The heart­beat of T&T’s cul­ture will once again re­sound through the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah when Pan Trin­ba­go launch­es the 2025–2026 Na­tion­al Panora­ma Fes­ti­val to­mor­row at 4 pm.

The lush, rolling hills and emer­ald At­lantic wa­ters of the Na­ture Isle em­braced mu­sic lovers from Oc­to­ber 24 to 26, as the World Cre­ole Mu­sic Fes­ti­val (WCMF) marked its 25th an­niver­sary un­der the ban­ner: “Glob­al Echoes of the Na­ture Is­land: Cel­e­brat­ing 25 Years of Cre­ole Mu­sic, Mag­ic and Mem­o­ries.” Held at the Wind­sor Park Sports Sta­di­um in Roseau, the event drew thou­sands of fans, re­gion­al stars, and a pal­pa­ble sense of Caribbean pride and uni­ty.

The three-day Jit Sama­roo Fes­ti­val, host­ed be­tween Oc­to­ber 31 and No­vem­ber 2, com­bined mu­sic, film, and con­tem­pla­tive el­e­ments to re­flect on the life and work of the late steel­pan arranger/com­pos­er, Jit Sama­roo, who would have turned 75 on Feb­ru­ary 24.

Mar­aval will sparkle to­mor­row as the Ro­tary Club of Mar­aval hosts its sec­ond an­nu­al Bub­bles n Beer­fest at the el­e­gant St An­drews Golf Club, Mo­ka, from 7.30 pm to mid­night.

At just 19, artist Shiv­anie Thomas has al­ready seen her work dis­played twice this year at the Cen­tral Bank Mu­se­um in Port-of-Spain.

Oc­cu­pa­tion­al Ther­a­py (OT) Week, cel­e­brat­ed from No­vem­ber 3–9, 2025, is a time ded­i­cat­ed to ho­n­our­ing the vi­tal role that oc­cu­pa­tion­al ther­a­pists play in help­ing peo­ple of all ages live fuller, more in­de­pen­dent, and mean­ing­ful lives.

Dur­ing Breast Can­cer Aware­ness Month, which was ob­served in Oc­to­ber, many sto­ries of sur­vival and strength were told. One such sto­ry is that of Saman­tha Dun­can, whose jour­ney be­gan when she was just 28 years old. A breast can­cer di­ag­no­sis be­fore the age of 30 is rare—but not un­heard of.

The au­di­ence who at­tend­ed Paul Keens-Dou­glas’ Ent That Nice at the Cen­tral Bank Au­di­to­ri­um on Oc­to­ber 12 found them­selves rem­i­nisc­ing about the days when the Trinidad-born racon­teur told sto­ries that made them laugh. Whether they heard his voice on ra­dio or TV, on vinyl or cas­sette, or per­haps mem­o­rised one of his many di­alect po­ems for TTT’s Twelve and Un­der or Teen Tal­ent, Keens-Dou­glas’ work left a sig­nif­i­cant mark on their lives.

Venezue­lan Am­bas­sador Ál­varo En­rique Sánchez Cordero says ca­lyp­so, so­ca and steel­pan are as beloved in Venezuela as parang, cu­a­tro and the shak-shak are in T&T.

Na­tion­al Freestyle Cham­pi­on Preedy (Akeem Chance) de­liv­ered an un­for­get­table sur­prise dur­ing his Acoustic Ex­pe­ri­ence last Sun­day when mul­ti­ple Road March win­ner and so­ca queen Patrice Roberts joined him on stage to de­but their new duet, Bac­cha­nal Mode. For Preedy, the mo­ment was sur­re­al—a vivid re­minder of his jour­ney and bur­geon­ing lega­cy.

Menopause and per­i­menopause are fi­nal­ly get­ting the na­tion­al at­ten­tion they de­serve. The Min­istry of Health (MOH) has of­fi­cial­ly made this as­pect of women’s health a pri­or­i­ty—a ma­jor step for­ward for women across the coun­try.

Born in Bal­ti­more in the Unit­ed States to Trinida­di­an par­ents, Lau­ren Fran­cis-Shar­ma has built an ac­claimed lit­er­ary ca­reer by un­earthing hid­den his­to­ries and un­told truths.