Antilles: the weblog of the CRB

And here we are....

Rather, here I am, dear readers: back at my desk after nearly a month of travel, hard at work on the November CRB, which goes to press in a few days. As I sift through proofs and pin down contributors' bio notes, posting may continue to be slow, at least till the magazine is safely out of my hands. But I can at least drop a few hints about what CRB readers can expect to find in our next issue. Substantial reviews, first of all, of two new biographies: Madison Smartt Bell's of Toussaint L'Ouverture and Colin Palmer's of Eric Williams. Reviews also of the latest collections of poems by Mervyn Morris (this one well overdue) and James Berry, and Tobias Buckell's new novel--also of an anthology of Bajan cricket writing and a collection of essays on the Garifuna of Belize. Plus a review of Infinite Island, the big Caribbean art show currently running at the Brooklyn Museum; an interview with the Cuban writer Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, author of the steamy Dirty Havana Trilogy; and new poems by Ian McDonald and Shara McCallum.

And I'm especially excited to be running an excerpt from the forthcoming autobiography of Ralph de Boissière, which Lexicon will publish later this year. About a month ago, as I was sitting in Ken Ramchand's office, he casually mentioned he had the typescript. I had to admit to him I didn't realise de Boissière was still alive--he turned 100 on 6 October--and I jumped at the chance to run a chapter of the book in the CRB. The one I chose is called "I join the subversives", and it describes de Boissière's first meetings with Alfred Mendes, C.L.R. James, and Albert Gomes in Port of Spain back in the 30s, and the founding of the pioneering literary magazines Trinidad and The Beacon.

So if there are any Antilles readers who are not yet CRB subscribers--better get to it, quick sharp.