"Shattered and yet somehow holding together"

I'm a product of a fragmented world. Take a brief look at Dominican or Caribbean history and you'll see that the structure of the book is more in keeping with the reality of this history than with its most popular myth: that of unity and continuity. In my mind the book was supposed to take the shape of an archipelago; it was supposed to be a textual Caribbean. Shattered and yet somehow holding together, somehow incredibly vibrant and compelling.

Junot Díaz, interviewed in Slate by Meghan O'Rourke.

The Naipaul debates

That Stabroek News editorial on V.S. Naipaul has set off something of a debate in the paper's famously energetic letters pages. I linked a few days ago to a response from a writer named Abu Bakr. Since then, Stabroek has published pro- and anti-Naipaul letters from Nigel Westmaas, Thomas Singh, and Terence Roberts. No doubt these in turn will provoke further correspondence....

On the cover of the CRB: Noche Insular



The cover of the November 2007 issue of the CRB features a detail of Noche Insular: Metamorfosis (2004-6, vermilion, xylograph, serigraph, varnish, mercury chromium on maps, dimensions variable), by the Cuban artist Ibrahim Miranda.

Noche Insular is one of the works included in the exhibition Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art at the Brooklyn Museum--reviewed in this issue of the CRB.

On the IMPAC Dublin longlist

The 2008 longlist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has been announced. The 137 books from forty-five countries include two by Caribbean writers: Unburnable, by Marie-Elena John, and Jouvert, by Joy Mahabir. The judges need a few months to read through the list, understandably--the shortlist will be released in April, and the winner announced in June next year.

(Antilles posted a short interview with Marie-Elena John last May--read it here.)