Afro-Caribbean Men: Stories of Triumph & Empowerment Part I

Marlon Peterson grew up in 1980s Crown Heights, New York, raised by Trinidadian immigrants. Amid the routine violence that shaped his neighborhood, Peterson became a high-achieving and devout child. But at 14 he was raped by a man at gunpoint, and in the aftermath of the trauma, a series of choices led to Peterson’s first arrest, getting shot, and his participation in a robbery that resulted in two murders. Nineteen-year-old Peterson was charged, convicted, and served seven years in prison. While incarcerated, he immersed himself in anti-violence activism, education, and prison abolition work. In his memoir, Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist’s Freedom Song (Bold Type Books), Peterson challenges the typical “redemption” narrative and assumptions about justice. With vulnerability and insight, he uncovers the many cages created and maintained by American society. Kirkus called it a “worthwhile contribution to evolving conversations on race and criminal justice.”

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, M.J. Fievre is a longtime educator and writer. A seasoned K-12 teacher, she has taught creative writing workshops to children at the O Miami Poetry Festival and the Miami Art Museum, and at schools in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), and South Florida. She is also the coordinator of Miami Book Fair’s ReadCaribbean program and directs and produces the children’s cultural show Taptap Krik? Krak! Young Trailblazers: The Book of Black Inventors and Scientists (Dragonfruit), a collaborative project with illustrator Kim Balacuit, is a salute to Black pioneers in literature, entertainment, science, education, business, military, sports, spirituality, and more. It’s a journey populated by figures we know – such as Katherine Johnson, George Washington Carver, and Madam C.J. Walker – but many we don’t. Consider James West, a critical figure in the invention of the microphone, or Garrett Morgan, who invented the traffic signal.

Antonio Michael Downing is the author of Molasses. He grew up in southern Trinidad, Kitchener and northern Ontario, and Brooklyn, New York. The Toronto-based writer and activist also performs and composes music as John Orpheus. In his memoir Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming (Milkweed Editions), Downing tells a story of loss, displacement, and a search for identity. What begins as a happy childhood in a tiny village in the tropical forests of Trinidad – raised by his grandmother, Miss Excelly, and her King James Bible – changes dramatically when she dies. Soon he is shipped off to live with his devoutly evangelical Aunt Joan in rural Canada, where they are the only Black family in the area. Isolated and longing for home, Downing begins a decadeslong journey to transform himself through music and performance, trying on different personas as part of his search – corporate employee, rapper, and musician – before ending up as a “Saga Boy,” a West Indian playboy archetype. When his choices land him in jail, it’s time for a change. Publishers Weekly noted that “suffused with poetic prose that jumps off the page, this inspiring account sings.”