June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month in the US, here are some initiatives in the Caribbean that you might want to check out.
June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month in the United States, as well as a special one across the Caribbean. The region, which hosts many people of African descent, has produced some of the most important literature for decades. Winners of major international prizes like the Nobel Prize in Literature (V.S. Naipaul and Derek Walcott), Booker Prize (Marlon James), and many others call it home.
Here we shine a light on a few literary activities our brethren and sistren in the Caribbean can participate in this month.
Read Caribbean Month
Cindy Allman, a Jamaican living in Trinidad & Tobago set up the Book of Cinz platform to encourage people to read more, read widely, and Read Caribbean in 2018. In the following year, Allman announced June as “Read Caribbean Month” to encourage people to read books by Caribbean nationals/persons of Caribbean heritage, books about the Caribbean, and books set in the Caribbean. Those reading these books were encouraged to share their experiences with the #ReadCaribbean hashtag.
The 2024 edition of Read Caribbean Month was kicked off with a message from its founder and messages from among others Jonathan Escoffery, Celeste Mohamed, Donna Hemans, Pam Williams, Cherie Jones, Jasmine Sealy, Sarah Dass, Tamika Gibson, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Alessia Lauren Francis-Sharma, Breanne Mcivor, Cleyvis Natera, Shani Akilah, Alexia Arthurs, Cadwell Turnbull, and Ishi Robinson.
June is Read Caribbean month. 📚 We are heading into year six, and I am so excited for the books you will discover. Here are some Caribbean authors and their books you can start reading now!
June is Read Caribbean month. 📚
We are heading into year six, and I am so excited for the books you will discover.
Here are some Caribbean authors and their books you can start reading now!#ReadCaribbean pic.twitter.com/jh7OXcJClA— Caribbean Girl Experiencing The World (@BookOfCinz) June 1, 2024
For those who want to participate, you can follow the Instagram Hashtag or click here for more information.
Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival Short Story Prizes 2024
Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival, a literary festival solely dedicated to Caribbean literature, have opened a callout for their literary prizes. The two prizes are the Caribbean-American (Diaspora) Prize and the Writers in the Caribbean (Regional). Here are their judges;
Caribbean-American (Diaspora) Prize
- Desmond Hall (Jamaica)
- Lauren Francis-Sharma (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Wandeka Gayle (Jamaica)
Writers in the Caribbean (Regional)
- Richard Georges (BVI | Trinidad & Tobago)
- Cleyvis Natera (Dominican Republic)
- Lasana Sekou (St. Martin)
You can find more information on the competition by clicking here.
Caribbean Literature Day 2024
Caribbean Literature Day was first hosted on July 12, 2020. The day was chosen for when Spanish Franciscan priest and bishop of Yucatán, Diego de Landa, with soldiers and colonial authorities in attendance, ordered the burning of sacred Mayan texts containing knowledge spanning millennia in 1562. The plan was to read work by Caribbean authors; buy Caribbean books, published in the Caribbean and beyond, and by Caribbean authors; and present Caribbean books as gifts.
The fifth edition of the celebration is here yet again with the organisers calling on everyone of good conscience to take part in the exciting initiative. More information on that day can be found here
