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Longtime Antilles readers may remember that last year, with the help of my friend and colleague Georgia Popplewell (and her camera), I not-quite-live-blogged the events at the 2007 Calabash International Literary Festival. Well, I am once again back in breezy Treasure Beach on Jamaica's St. Elizabeth coast, and looking forward to taking in--and blogging about--Calabash 2008, which starts tomorrow evening.

I've actually been here in Treasure Beach since Monday--once again staying at the gorgeous Villa Lyric. I'd like to say I've been catching up on my reading, but really I've been deeply engrossed in "the pages of the sea," as Derek Walcott put it. Georgia is once again my villa-mate; so is CRB editorial board member (and good friend) Annie Paul; CRB contributor Jonathan Ali; CRB friend David "Oso" Sasaki; and CRB friend and man-of-mystery Alastair Bird. We're all looking forward to this year's Calabash programme, which includes appearances by Jamaican writers Lorna Goodison, Erna Brodber, Thomas Glave, and Kei Miller--plus Walcott himself, in his Calabash debut. The action starts--under the big tent, on the seaside lawn, at Jake's--tomorrow night at 7.30, and we'll collectively be doing our best to convey something of the atmosphere of Calabash '08 to Antilles readers not lucky enough to be here. So check us out over the weekend!