BCLF Always LIT

Hosted by Dr. Nicole Grimes - A Woman's Word with Dr. Elizabeth Nunez, accomplished writer and distinguished professor -  is a Tour De Force of the landscape of the distinctive female writer in and outside of the Caribbean.

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Co-presented with the Center for Fiction; Barbara Jenkins hosts, Julia Alvarez to discuss her newest novel - "Afterlife".



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Co-presented with the Center for Fiction; Tiphanie Yanique hosts, Lauren Francis-Sharma to discuss her newest novel - "Book of the Little Axe".



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Krystal Sital, critically acclaimed author of ‘Secrets We Kept - Three Women of Trinidad chats with Donna Hemans about her sophomore novel ‘Tea by the Sea’.

Listen as Donna shares the inspiration for the story and reads excerpts of the book.

About Tea by the Sea
This a masterfully expressed story of one mother’s relentless search for a daughter lost as a newborn, that will touch that most umbilical place inside of you. Written in tender, descriptive and attentive prose, Hemans brings to the fore questions about family, parenthood, deeply-entrenched gender roles, abandonment and loss. More beautifully, she leaves those questions to the reader to unearth those answers.


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Traditional fairy tales begin with "Once upon a time" and generally end with the protagonists living "happily ever after." 

In Caribbean literature, this relatable concept takes on a different meaning. In this panel, we will interrogate the ways:

• In Caribbean literature, this relatable concept takes on a different meaning. 
• This prevalent trope in the literature of the colonizer is interpreted through our lens. 

Do Caribbean literary characters get to have a happily ever after? How is it earned? If the concept of 'happily ever after' can be considered a secure, permanent future of increasingly beneficial outcomes for the protagonist and his/her successors, does that indicate a life luxury that comes with privilege and dominance? As we tell the stories of the suppressed, does it mean that we have to adjust the parameters for that in Caribbean literature? 

Hosted by Patrice Grell Yursik, who is joined by panelists:  

• Elizabeth Acevedo
• Ifeona Fulani
• Ivelisse Rodriguez
• Krystal Sital
• Lisa Allen Agostini

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"Folklore is the bedrock of Caribbean speculative fiction, our own way of interpreting and managing trauma." Karen Lord 

This enchanting panel visits the nature and purpose of folklore - past, present and future. 

• Is folklore still relevant to today’s society? 
• Do folklore traditions differ in various Caribbean ethnic cultures? 
• Were folkstories ever truth-based? 

These are some of the burning questions we will ask and attempt to answer. As we look at folklore through the lenses of very different writers, the focus invariably shifts to one of sustainability. Can it go with us into the future? 

The invisible world was always a presence and partner to our ancestors. How are the stories being interpreted in contemporary Caribbean literature and what is the reception from a global market thriving with stories that dabble in mythical and magical worlds?

Hosted by Karen Lord (Barbados), who is joined by panelists:  

• Gerard Besson (TT)
• Breanne McIvor (TT)
• Monique Roffey (TT)
• Imam Baksh (GUY)
• Vashti Bowlah (TT)

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Pelau aka Rice and Peas aka Cook up aka Peas and rice.

The combination of peas and rice is diasporic in the tropics. Every Caribbean nation has some version of such a dish enshrined as at least one of its national dishes.

What does this dish symbolize about all we've adapted and what we've lost. And how might we build an understanding of (Black) Caribbean masculinity and a fight to revolutionize it – which is also to reclaim its divine feminine.

Hosted by Roger Bonair-Agard & Kevin Adonis Browne, who are joined by panelists: 

• Ernesto Quiñonez (PR)
• Richard Georges (USVI)
• Dmitiry Leger (Haiti)

This discussion features a panel of Caribbean men in the encounter, confront, and de/reconstruction of their masculinity; and how we hold one another in that transformational journey of justice, in a way that lets us bring us all on that evolutionary journey.

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Panelists Elizabeth Nunez (Trinidad), Merle Collins (Grenada) and Patricia Powell (Jamaica); celebrate the life and work of the Caribbean American literary giant Paule Marshall.

These award-winning Caribbean-American writers fondly remember and discuss their favorite Paule Marshall novel and the influence of the “Poets in the Kitchen,” as Marshall called the women who gathered in her mother’s Bed Stuy brownstone. As they hold court, each panelist makes the case why the works of this literary icon rightfully belong to the Caribbean-American and, indeed, the American literary canon, and therefore should be required reading.   

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BCLF Always LIT is a brand new podcast by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. 

The Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival is the first literary festival dedicated to Caribbean literature in New York City. In ‘Always LIT’ you’ll hear vibrant conversations about Caribbean storytelling and Caribbean writing from iconic and emergent Caribbean writers, poets and creatives. In addition, you can enjoy recordings of live BCLF events.

BCLF Always LIT launches October 1st and new episodes are available on every other Thursday. 

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