Barbara Lalla, prolific novelist and Professor Emerita of Language and Literature at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, is in focus at The Writers Centre this month.
On Saturday 27 July, from 3.30 pm, she will read from her newest book, By Such a Parting Light (University of the West Indies Press), a novel of intergenerational relationships under the influence of the COVID-19 era.
Lalla will also engage in a question-and-answer session with Shivanee Ramlochan, Bocas Lit Fest festival and programme manager. The event will be open to questions and comments from the audience. Copies of the novel, as well as Lalla’s previous books, will be available for purchase at Paper Based Bookshop, which will remain open after the event for signings and browsing.
“I always look forward to Bocas Lit Fest events and am eager to support them,” says Lalla, expressing enthusiasm for the upcoming reading. “This time, there’s the added delight in having my own work celebrated, particularly at the natural home for such happenings – The Writers Centre.”
Reflecting specifically on By Such a Parting Light, Lalla adds, “This book is special to me because I’ve wanted for years to write about writing the Caribbean, especially about writing on age-old themes like love, loss, and resilience, but in a way that would set domestic calamity in a tiny island against a backdrop of global violence and plague. Looking out of lockdown here, at the machinations of great and powerful nations, I’ve found myself stunned by wildly different alternative notions of civilisation and enlightenment. So I’m truly excited about the reading and the lively discussion to follow.”
All are invited; the event is free and open to the public.
The Writers Centre, 14 Alcazar Street, St. Clair, is the home of the Bocas Lit Fest, Paper Based Bookshop, and a branch of Full Bloom Coffee.
