Some authors are gone, others are still writing, but Caribbean literature endures

A few Caribbean literature titles. Photo by Janine Mendes-Franco, used with permission. The Caribbean has always been known for the quality of its literature, having birthed Nobel Laureates like Derek Walcott and V.S. Naipaul , not to mention a modern-day resurgence in the popularity of its literary offerings, thanks in part to Trinbagonian writers like Monique Roffey , Kevin Jared Hosein , Anthony Joseph , Vahni Capildeo , Ira Mathur , and Ayanna Lloyd Banwo whose books have been well received, with many of them winning major prizes. Against this backdrop of limitless potential, therefore, the sudden loss of Trinidadian fiction writer and poet Jennifer Rahim , who passed away on March 13 at the age of 60, has been that much harder to bear. Nearly four months later, however, on July 12 ( Caribbean Literature Day ), the NGC Bocas Lit Fest honoured her life and legacy by curating a selection of her writing, along with videos of her readings. As Rahim’s publisher Jeremy Poynting posted soon after her death: If it’s hard when writers you admire and you know are important to the Caribbean die at the end of what is at least a respectable span, like Gordon Rohlehr and Alwin Bully , playwright and cultural activist from Dominica, who died last week, it’s harder still when you know that with her sudden death at the too-soon age of 60, Jennifer Rahim had achieved much but had so much more to give. […] I have long thought that Jennifer was one of the region’s very best writers, but of all the writers we have worked with, no one was more self-critical, less confident, on the surface at least, of the value of what they did. Underneath, though, I think she had a determined hope that her writing could make a difference. Rahim’s most well-known works include “ Curfew Chronicles ,” which won the overall OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature in 2018 and was described by lauded Jamaican poet Lorna Goodison as “one of the most ambitious books ever attempted by a Caribbean writer,” and her 2009 […]

Click here to view original page at Some authors are gone, others are still writing, but Caribbean literature endures

© 2023, wcadmin. All rights reserved, Writers Critique, LLC Unless otherwise noted, all posts remain copyright of their respective authors.