Volume 24 of The Caribbean
Writer - The Literary Gem of the Caribbean - is hot off the press
with a new editor and a new look.
Bold and decisive, Volume 24 of The Caribbean Writer features 80 pages of poetry, 200 pages of short stories, and personal essays by established and emerging writers from the Caribbean region, as well as the Caribbean Diaspora. The volume, edited for the first time by Dr. Opal Palmer Adisa, includes a special 70-page tribute to three of the Caribbean's intellectual giants who passed away last year, Rex Nettleford, Trevor Rhone and Wayne Brown. It also features more than 20 reviews of books by Caribbean writers and scholars.
The Caribbean Writer is an international literary journal published by the University of the Virgin Islands, which showcases the literary production and visual works of Virgin Islanders, as well as others from the greater Caribbean region. Volume 24's Moko Jumbie cover was created by St. Croix artist Nesha Christian-Hendrickson, and the interior art is by the photographer Ted Davis, whose studio is located in downtown Christiansted. Other locals featured are UVI Professors Simon Jones-Hendrickson, Gillian Royes, Lomarsh Roopnarine, Valerie Combie and Lucia R. DiMeo, and St. Thomas poet Tregenza A. Roach. To maintain its high standard, the local editorial board was comprised of Edgar O. Lake, president of the Society of Virgin Islands Historians, and UVI Professors Vincent O. Cooper, Patricia Harkins-Pierre and Robin Sterns.
The volume also celebrates the 80th birthdays of Derek Walcott and Kamau Brathwaite, two of the Caribbean's most prestigious writers. Walcott is a poet and playwright from St. Lucia who won the Nobel Prize in 1992. Brathwaite is a historian, poet and cultural critic from Barbados who won the coveted Griffin Poetry Prize in 2006.
Dr. Adisa, The Caribbean
Writer's new editor, is an accomplished writer of 14 published
books who became editor of the publication in January. (See news release.) She comes to UVI
from the California College of the Arts, where she was a full
professor and one of the core faculty to design and implement the
school's MFA program, an accomplishment she is planning to
replicate at UVI.
A public launch of Volume 24 of The Caribbean Writer is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30, at the Great Hall on UVI's St. Croix campus. The St. Croix community is invited to participate in the launch, which will feature music, entertainment and refreshments.
Volume 24 of The Caribbean Writer is available at local bookstores on St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John and at the UVI bookstores on both campuses. Copies can be ordered directly from The Caribbean Writer office by calling (340) 692-4152, sending e-mail to: orders@thecaribbeanwriter.org, or by visiting the website: www.TheCaribbeanWriter.org.
The Caribbean Writer is accepting submissions for Volume 25. That anniversary issue will be dedicated to Haiti and the theme of freedom.