Still from Touch (video, 2002), by Janine Antoni, included in the exhibition Into the Mix

Twenty-two months later, the CRB is back. Our November 2013 issue, published today, includes reviews of recent books of poems by Edward Baugh, Loretta Collins Klobah, and Sasenarine Persaud; recent fiction by Merle Collins and Keith Jardim; as well as a critical study of the late John Hearne by his daughter Shivaun; a collection of the little-known later writings of Eric Walrond; and a study of “Caribbean–US crosscurrents in literature and culture.” You’ll also find two new poems by Trinidadian writer Shivanee Ramlochan; a review of the recent film The Stuart Hall Project (directed by John Akomfrah); and your Antilles blogger’s own notes on a 2012 exhibition that raised questions about the geographical balancing acts required of artists from certain parts of the world.

There’s a lagniappe to look forward to: later this month we’ll publish a long interview with writer Oonya Kempadoo, talking about her new book, All Decent Animals; and an “Also noted” column rounding up the most significant books we missed during the CRB’s 2012–2013 hiatus.

And keep an eye on Antilles in the coming weeks, where we plan to run a new series of blog posts called “Footnotes”, giving further information on books reviewed in the current issue of the CRB.

Happy reading!

It happens (and has happened before): a pause for breath, a short break to clear the head, a temporary halt under the world’s pressures becomes a more lingering withdrawal. Even if the hours seem to drag, days are fugitive and weeks speed by. Before you really grasp it, months have disappeared. In the case of Antilles, nineteen months — that’s how long it’s been since our previous post.

The CRB has been on a sustained hiatus since early 2012. In November 2013, at long last, we resume regular online publication, thanks to the support of the Bocas Lit Fest. We’re returning to the quarterly timetable of our original print edition, with new issues appearing in November, February, May, and August, mid-month. And Antilles is returning as well, to supplement the magazine’s literary and cultural coverage with news, links to and excerpts from interesting writing published elsewhere, and the occasional musings of the CRB editor (your Antilles blogger). The usual miscellany, in other words — on a frequent but irregular schedule, and with the enduring aim of provoking conversation about literature and the arts, and their role in the evolution of (lofty concept!) Caribbean civilisation. Or something like that.

The 2007 Calabash International Literary Festival winds down with a reggae jam session. Photograph by Georgia Popplewell/Caribbean Free Photo

Between its founding in 2000 and its tenth anniversary in 2010, the Calabash International Literary Festival — based in Treasure Beach, on the south coast of Jamaica — grew into one of the major events on the Caribbean’s literary calendar. The Calabash formula was simple and successful: invite first-class writers from around the world to mingle with an avid audience of Jamaicans and others in an idyllic beachfront location, for three days of readings, performances, music, and conversation. The relaxed setting — with a huge tent pitched in a seaside meadow as the main venue, and Calabash Bay for a backdrop — meant that Calabash felt less like a literary festival and more like a giant beach party where everyone was interested in books, and writers were the guests of honour.

The Calabash organisers had already announced the end-of-May dates for the 2011 festival, and regular attendees were speculating, as usual, about the line-up of invited writers. So Calabash fans in Jamaica and elsewhere were taken aback by the announcement yesterday evening, at a press conference in Kingston, that there would be no festival in 2011 after all — and that “the Calabash International Literary Festival is over in its present incarnation.”

“We had a fantastic run, and the festival effectively accomplished what it set out to do ten years ago,” said co-founder Colin Channer in the official press release. The Calabash International Literary Trust is expected to continue its series of writing workshops and seminars. And according to Kwame Dawes, another of the three co-founders, some key members of the Calabash team — minus Channer — plan to regroup in 2012 to launch a new literary event to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Jamaican independence.

Writer and CRB contributor Annie Paul was at the fateful press conference, and posted a brief report at her blog last night, hinting at speculation about Channer’s “mysterious” departure from the Calabash team. She promises more details, and possibly an interview with Dawes, in the coming days.

Meanwhile, regular Calabash attendees — some of whom had already booked accommodation for the 2011 event — exchanged messages of consternation. By coincidence, the end of Calabash coincides with the launch of a major new literary festival at the other end of the Caribbean. The Bocas Lit Fest, based in Port of Spain, Trinidad, runs from 28 April to 1 May, 2011. (Your Antilles blogger is a member of the planning committee.) Bocas offers a completely different vibe — urban buzz and energy, rather than beachside idyll. But it shares with Calabash a sense of the Caribbean as an important literary nexus, and the goal of bringing extraordinary talent from around the world to home audiences. When Calabash fans recover from their disappointment, they ought to check out what’s going on in Port of Spain.

For a look back at the tenth anniversary of the Calabash International Literary Festival last year, see Vincentian writer William J. Abbott’s Antilles report.

Photograph by Juhan Sonin, posted at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

The Caribbean’s rich literary heritage — in multiple languages — has made a contribution to world culture well out of proportion to the region’s small size. We have produced winners of many literary awards, including three Nobel laureates — Saint-John Perse (1960), Derek Walcott (1992), and V.S. Naipaul (2001). But until now there has been no indigenous Caribbean literary award, organised and judged by Caribbean people, of genuinely international scope.

— So say the organisers of the new OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, which was announced this morning in St Augustine, Trinidad.

The OCM Bocas Prize, which will be awarded for the first time in April 2011, will honour the best book of poetry, fiction, or literary non-fiction by a Caribbean writer each year. It comes with a cash award of US$10,000, sponsored by the One Caribbean Media Group. The prize is administered by a new literary festival, the Bocas Lit Fest, based in Port of Spain and with satellite events around Trinidad and Tobago. The first Bocas Lit Fest runs from 28 April to 1 May, 2011, and the OCM Bocas Prize ceremony is scheduled for Saturday 30 April.

(Where does the name come from? Boca is Spanish for mouth, and the Bocas del Dragón — the Dragon’s Mouths — are the narrow sea passages connecting the Gulf of Paria to the Caribbean Sea. For centuries the Bocas were the gateway between Trinidad and the rest of the world. And the mouth is the organ of speech and song — the human body’s gateway for literary expression.)

The CRB is very pleased to be a media partner for both the festival and the prize (and your Antilles blogger and CRB editor is on the organising committee for both). It’s high time we had a major literary festival here at the southern end of the Caribbean, and a literary prize of regional scope and international stature is also long overdue.

The Bocas Lit Fest programme and the list of participating writers will be announced in early 2011. And the OCM Bocas Prize opens to entries on 8 November (you can download the submission guidelines and entry form here). Antilles will post regular updates on both festival and prize in the coming months — and you can also keep up with Bocas news via Twitter.