Fayola K J Fraser
During last Sunday’s NGC Bocas Lit Fest, the flagship literary event that takes place annually in T&T, several standout female authors, both from the Caribbean and the diaspora, led discussions not only on their books but also on the critical histories of our region.
Bocas, named one of the world’s best literary festivals, celebrates books, writers, writing, and ideas with a Caribbean focus and international scope. The festival features readings, performances, workshops, discussions, film screenings, and more, bringing together readers and writers from T&T, the Caribbean, and beyond.
The core purpose of the festival is to play a vital role in celebrating and promoting Caribbean voices and stories, both at home and on the global stage. Bocas also administers major regional writing prizes, including the prestigious OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, won this year by Jamaican author Safiya Sinclair for her non-fiction memoir, “How To Say Babylon”, one of the standout novels of 2023 that received widespread international acclaim.
Last weekend during the festival, the standout sessions boasted three well acclaimed authors, representing Jamaica, Haiti, and T&T respectively: Saifya Sinclair, Edwidge Danticat and Ingrid Persaud.
In Sinclair’s session, Marchelle Farrell, author of “Uprooting: From the Caribbean to the Countryside” shared the stage, where they discussed both of their non-fiction memoirs. “Uprooting” is a novel about finding home in an English garden, but it is really about leaving her home behind and forging connections to a space vividly and deeply intertwined with the threads of home. Farrell’s novel has been met with excellent reception, described by the UK Guardian as “full of hope, heart, and complex, reflections on identity and belonging, beautifully written, contriving to be at once rugged and delicate.”
Sinclair’s memoir, “How to Say Babylon” was named a best book of 2023 by the New York Times, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, Vulture, Shelf Awareness, Goodreads, Esquire, The Atlantic, NPR, and Barack Obama. It was described by the New York Times as “a breathless, scorching memoir of a girlhood … (with) sheer lusciousness of prose, the book is a banquet.”
These two powerhouse authors came together to explore the meaning of home, the intrinsic sense of belonging, and the way our shared colonial histories have plotted a course that has been almost impossible to break away from. Farrell spoke to our need as a region for a shared healing, from the indelible mark that colonialism has left on our collective psyche, saying that there has been so much shame we have adopted that requires unlearning, as we “are trapped in cycles created by colonialism with constant eruptions.” Sinclair discussed the way that the teachings of her Rastafarian father from a young age, have “taught me to walk tall in Babylon.” Upon migrating to the United States to further her education, Sinclair did not ever believe in shrinking herself, but employed some of the tenets of her formative teaching to stand firm in herself, her blackness and her beliefs.
The Sunday session, led by well-known author Edwidge Danticat, was met with a similarly packed house, eagerly awaiting Danticat’s first ever panel at the Lit Fest. Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian novelist and short story writer who has received fiction awards from Essence and Seventeen magazines, been featured in the New York Times 30 under 30 list, and recognised with various international literary awards. Born and raised until the age of 12 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, she has made significant contributions to literature, focusing on themes related to women’s lives, relationships, power dynamics, injustice, and poverty.
Her debut novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), gained widespread acclaim and was even selected for Oprah’s Book Club. Danticat’s literary works delve into the complexities of the immigrant experience and the impact of globalisation on Haitian women. She is an advocate for issues affecting Haitians both abroad and at home, using her voice to shed light on important social and cultural matters.
Danticat led the session not only discussing the breadth and depth of her literary works but how so much of the Haitian experience has been diminished and essentially forgotten by the world. Describing the way she has chosen to continue writing about and portraying Haiti in all its glory amidst the political, social, and economic struggles the country has faced, she seeks to paint a vivid image of the rolling mountains and the country’s beauty for readers worldwide.
Danticat also imparted wise advice to budding novelists, encouraging them to “write about the world around you”, and bring to life lived landscapes and real experiences. Danticat also shared the way that the diasporic Haitian creative community continues to spread the good word about the country, saying that although many people know Haiti was the first Black republic in the world, they don’t seek to dive deeper and uncover the immense fortitude and resilience of the Haitian spirit. She implored the audience not to forget about Haiti, as her own mission continues to bring their stories to the fore.
With these incredible women and others at the forefront of Bocas’ Literary Festival, crowds swarmed to spectate at panels, attend workshops and line up dutifully to get their books signed by some of their favourite authors. Caribbean literature has continued to emerge through these leading ladies, as a powerful platform for post-colonial studies, addressing themes of identity, resistance, and cultural resilience. Relentlessly doing the important work of carving a space for Caribbean histories, Caribbean experiences and our realities, these women are painting the region in all its beauty and complexity, situating it within a world where our islands are often forgotten.
