Caribbean lit links roundup

• Geoffrey Philp posts a review of Kamau Brathwaite's new book of poems, DS (2), by Vijay Seshadri:

The radical Brathwaite page is an invention born out of necessity; and its success in rendering a painful history is a testimony to both the poet’s substantial powers and to the strange, revivifying surprises that literature can offer.

• He also posts links to two clips from the documentary film Miss Lou Then and Now, which will be screened at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida on Thursday night; and a podcast of himself reading Dennis Scott's poem "Uncle Time".

• Raymond Ramcharitar writes a typically trenchant report, titled "Rapso, Romanticism and the Realpolitik", on a rapso conference at the National Museum in Port of Spain:

Art and scholarship are certainly vehicles for politics and other agendas, but it’s gotten to the point where the other agendas are primary, and art and learning are mere tropes....

• In the Jamaica Gleaner, Hugh Schultz reviews Deportee, a new play with a Jamaican theme produced by the UK-based Blue Mountain Theatre company.

• And thanks to Caribbean Free Radio for this nice link!

From the CRB scrapbook



Stuart Hall isn't the only one who likes to relax with the CRB. Delphine with the May 2004 issue; photo by Georgia Popplewell

One more for your calendar

Here's something I missed when I posted that list of upcoming Caribbean literary events yesterday: on Saturday 2 June, Derek Walcott will read from his work and participate in a conversation with William Sieghart, as part of the programme of the 2007 Hay Festival (which runs from 24 May to 3 June in Hay-on-Wye, Wales).

Maxence Denis: Kwa Bawon



Kwa Bawon (2003), video installation, by Maxence Denis, one of the artists participating in Haiti Now!: Art, Film, Literature, which opened today at the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies. Denis will perform his music and video piece Mutation X 34 on Wednesday 16 May at 7 p.m., with Trinidadian musician Robert "Robbie Styles" Persad. See the Haiti Now! website for more information.

"A blog comes closest to the feel of a novel"

I started off writing as a poet, and I’ve learned not everything can or should be a poem. As I’ve often said to my students in my creative writing workshops, a poem is that bok! of when the ball meets the bat and it shakes you up. A short story is about bottom of the ninth, the bases are loaded, both teams are tied, and the pitcher begins his motion. A novel is the whole shebang--what Henry James called the “loose, baggy, monster.” A blog comes closest to the feel of a novel--it can be anything. This is why I’ve given myself such strict limits about what my blog should be and what it shouldn’t be. By setting such narrow parameters, my writing doesn’t end up all over the place and I know exactly what my subject matter will be.

-- Geoffrey Philp, from an interview I did with him recently, posted today at Global Voices, in which he talks about why he started his weblog, what makes good writing in any medium or genre, and what Caribbean writers should be using blogs for.

Mark your calendar

Events on the Caribbean literary calendar over the next fortnight.

Haiti on the mind: From 15 to 17 May, the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies is hosting Haiti Now!: Art, Film, Literature, a major conference on contemporary Haitian culture. Participants include Haitian artists and writers, and scholars from several countries. All events are open to the public, and admission is free.

Miss Lou in Miami: On Thursday 17 May, at 6.30 pm, the Historical Museum of Southern Florida will host a "Tribute to Miss Lou", celebrating the life and work of the late Louise Bennett-Coverly. After a screening of the film Miss Lou Then and Now, writers Malachi Smith, Donna Weir-Soley, Andrea Smith, and Geoffrey Philp will perform some of the Jamaican icon's works. Admission is free. [Read Garnette Cadogan's tribute to Miss Lou from the November 2006 CRB.]



Louise Bennett-Coverly

Calabashment: The Calabash International Literary Festival, which has become one of the major events in the Caribbean's literary year, runs from 25 to 27 May, in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. The long weekend of readings, music, and conversation between readers and writers--participants are supposed to include Maryse Condé, Caryl Phillips, Kendel Hippolyte, and Michael Ondaatje--will this year also feature the announcement of the Commonwealth Writers' Prizes.

Nettleford speaks: Rex Nettleford, Vice Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies, will deliver the 21st Eric Williams Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, on 25 May. The lecture is titled "Slavery and Education in the Caribbean: Mask, Myth, and Metaphor". Admission is free, but tickets are required. Contact the Central Bank for more information. (On his way to Trinidad, Nettleford will deliver a lecture in St Kitts--"The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery: The Psychic Inheritance"--on 23 May, as part of a series organised by the St Kitts and Nevis National Commission for UNESCO.)

Celebrating books: The theme of the 2007 St Martin Book Fair, which runs from 31 May to 2 June, is "Writing Justice". Events include a keynote address by Earl Lovelace, an evening of readings and recitations, and book sales and signings. A detailed schedule is posted on the Caribbean Beat blog.

Staging a classic: The Caribbean American Repertory Theatre (CART), based in New York, presents Errol John's classic play Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, directed by Michael Rogers, in six performances, 30 May to 3 June, and 9 June. More information and a full schedule are posted at the Caribbean Beat blog. Later in June, CART will present a staged reading of Currying Favour, by Al Hendricks.

Sunday papers roundup

Links to some interesting reviews, columns, and features from newspapers in Jamaica, Guyana, and Antigua:

- The "Arts and Leisure" section of the Jamaica Gleaner includes Barbara Nelson's review of C. Everard Palmer's short novel A Time to Say Goodbye; as well as two short stories: "Street Boy", by Karlene Morgan, and "Relative Strangers", by Corinne Smith.

- The Gleaner also runs two art reviews by Anthea McGibbon, of Seven, a group show hosted by the Jamaica Guild of Artists; and of a show (and book) by photographer Peter Ferguson, collecting portraits of 101 "prominent male changemakers in Jamaica's history".

- In the Jamaica Observer, Herbie Miller looks back at the career of Don Drummond, who died 38 years ago, and tries to distinguish the reality of the doomed musician's talent from the myths that have sprung up around his memory. The Observer also reports that the first ever Caribbean Fashion Week Design Award will be presented to Trinidadian artist Peter Minshall in June.

- In the Stabroek News, in his weekly "Arts on Sunday" column, Al Creighton continues from where he left off last week, describing the "very rich" tradition of Indian music and dance in the Caribbean, focusing on the Nadira and Indranie Shah Dance Troupe's annual Nrityageet production, which "has earned its place as a tradition in Guyanese theatre".

- The weekend edition of the Antigua Sun reports on "Off the Shelf", a new literary programme launched by the radio station WINN FM in St. Kitts, in which actress Clare Yearwood reads "popular books and classics". First on the reading list is Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy, to be followed by Alice in Wonderland.

- And Agence France-Press reports on a press conference with Derek Walcott, who is visiting Venezuela, where he will participate in a discussion with Nobel laureate Mohamed Yunus:

The Caribbean's history is a very tragic one, but we live in a place of extreme beauty. The New World is optimistic and heroic.... The character of the Caribbean is a tragicomedy basically, it is not completely tragic.

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