May 2008 CRB: sneak preview

I am happy to report, dear readers, that the May issue of the CRB--which has occupied most of your humble Antilles blogger's attention in recent weeks--is now in the hands of the printers, and will shortly be in the hands of subscribers. With this issue, the CRB in its current incarnation is four years old (it feels far longer). Looking back at the sixteen issues we've published in that time, I'm pleased to note the ways in which the magazine has grown--in size, scope, subject matter--but also that we've remained faithful to the original aim, the original ideal: to provide a forum for serious but not solemn discussion of Caribbean books and writing for an audience of avid, curious readers. The May issue, at sixty pages, will be our biggest yet, and I also feel it's one of the strongest we've published so far.

And what might you look out for in this new issue? An insightful consideration of C.L.R. James as philosopher of cricket and literary critic, by Brendan de Caires; a review of three new books containing the work of ten "emerging" Caribbean poets, by Vahni Capildeo (herself one of our finest young poets); a rhapsody (that seems the best word) on Gordon Rohlehr by Anu Lakhan; also reviews of Lorna Goodison's new memoir, a biography of Trinidad-born political activist Claudia James, a collection of photographs of Afro-Cuban religious rituals, a personal account of Trinidad's 1990 attempted coup; tributes to the late Aimé Césaire by Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw and J. Michael Dash; an excerpt from a forthcoming memoir by the late E.A. Markham; a wonderful essay on Frank Collymore's role in the evolution of West Indian literature, by Edward Baugh; poems by Fred D'Aguiar and Sassy Ross; a review of a recent exhibition by the young Trinidadian artist Rachel Rochford; a portfolio of images from the Curator's Eye III show that just opened at the National Gallery of Jamaica; and even more. By now, dear readers, those of you who do not yet subscribe to the CRB must be looking for the link that will let you do just that; here it is.