A monthly roundup of news about Caribbean books and writers, presented by the Bocas Lit Fest.
Welcome to the latest installment of the Bocas Book Bulletin, a monthly roundup of Caribbean literary news, curated by the Bocas Lit Fest, Trinidad and Tobago’s annual literary festival, and published in the Sunday Express.
New Releases
Kipling Plass (Peepal Tree Press) by Berkley Wendell Semple teems with the dramatic, humorous, and salacious encounters that typify life in politically charged 1970s Guyana. Set in the rural village of Mahaicony, told from the perspective of an observant and precocious 14-year-old boy, the novel explores issues of race relations, fractured familial structures, economic instability, power dynamics, and the struggle of what it means to come of age in an intense and often bewildering locale. The vivid cast of supporting characters is populated by unforgettable personages, from charlatans to Obeah women.
Kingdom of No Tomorrow (Algonquin Books) by Fabienne Josaphat follows the life of a Haitian woman, Nettie Boileau, who is swept into the radical social change promised by the Black Panther party in 1968. Nettie falls in love with a defense captain of the party, Melvin Mosley, and moves with him to Chicago to establish a branch of operations there. Focusing on the unexpected revelations and discoveries Hattie experiences in both love and revolution, Josaphat presents a complex feminist character worth rooting for — and an inner exploration of gender imbalances.
The Petro-state Masquerade (University of Chicago Press) by Ryan Cecil Jobson, subtitled Oil, Sovereignty, and Power in Trinidad and Tobago, studies the implicit, longstanding power relationship between T&T’s oil economy and the attainment of political power. The oil and gas industries have long been understood to be the backbone of the nation’s financial security. Jobson’s research reveals a history of political obfuscation of our petroleum reserves, and the imbalances this generates in transparency, accountability, and future governance. The Petro-state Masquerade draws cogent parallels between the energy sector and performance theatre.
A Sense of Arrival (Duke University Press) by Kevin Adonis Browne addresses the question, “Of what components is a Caribbean self constructed?” This new non-fiction book by the 2019 winner of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is a gathering of personal narrative, sociological inquiry, photography, art installation, and rhetorical essay, all shared in service of addressing that overarching question. What emerges is a critical addition to Black studies, as well as a thought-provoking contemplation on the interwoven threads of identity, autonomy, and authenticity in a fractured, racialised world.
Three Leaves, Three Roots: Poems on the Haiti-Congo Story (Beacon Press) by Danielle Legros Georges combines poetry, archival material, letters, and interview excerpts to creatively construct the Haitian migratory movement to Congo from 1960 to 1975. Both a sense of place and an importance of ambition pervades Georges’ writing, in which she functions both as a poet and a researcher, a storyteller and a curator of human migrant experience. Voices that have historically been silenced or oppressed are not only allowed to speak in Three Leaves, Three Roots: their histories, and those of their ancestors and descendants, are given prominence.
Write A Book, Get it Published!
Self-published writers, and those desirous of embarking on first-time publication, are in focus during February 2025 in the Bocas Academy Write a Book, Get it Published! three-part series. Three industry professionals deliver focused seminars on key aspects of self-publishing and the publication journey. On 1 February, Troy Hadeed, author of My Name Is Love, candidly shared his experiences and offered insights on the road to publication of his debut non-fiction work. On 8 February, award-winning graphic designer Melanie Archer will lead a session on the importance of book design to a publication’s success. On 15 February, Alice Besson, Managing Director of Paria Publishing, will outline the role of a publisher in guiding a book to its final, saleable form. All three parts of Write a Book, Get it Published! take place virtually via Zoom. The registration fee per session is $300; participants attending all three sessions will pay a discounted fee of $800.
Participants in the Bocas Academy will also have access to free resource kits, alumni events, and certificates of completion.
For more information and to register, visit www.academy.bocaslitfest.com or email workshops@bocaslitfest.com.
Caribbean Bestsellers
Independent bookshop Paper Based (Instagram: @paperbasedbookshop) shares its top-selling Caribbean titles for the past month:
1. Palmyra, by Karen Barrow
2. How to Say Babylon, by Safiya Sinclair
3. Death in the Dry River, by Lisa Allen-Agostini
4. The Dragon Can’t Dance, by Earl Lovelace
5. The Believers, by A.K. Herman
