For her podcast Family Secrets, author DANI SHAPIRO interviews poet MAGGIE SMITH about her bittersweet new book, You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir, an exploration of the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself. The book begins with Smith’s heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, […]
VIRTUAL EVENT! Haiti is a land of richness, not just in its culture and history but also in the languages that tell its tales. Join this online session for a heartfelt discussion between three distinct Haitian authors: PASCALE DOXY, Les Enfants de la cause/Heirs to a Cause, who crafts tales of intrigue in French, SHERLEY […]
Dive deep into the rich tapestry of Haitian patrimoine, capturing its essence and importance in shaping the nation’s identity. Panelists – who include JEAN WILFRID BERTRAND, director general of the National Archives of Haiti, DOMINIQUE DUPUY, permanent delegate of Haiti to UNESCO, and PATRICK DURANDIS, Heritage Preservation Institute director – will shed light on the multifaceted aspects of […]
In Billy-Ray Belcourt’s A Minor Chorus: A Novel, set against the stark expanse of Northern Alberta, a queer Indigenous doctoral student steps away from his dissertation to write a novel. His work is informed by a series of poignant encounters, including a heart-to-heart with fellow doctoral student River over the mounting pressure placed on marginalized […]
Graphic artists and writers from Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Haiti provide perspectives on how to better craft graphic novels and comic books that honor Caribbean sensibilities. With Jessica Oublié (Guadeloupe/Martinique), Ralph Penel Pierre (Haiti), and Chevelin Pierre (Haiti), moderated by author and ReadCaribbean coordinator M.J. Fievre . Special introduction by Anthoni Dominguez, director of Villa Albertine, […]
Children’s writers from Jamaica get together to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the island’s independence, and explore the continuity and convergence of childhood and adulthood in Caribbean fiction. With Janet Morrison on A Different Me, A Better You, Jean Hawthorn-DaCosta on Leroy: Adventures of a Yaad Boy, and Juleus Ghunta on Rohan Bullkin and the […]
Writers and illustrators from Cuba, Puerto-Rico, and Haiti put forth visions for a more expansive future in Caribbean literature for young readers. With Terry Catasús Jennings and Raúl Colón (Cuba) on The Little House of Hope, Lesléa Newman and Elizabeth Baez (Puerto Rico) on Alicia and The Hurricane: A Story of Puerto Rico/Alicia Y El […]
Caribbean writers explore the dichotomies that permeate life in the Caribbean, a place that is vibrant and joyous but also riddled with corruption and violence. They discuss the fascinating traditions and values that bind Caribbean people, but also the literal and metaphorical walls that divide them and the struggle to overcome the consequences imposed by […]
Four Caribbean writers discuss the unreality of reality and the truth of the fantastic in their work. Jasmine Sealy (Barbados) on The Island of Forgetting, Opal Palmer Adisa (Jamaica) on The Storyteller’s Return: Story Poems, and Ayanna Lloyd Banwo (Trinidad) on When We Were Birds: A Novel. Moderating is Myriam J. A. Chancy (Haiti), author […]
In Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew, culinary and cultural historian Michael W. Twitty explores the crossroads of Jewish and African diaspora cuisine – and issues of memory, identity, and food. The question that most intrigues him is not just who makes the food, but how the food makes the […]
Michelle Huneven’s Search: A Novel follows Dana, restaurant critic, food writer, and member of a progressive Unitarian Universalist church in Southern California, as she writes a memoir-with-recipes about her work on the committee tasked with finding a new minister for the congregation – a search that boils down a stark choice between two very different […]
Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea: A Novel follows marine biologist Leah, who left for a routine expedition months earlier, only this time, her submarine sank to the sea floor. Now Leah is changed. When she finally surfaces and returns home, her wife, Miri, knows something is wrong. Barely eating and lost in her […]