Our regularly scheduled programme

by Nicholas Laughlin on October 19, 2010

Plaque in the C.L.R. James Library, London

Dedication plaque inside the current C.L.R. James Library in London. Photograph by sarflondondunc, posted at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Antilles has been silent the past few weeks — not because there’s nothing going on, but rather the opposite: there’s been too much happening for your Antilles blogger to keep up. The Port of Spain contemporary art centre Alice Yard — which, wearing another hat, I help run — marked its fourth anniversary with a programme of exhibitions and artists’ projects and talks. Then there was the trinidad+tobago film festival. I’ve also been keeping an eye on Carifringe, a new arts and culture festival launched in the Bahamas. Meanwhile, the CRB has been publishing reviews, essays, fiction, and poems every week — you can catch up with those here.

As we prepare to wrap up the current issue and launch the next, Antilles will return to a more active posting schedule — look out for an overview of the CRB’s special film coverage in September and October, firsthand accounts of some key Carifringe events, and our usual coverage of Caribbean literary and cultural happenings.

Finally, some good news. In the previous post, I reported the proposal to rename the C.L.R. James Library in London, and pointed Antilles readers to the online petition to stop this dismaying development. Well, enough people around the world raised their voices to persuade the Hackney Council that the renaming plan was a truly bad idea. Today it was officially announced that the new library building will continue to bear the name and honour the memory of C.L.R. James. (Now if only we could get the Trinidad and Tobago government to name a library after James in his home country . . .)

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Ngoma Bishop October 25, 2010 at 4:22 am

Hi! My name is Ngoma Bishop. I am Chair of the Black & Ethnic Minority Arts Network (BEMA) who launched the petition to retain the name CLR James, when the new £4.4 million alibrary is opened in Dalston. BEMA is thankful to CLR’s widow (Selma) and the many thousands who supported the campaign. If you or someone in T & T were to take the innitiative, I and BEMA would certainly assist.

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