and Wanderlust’ romance writing campaign with “Rule No. 3”.
Bert Kirchner, Howard Allen, Dr. Alvin Edwards (contributions to film development), and Joanne C. Hillhouse (commitment to literacy) receive awards from the Antigua and Barbuda Film Academy/Motion Picture Association of Antigua and Barbuda.
Motion (Wendy Brathwaite) is a Canadian Screen Awards nominee for writing the episode ‘Eyes Up’ of season 3 of the TV series Coroner. Brathwaite was also selected in 2022 for the CBC-BIPOC TV & Film, CFC Showrunner Catalyst.
Akillah’s Escape, a feature film written by Wendy Motion Brathwaite, who is Canadian of Antiguan-Barbudan descent, received eight nominations and five awards at the Canadian Screen Awards, including one for original screenplay (also cinematography, sound editing, sound mixing, and casting).
Motion shared the screenwriting award with Charles Officer, who is also the film’s director.
Elaine Jacobs, born in Antigua, though living most of her life in the US Virgin Islands was named in December 2021 as the winner of the Marvin E. Williams Literary Prize for new or emerging writers from The Caribbean Writer. She won for the story ‘Going without Shoes’.
Tawhinda Tanya Evanson’s Book of Wings was named a Quill & Quire Book of the Year.
Kincaid was named one of 12 inaugural Royal Society of Literature honorees of the RSL International Writers Programme. The RSL International Writers programme was announced as part of RSL 200, a five-year festival launched in 2020 with a series of major new initiatives and 60 new appointments championing the great diversity of writing and writers in the UK. The programme is a new award recognising the contribution of writers across the globe to literature in English, and the power of literature to transcend borders to bring people together. RSL International Writers celebrates the many ways in which literature can shape a future world.
Joanne C. Hillhouse’s short story “Freedom Cup – The Games are Coming” was one of 30 stories long listed for the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean
– Canada-based Antiguan and Barbudan writer Gayle Gonsalves was a National Indie Excellence Finalist in Canada in the multi-cultural category for her novel My Stories have No Endings. She also placed second in the Women’s Fiction category of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association and CIIPA Education and Literacy Foundation’s awards. She was named a distinguished favourite in the NYC Big Book Award.
Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction (2020) – Rilzy Adams, Go Deep. Adams has also been nominated for other books and other industry awards – Swoonies, Black Girls Who Write (Go Deep nominated for Best Black Erotica), and Rebel Women Lit readers choice among them (making it on to short lists in some cases).
Wadadli Pen 2020 winner Andre J. P. Warner’s winning story Bright Future for Tomorrow was awarded best short fiction in the first Rebel Women Lit Caribbean Readers Awards. Wadadli Pen founder and coordinator Joanne C. Hillhouse was a RWL CRA honoree . There were several other nominees from the Wadadli Pen family and from Antigua and Barbuda; full list of nominees can be found here.
Joanne C. Hillhouse’s short story “Vincent” was one of 21 stories long listed for the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean
Richard Georges who was born in Trinidad and resides in the BVI but has Antiguan roots was longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the story “Shedding”
Richard Georges who was born in Trinidad and resides in the BVI but has Antiguan roots won the 2020 Bocas Prize for his poetry collection Epiphaneia
The Directorate of Gender Affairs held its first ever Women of Wadadli Awards – a number of artists were recipients – Heather Doram (visual artist) for Culture, Noreen Phillips for Fashion, Wadadli Pen founder and coordinator and author Joanne C. Hillhouse for Literature, Colleen Simpson (author of A Likkle Bit a Dis & a Likkle Bit a Dat) for Culinary Arts, dramatist, photographer, writer, and educator Zahra Airall for Fine Arts, Wadadli Pen partner and patron and a writer and dramatist in her own right Barbara Arrindell as a Change Maker, Marion Byron for Music, Mickel Brann for Media/Journalism, and Mako Williams, who is also a visual artist, for Science and Technology. Details in this WoW article in Observer
Richard Georges wins a fellowship to the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study – Georges is Trinidad born and lives in the BVI but he also has Antiguan roots
Winners of Flow Mobile Film Competition (Antigua and Barbuda) –
The top three winners in category 12-16 years
1st Sontee’ Beazer – “Independence”
2nd Jontae Cornelius -“What Independence Day Means to Me”
3rd Kaleb Kidane Hatton – “What does Independence mean to me”.
The top three winners from the category 17- 30 years old
1st Moses Wiltshire – “My Independence”
2nd Bernella Vidal – “What Independence Means To Me”
3rd Dalisha Spencer – “Independence”
The top three winners in the 31+ category
1st Romeo “Kulcha D” Reid – “Kulcha D Independence”
2nd Laune Isaac – “Reflections On Independence
3rd Colin John-Jenkins -“What Independence means to me”
The PEN America Literary Awards Longlist – The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey by Rowan Ricardo Phillips longlisted for the PEN/ESPN AWARD FOR LITERARY SPORTS WRITING ($5,000) To honor a nonfiction book on the subject of sports published in 2018
Richard Georges who was born in Trinidad and resides in the BVI but has Antiguan roots was longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for his poetry collection Giant
2018 –
Richard Georges who was born in Trinidad and resides in the BVI but has Antiguan roots was highly commended for the Forward Prize for his poetry collection Giant
Joanne C Hillhouse selected for the Commonwealth Writers fiction writing workshop
2017 –
Richard Georges who was born in Trinidad and resides in the BVI but has Antiguan roots was short listed for the Forward Prize for best first collection for his poetry collection Make Us All Islands
Ashley Bryan – Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Honor for writing and illustration, Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan
Althea Romeo Mark awarded the Arts and Science Poetry Prize for poems published in POEZY 21:Antologia Festivaluluiinternational Noptile De Poezie De Curtea De Arges, Curtea De Arges, Romania
Alexis Andrews wins the Donald Gosling Award for best television or film contribution at the Maritime Media Awards for Vanishing Sail –
Richard Georges who was born in Trinidad and resides in the BVI but has Antiguan roots won the Marvin E Williams prize from The Caribbean Writer for ‘X’ and was shortlisted for the Small Axe Poetry prize for “Darkening/Freeport”
Ashley Bryan – short-listed for the Kirkus Prize and received a Newberry Honor
Anisfield-Wolf book award + Griffin Poetry Prize for Heaven by Rowan Ricardo Philips
Joanne C. Hillhouse selected for the CaribLit editing workshop in Guyana
Richard Georges who was born in Trinidad and resides in the BVI but has Antiguan roots was shortlisted for the Wasifiri New Writing Prize – Poetry for ‘Bush Tea’
Joanne C. Hillhouse’s Commonwealth Short Story submission “Amelia at Devil’s Bridge” was selected for publication in Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean – consisting entirely of brand-new stories by authors living in the region, gathered from among the very best entries to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize from islands throughout the Caribbean
Jamaica Kincaid receives the Before Columbus Foundation Book Award for See Now Then
Melissa Gomez and Cinque Productions’ film Silent Music wins Best Documentary feature at the Maine Deaf Film Festival
Rowan Ricardo Philips is a Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award winner for poetry + NAACP Image Award finalist for Outstanding Literary Work, Poetry + PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry winner + Whiting Award winner, for The Ground
Althea Romeo-Mark is awarded the Marguerite Cobb McKay prize by The Caribbean Writer for the short story ‘Bitterleaf’ which had been published in 2008, Volume 22
Floree Williams (now Whyte) receives the (Antigua and Barbuda) National Youth Award for achievement in the literary arts; Zahra Airall also receives an NYA in this year
Howard and Mitzi Allen receives National Youth Awards as Pioneers in Filmmaking
V-Monologues literary prize to Shakeema Edwards from Women of Antigua; who that year also wins the Dancing Nude in the Moonlight Next Chapter contest sponsored by the Best of Books
Joanne C. Hillhouse received the Michael and Marilee Fairbanks International Fellowship to participate in the Breadloaf Writers Conference in Vermont
Althea Prince receives the Antigua and Barbuda International Literary Festival Award for Excellence in the Literary Arts
2006 –
Ashley Bryan – U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award (the highest recognition for creators of children’s books)
Carolyn Providence is nominated for the Best Spoken Word album at the National Underground Spoken Word and Poetry Awards.
Vivian Michael and teen novelist Akilah Jardine receive (Antigua and Barbuda) National Youth Awards for achievement in the literary arts; Joanne C. Hillhouse is named honourable mention.
Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda’s Jubilee Award for Outstanding Contributions and Achievements in the Field of Arts and Culture to Althea Prince
Ashley Bryan – the Atlanta Literary Festival was named for him and he also received the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion from the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival
Joanne C. Hillhouse, Joy Lawrence, Sylvanus Barnes, and others received a UNESCO Honour Award for contribution to literacy and the literary arts in Antigua and Barbuda
2002 –
Motion won the 2002 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation National Poetry Face-Off competition.
Mary Geo Quinn Highly Commended for her short story “Joe”, an entry for the Commonwealth short story prize
Joanne C. Hillhouse selected for the Caribbean Fiction Writers Summer Institute at University of Miami
Althea Romeo Mark’s story “Easter Sunday” wins the Stauffacher English Short Story Competition/Switzerland
1992 –
Joanne C. Hillhouse second placed in the Rick James Ensemble One Act Play Competition with the play “Barman’s Blues”; Zahra Airall wins a prize in that same competition as the Youngest person to enter
Roy H. S. Dublin’s Tomorrow’s Blossoms, first published in 1934 to commemorate the tercentenary year of the colonization of Antigua and the centenary year of emancipation, is awarded the King’s Medal
Date unknown, unsure, unconfirmed –
Althea Romeo Mark wins a scholarship to the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference
As with all content on Wadadli Pen, except otherwise noted, this is written by Antiguan and Barbudan writer Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings, With Grace, The Jungle Outside, and Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure; also a freelance writer, editor, writing coach and workshop facilitator). All Rights Reserved. If you like the content here follow or recommend the blog, also, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. Thank you.
Peepal Tree Press has announced its publication of a new novel by Garth St. Omer (written several years ago). Titled: Prismns.
“Eugene Coard is woken one morning by a phone call to report the murder of a former St Lucian friend. It throws him back to memories of their island days, and his complicated love life in London that made necessary his relocation to the USA. Thoughts about his friend’s metamorphosis from middle-class “CB” to criminal, ghetto-dwelling “Red” provoke Eugene to review his own so far profitable transformations. But just how much of Eugene’s story can we believe? His confessions reveal him as probably the most unreliable and devious narrator in Caribbean fiction; has he, as a writer and psychiatrist, been exploiting the confusions of race in the USA to his own advantage?
With nods to Ellison’s Invisible Man and a witty inversion of Saul Bellow’s Sammler’s Planet , Prismns is a dark comedy about the masks people wear in a racially divided society that anticipates the metafictions of a writer such as Percival Everett. In the shape-shifting figure of Eugene Coard, Garth St Omer has created a character whose admissions will bring the reader shocked and horrified delight. Prismns was written in the 1980s but perhaps because it was so ahead of its time, not published until now.
Garth St Omer was born in St Lucia in 1931. He is the author of four previous novels and a novella, mainly set in St Lucia and published between 1964-1972. Until his retirement as Emeritus Professor, he taught for many years at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Garth St Omer was born in Castries, St Lucia in 1931. During the earlier 1950s St Omer was part of a group of artists in St Lucia including Roderick and Derek Walcott and the artist Dunstan St Omer.” – Peepal Tree Press blurb.
So, we had to take a moment to shout her out and big her up for this major milestone on her publishing journey.
, a book of sometimes quirky and always authentic vignettes of growing up, Antiguan. Her second book was Through the Window.
receive awards from the Antigua and Barbuda Film Academy/Motion Picture Association of Antigua and Barbuda.
named to 
Wadadli Pen founder and coordinator Joanne C. Hillhouse was a RWL CRA honoree 
. There were several other nominees from the Wadadli Pen family and from Antigua and Barbuda; full list of nominees can be found 
Melissa Gomez’s film Silent Music wins the Audience Choice Award at the Toronto Deaf Film and Arts Festival
Joanne C. Hillhouse receives the David Hough Literary Prize from The Caribbean Writer
V-Monologues literary prize to Shakeema Edwards from Women of Antigua; who that year also wins the Dancing Nude in the Moonlight Next Chapter contest sponsored by the Best of Books
Wadadli Pen 