Reading – Anthony N Sabga Awards – Caribbean Excellence 20 (print, p. 90) Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson (audiobook read by Ron Butler, 3:26:43 chapter 3) Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970–2020 by Ronald Cummings and Alison Donnell (e-book, p. 108) Crossing Over by Ann Morgan (e-book, p. 190) The Dark of the Sea by Imam Baksh (print, p. 35; also p.9) Fortune by Amanda Smyth (e-book, p. 234) Josephine against the Sea by Shakirah Bourne (e-book, p 175)
The first one is bios of the various Sabga laureates over the years which I’ve been reading pretty much one by one, and I’m really appreciating learning about each of them – an impressive line-up, really. The second, the audio book, is here but I haven’t budged not one inch; it’s here because I put it on when I was going to sleep one night and I now understand the power of a bedtime story because chiiile, I slept. But, yeah, don’t ask me what happened. The next one is an e-book but I also haven’t budged beyond opening it and reading a few lines. I similiarly barely cracked Crossing Over though it is the kind of book I feel I could finish easily if I could just sit with it. The Baksh book has two page pauses because I’m helping my nephew with English B and decided that that should include just reading a book and this is the book I had that’s a good fit for his age group; so it’s a read and a re-read simultaneously. Fortune feels like it’s coming to a climax and Josephine is with the shenanigans – it’s perhaps the book I’ve engaged with most out iside of The Dark of The Sea. But overall, it hasn’t been a strong reading week; drips and drabbles while life-ing. Speaking of the English B tutorials, my shelves were stacked with a new addition from a bookseller friend, the Collins Alexander Shakespeare Twelfth Night CSEC edition, which is helpful as the William Shakespeare play one of his assigned texts…and I readTwelfth Nightway back in my college years.
Read – I listened to an audio adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, and wrote about it here. This book, though not the first Butler I’ve read (that would be Parable of the Sower and Fledlging both of which I’ve discussed in Blogger on Books), is perhaps the first Butler I ever heard of, received a TV adaptation a few years ago and i was as reluctant to watch that as I have been both reluctant to and interested in reading the book; it’s a complicated thing. This radio play style adaptation with one of my faves, Alfre Woodard, voicing the main character was well-done, I thought and, I’m getting the sense from the reviews I’ve seen, more faithful to the book, which is still on my TBR by the way, than the TV series.
So, that’s books.
Watched – This week, actually in one afternoon, I hung out with a friend watching two Tom Cruise films, the last (I think) Mission Impossible and Jack Reacher; they were both over the top action confetti but I thought the MI one understood what it was better and was more entertaining for it. I understand Cruise was miscast as Reacher anyway but I may be interested in checking out the books. Have you read any? Worth reading? Where should I start?
Wrote- I also, just last night, uploaded a new CREATIVE SPACE – CREATIVE SPACE #7 OF 2026 – CARIBBEAN IRON MAN – for early access to my patreon. There are also some related video clips linked through the article to on my youtube channel. Here’s a 360.
This is also my News from Home.
For updates on creative writing, check Journaling Writing on my Patreon, and consider becoming a member or contributing to support new writing.
This post contains links to both bookshop.org and libro.fm, both of which I am an affiliate. The latter is celebrating Bookstore Day (April 25th in the US and Canada) with a sale and special offer between 20/04-26/04. The special offer is for people signing up for new one-credit-per-month memberships; sign up with code BOOKSTOREDAY to receive two bonus audiobook credits for free.
Welcome to my latest big book link up, which I participate in when I finish something. Today I’ll be linking up with Rose City Reader’s Book Beginnings, the Caffeinated Reviewer’s Sunday Post, Readerbuzz’s Sunday Salon, Cocoon of Books’ Best of the Bunch, and I’ll attempt Books are My Favorite and Best’s Six Degrees of Separation.
(images – clockwise from top left: me (foreground, right) in behind the scenes shot from Mango film shoot; double page from Creole Clayby Patricia Fay featuring my grandmother and aunt, among the traditional potters discussed in the book and cover of Jane and Louisa will soon come Homeby Erna Brodber – two current reads; news clipping of my byline from when my country formalized diplomatic relations with Cuba; entrance to a slave dungeon on my island, a former slave colony; the vote at the United Nations re the resolution on the transatlantic slave trade)
I appreciate you checking them out and encourage you to support My Patreon where I plan to continue to make CREATIVE SPACE, my multi-award winning Caribbean art and culture column, available for early access, post exclusives like Journaling Writing in which I discuss my creative writing progress and share new writing, and more, including upcoming Jhohadli Writing Project writing workshops. In time, that will be, I think, my primary online space and, as such, the space where you can remain in community with me in addition to supporting (as able) various creative projects.
What I’ve been reading
Before I check in let me see how I do at this 6 degrees of book game. The kick-off is The Correspondent by American writer Virginia Evans (1) which I haven’t read BUT which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize in 2026; so let’s see if I’ve read any other longlisted books. Yes, I’ve read The Autobiography of My Mother by Antiguan writer Jamaica Kincaid (2), longlisted in 1997;Buxton Spice by Guyanese writer Oonya Kempadoo (3), longlisted in 1999; Girl with a Pearl Earring by American writerTracy Chevalier (4), longlisted in 2000; Caucasia by American writer Danzy Senna (5), longlisted in 2001; The Secret Life of Bees by American writer Sue Monk Kidd (6). That’s six but as two are Caribbean books, and I am a Caribbean writer, I wanted to see a Caribbean-centric version of this list, so let’s continue with Small Island by Andrea Levy (4), a British writer born to Jamaican parents, longlisted in 2004; The White Woman on The Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey (5), born in Trinidad and resident in the UK, longlisted in 2010; This One Sky Day/Popisho by Leone Ross (6) born in Britain to Jamaican parents, longlisted in 2022.
As for what I’m reading (not everything, just the past week or so’s walking around books)
Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri of India (print, p. 88) Creole Clay: Heritage Ceramics in the Contemporary Caribbean by Patricia J. Fay of America (print, p. 47) Jane and Louisa will soon come home by Erna Brodber of Jamaica (print, p. 35) Art Week colouring book by Rogierre Emanuel of Antigua-Barbuda
I picked up the colouring book during Antigua and Barbuda’s art week last December and use it to de-stress; the opening image of this post is my latest efforts and it seemed appropriate given that kite flying is as associated with Easter in Antigua and Barbuda, and other parts of the Caribbean, as the Ascension of Jesus. In fact, and here’s my…
News from Home
We have a decades long kite festival that takes place at a place called Devil’s Bridge, of which the lore is that it’s a place from which Africans enslaved in Antigua used to jump to their freedom. Strong kite-hoisting winds there.
(images – Me at past Antigua and Barbuda kite festivals)
I can’t write about the kite festival without thinking about my friend Alstyne who was enthusiastically involved with it behind the scenes from the beginning; so much so that when she died unexpectedly in 2015, the event’s founder gave her a kite salute (i.e. flew a kite in her memory) right there in Spring Gardens Moravian Church…wish I had video of that.
The big festival day is Easter Monday. When the kids were younger I used to take them…now they have their own things going on. It was hard to go after my friend passed plus traffic has gotten to be a lot – a testament to the kite festival’s enduring and growing popularity.
This past week
Another popular tradition over the long Easter holiday weekend is the Good Friday meal, which in the Caribbean typically centers some kind of fish. In Antigua and Barbuda, it’s saltfish served with ducana and chop up; and the posting of the plates and fanning of the annual raisins or no raisins ducana debate on social media. The correct answer is no raisins by the way.
I was trying to find a recipe video to share but one included raisins and the other blended the ingredients and…every Caribbean child who remembers grating coconut and potato says no, not on my watch. But, and I have a confession to make, who am i to talk when for the first time I bought pre-grated and packaged coconut and sweet potato, much to the consternation of my resident ducana expert, my mother, who at first was a hell no, especially to the grated sweet potato because of poison risk (?!), but I had bought the package from a proper company which had sealed and frozen to preserve (they weren’t killing all of us), plus we weren’t about to waste my money…and so far, so okay; so, here’s the video that used a blender instead of a grater …can’t bring myself to share the raisins one.
(image includes a cover image of a typical Antiguan-Barbudan Good Friday plate; left to right what looks like chopped up plantain [instead of the standard chop-up – a mix of ‘troba/eggplant, okroe, and spinach], boiled plantain, steamed cassi, saltfish, and the ducana. Music on the video is “Island Girl” by our own Burning Flames)
Music and Miscellania
Speaking of, after a quick check of my youtube history, I thought I’d share something I’ve watched and something I’ve listened to…and liked… because there is another limited series I started and I DNF’d it for the same reason I finished but didn’t review the book, but I prefer talking about things I liked.
Like this mix of music from 1973, which includes some legit classics I didn’t realize came into the world the same year I did; songs like “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul, “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder, “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John, “Killing Me Softly” by Roberta Flack, “Love Train” by the O’Jays, “My Love” by Paul McCartney and Wings, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce, “Touch me in the Morning” by Diana Ross, “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye, “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and The Pips. Plus, I was bemused by (but enjoyed) the music of Bob Marley being on the karaoke playlist of this weekend’s liming spot. & speaking of de-stress, I swear by the ability of my Butt wait playlist to get you dancing like no one’s looking (or legit not caring if anyone is).
Not much watch wise. I’m interested in seeing The Drama but my local cineplex sometimes doesn’t seem to think we want anything particularly complex. I tried to log in to Netflix to watch the Peaky Blinders movie, The Immortal Man, but Netflix was playing, so I ended up playing a lot of Peaky Blinders content on the series’ official YouTube which reminded me how much I loved the first 2-3 seasons of this show and caught me up on some of the plot points I missed after I stopped watching.
So, it’s it and that’s that. As a reminder, please support my patreon and if buying any of the mentioned books, purchase using my libro.fm or bookshop.org commissionable affiliate link; both support independent bookshops with each sale.
It was sort of a spontaneous one but check it out – there’s non-fiction, yes, but there’s also romance, adventure, drama. Let me know what books, other reading, or art you would add. The article will be available for early access on my patreon for a minute but the good news is you can read it with a free or paid membership; though I do hope you’ll consider paying or gifting a membershp. Either way, share the love.
Teaser…
I will never stop recc’ing this historical novel by African American writer…
Was just reminded that March 21st was World Poetry Day; so as it is now March 23rd, I’m playing catch-up. Doing it by the numbers, I’ll [off the cuff] link 21 of my favourite poems. Serendipitously, today’s reading has been poetry; so, I’ll be able to share what I’ve been reading for the It’s Monday, What are You Reading? link-up. Look at the poetry gods work.
This is the dark time, my love, All round the land brown beetles crawl about. The shining sun is hidden in the sky Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow.
That’s 21. I could go on but let’s leave it there. I hope you’ll check out some of my published poems, as well as some of the ones I’ve performed like “Ode to the Pan Man“, “Da’s Calypso“, and “Ah Write” excerpted during my Sabga Awards acceptance speech.
As for what I’ve been reading since my Sunday post; it’s Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970–2020 by Ronald Cummings and Alison Donnell (e-book, p. 107), Fortune by Amanda Smyth (e-book, p. 230), and, most relevant to this WPD post, today’s walking around book the BIM: Arts for the 21st Century 2025 edition, vol. 12 (print book, p. 68).
Specifically, poems by veteran writers Ian McDonald of Guyana and Opal Palmer Adisa of Jamaica, whose “My Mother gifted Me” I’ve singled out as one of my favourite pieces in the literary journal to date.
Time for another of my favourite activities here on the blog, an opportunity to talk books, via my link-up with Readerbuzz’s Sunday Salon. I think this means I’m on a roll; fourth journal for March, ninth for the year. Not bad for a reader who has set herself the boundary in 2026 of only journaling when she actually finishes something…the loop hole, of course, was that that something didn’t necessarily need to be a book (it could be a story or a journal). I don’t make the rules. Oh, wait…
Jokes aside, I have finished another of the audio books I’ve been reading (efficient that). Am I a full convert; my high active reading pile of physical books would say otherwise but there’s no arguing with the results. Besides, all reading is reading.
So here’s what I’ve finished reading and have been actively reading since my last update.
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (audiobook narrated by Sara Arrington, Jennifer Beals, Arthur Bishop, Fred Berman, Benjamin Bratt, Jonathan Davis, Ari Fliakos, Holter Graham, Judy Greer, January LaVoy, Robinne Lee, Peter Larkin, Henry Leyva, P.J. Ochlan, Robert Petkoff, Alex Reid, Pablo Schreiber, Brendan Wayne, Julia Whelan, Nancy Wu & Oliver Wyman) – What a ride this one was. Read about it at Blogger on Books.
The Way We Are, A Cultural Exploration of Antigua and Barbuda, So arwe tap, by Joy Lawrence (physical book, p. 50)
Other reading (in progress)
The Sailor’s Review No. 85 (e-journal, p. 14)
I think I’ve made the most progress on Middlemarch even with the rewinds every time I fall asleep and wake up (not the book’s fault), as well as Oonya Kempadoo’s All Decent Animals (physical book, p. 120); but am most locked in on The Reformatory, albeit with a bit of dread, given that it includes both natural and supernatural terrors.
My reading journey continues to be a bright spot in each day. Everyday I pick a book from the active reading pile as my walking around book. I get excited each time. Like what book am I going to take out today, like the book is a friend and we’re going for a lime.
I’ve linked books above to either bookshop.org or libro.fm both of which I am an affiliate with; and, as a reminder, the latter has a March promo going – switch now, via my affiliate link, and get two free audiobooks when starting a new one-credit per month membership with promo code SWITCH.
What else…
My Week
Another 5-7 days (time is kicking my ass) of trying to catch up on everything (contracts, submissions, emails, writing, revisions, financial …laundry) that slipped during recent family medical emergency and the unfinished tasks before that…it’s a fool’s mission (especially as I’m still feeling sleep-deprived and like I’m spinning out). But I did find time to celebrate a friend’s birthday this week and had my first successful attempt at a DIY/at-home hair colouring operation (usually I leave it to the professionals). See opening images, the first image is when I was checking the outcome and spotted silver in my brow (I swear, the things they don’t tell you about the places you’ll find silver). In the second image I can’t see it but I know it’s there lol. Good thing I’m not running from it (colour has always been about self-expression for me).
At present, the next Journaling Writing is forthcoming on my patreon; your contribution will help support the writing journey. Consider becoming a member or purchasing a gift, article, or collection.
What I’ve been watching and listening to this past week…
Watched – Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (can’t believe I watched that) on Netflix; but, and this overlaps with music, a couple of YouTube docs about the BeeGees, plus their One Night Only concert recording proved a palate cleanser.
What are you currently reading? 2 teen/ya novels – The Dark of the Sea by Imam Baksh (p. 25) and Josephine against the Sea by Shakirah Bourne (p. 160), 2 romance novels – Maid for More by Kimolisa Mings (p. 130) and Sweet Cherie by Maëlla K. (p. 91), another novel – Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri (p. 85), and literary journal The Sailor’s Review (p. 10). It occurs to me as I type this that in these pages I’ve been travelling between Guyana, Barbados, a fictional version of my own Antigua named for its uninhabited (by humans) sister island Redonda, France and the French Caribbean, India, and the African continent. Books are magical like that.
What do you think you’ll read next? The unknowing is part of the fun. But I have been eyeing Kin by Tayari Jones as a future acquisition, as well as Come Close by Felicia Pride, Death in the Dry River by Lisa Allen-Agostini, and A House for Ms. Pauline by Diana McCaulay. But first… *eyes my active reading pile*
This is linkup with one of my favourite recurring book blog memes (though we talk more than books), Readerbuzz’s Sunday Salon. It’s Saturday in Antigua as I type this so I think I’ll jump into the latest of Friday’s Book Blogger Hop.
But you know what’s on my mind? The Oscars. Yes, they’re still in my bad books as they’ve been since the snubbing of The Woman King. But they’ve nominated my favourite film of 2025 and of several years, Sinners, for 16 Oscars, a record, and I can’t look away. Though, with the Academy’s track when it comes to Black and POC films, I might be rubbernecking a car crash as they play in our faces like they haven’t since the OG The Color Purple went home with zero wins from 11 nominations. I’m going to pack the cynicism away and be seated and optimistic Sunday night though; let’s see how it go!
As I type this, it hits me I might not be the Academy’s audience, after all I’ve only watched one of the 2020s best picture winners (2022 winner CODA) and I liked it despite ‘real cinephiles’ seeming to rank it lightweight compared to the other best picture winners of the decade …the ones I haven’t seen. Widening the lens to the century so far, I’ve seen a lot more of the best picture winners, 16/25 (lucky number 16 i.e. the number of noms that Sinners has), to date, 17/26 when Sinners wins (optimism, remember?!). Of the ones I’ve seen, my favourite (let’s say top 5) best picture winners of the 21st century so far have been
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Moonlight (2016) 12 Years a Slave (2013) Chicago (2002) Spotlight (2015)
When Sinners wins it will easily be my number 1.
What are your best picture winners of the century and who are you rooting for Sunday night?
Okay on to the bookish things.
Read
Not a book but I finished another short story. “Picking Crabs in Negril” by Diana McCaulay, whose latest, A House for Ms Pauline, is high on my TBR. I also still need to get to Dog-Heart and Huracan having liked her writing since well before Gone to Driftand Daylight Come. Click links for my reviews.
Reading
Today, I’ve been reading on and off, here and there, the Cambridge School Shakespeare The Tempest (print, p. 64) and The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (audiobook, narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, 3:46:14). I’ve been wanting to read the latter for a while but I knew it would be rough after reading the short story, speaking of short stories, “The Reformatory“, that preceded it in 2018 in The Boston Globe, so I’ve also been waiting. I don’t know that now is the right time given…everything…but I’m up to my knees in it now, praying I don’t drown before the story’s end.
The bloghop asks if there are any genres I’m shy about reading and the post interpreted it as genres you shy away from reading, which, for me, is probably The Secret type books (what genre is that?); but which I interpret as any genres I read that I am shy about admitting to. The answer to that is, not anymore. And I don’t read a lot of it (anymore) but there was a time I probably wouldn’t have claimed erotica and fan fic and erotic fan fiction but I’ve been over that for a long time…like what you love, love what you like as long as you’re not hurting anyone.
This section also includes libro.fm affiliate links. This month (March 2026), readers making the switch to libro.fm can get two free audio books when they start a new one-credit per month membership using promo code SWITCH. My favourite thing about this platforms are the deals (lock in and you can get some great prices), that you are always talking to a person when you reach out to customer serivce and they are quite responsive in my experience, and that they use a sales model that benefits bookstores (and you can choose which participating bookstore you’d like to support). My own purchases support the African American Literature Book Club. As I am an affiliate your purchases also means I should get a percentage of each sale if you use my unique link.
In other life things, the week blew by, I can hardly think what happened…only that through it all books really have been my happy place. Each day I pluck one at random from my TBR and get excited, like which book am I going to take out today, like the book is a friend and we’re going out together as I …deal with activities related to my Dad, post-hospital, or various errands, or whatever. I also enjoyed a meet-up this week with my most recent intern (we talked about Sinners a lot lol) and an impromptu hang with a friend whose guava tree, all but dead a few years ago, has been very bountiful since it catch itself…every shut eye nah sleep, as we say. Another reminder that it pays to be optimistic, right? It’s not my nature but I’ll work on it in other areas of life …I guess (lol).
Let’s see, what else…
My favourite recent musical find is young Aretha Franklin singing “Mockingbird” (I’ve always loved the James Taylor/Carly Simon version but if you’re a regular here you may know Aretha is my favourite vocalist of all time; so this is definitely a find
& oh, yes, a story from home…home being here in the Caribbean…
A day after my last reading journal, I’m back (per my plan to post to this journal whenever I finish reading something) because I’ve finished reading the 162 page Interviewing the Caribbean Vol. 5 No. 2. which features the cover of my book With Grace.
It’s been a rainy weekend here in Antigua and I’ve been trying to catch-up on some rest by prioritizing reading. Which, since my last post, includes –
Middlemarch by George Eliot (audiobook narrated by Juliet Aubrey, 8:36:03) Naniki by Oonya Kempadoo (ebook, p. 59) Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson (audiobook narrated by Ron Butler, 3:26:43, chapter 3) All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (print, p. 85)
Fantasy with Friends – and to answer this week’s question (What are your thoughts on fantasy adaptations of classic literature that originally had no fantasy elements?), Pages Unbound, it depends on how well it’s handled. I remember enjoying the gonzo energy of the movie Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the dark interweaving of reality and fiction in the book Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Much more so than the movie which was more action tropes, I think. This is more of a prequel than a rewrite but Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea, mentioned in my last post, along with the book it revisits Jane Eyre, specifically Mr. Rochester and the wife he keeps in the attic in a way that humanizes her and provides a less favourable take on him. I will add, since it’s mentioned earlier in the post, that when I wrote With Grace, which is a Caribbean faerie tale, a goal was to subvert the traditional/classic fairytale tropes. If you read it, let me know how you think I did.
*post includes bookshop.org and libro.fm affiliate links. This month (March 2026), readers making the switch to the latter can get two free audio books when they start a new one-credit per month membership using promo code SWITCH. My favourite things about these platforms are the deals (lock in and you can get some great prices), that you are always talking to a person when you reach out to customer serivce and they are quite responsive in my experience, and that they use a sales model that benefits bookstores (and you can choose which participating bookstore you’d like to support). My own purchases support the African American Literature Book Club. As I am an affiliate your purchases also means I should get a percentage of each sale if you use my unique link.
I finished reading Fences, the book publication of the play by August Wilson.
I had picked up the physical copy in the bargain bin of a bookstore that has since gone out of business (it may have been part of their going out of business sale). So it’s a bit bittersweet how it came to me but as someone who has enjoyed film adaptations of Wilson plays, I felt moved to finally read him. And I see why his ouevre is legendary and why this one in particular is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Fences, the movie, is on my to-watch list and I may feel more primed to do so now. Meantime, I’ve shared, not a full review, but my abridged thoughts on finishing Fences, the book, in 2026’s Quick Takes 2 in Blogger on Books.
Reading
Fences, you’ll note when you visit Blogger on Books 2026, is only the second book, alongside 9 short stories (already 5 more stories than I read in all of 2025), I’ve finished so far this year. I don’t feel stressed or pressured about it, I just want to continue to enjoy what I’m reading and I have to say my reading has been filled with moments of surprise and discovery, pain and rage, all towards a fullsome experience that I have been enjoying greatly.
That said, here is the other reading I’ve been doing between the last Journal and this one and where things currently stand with that reading –
Josephine against the Sea by Shakirah Bourne (e-book, p. 147) – and as I did on my Threads, where this month I’m doing a female writer a day after a month of doing a Black writer a day, for Black History Month and Women’s History Month, this week, I also want to shout out Shakirah on her latest release Here Lies A Ghost.
Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri (physical book, p. 75) – a book, a gift from someone who picked it up at a lit fest in Mumbai, I DNF’d some years ago and have now returned to; a reminder that DNFs are not necessarily forever.
Heated Rivalry: The Long Game #6 by Rachel Reid (audio, almost 1 hour in) – because, yes, I watched the show and then wanted to see how Ilya and Shane’s story continued.
Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970–2020by Ronald Cummings and Alison Donnell (e-book, p. 101) – this is a non-fiction book received, at my request, directly from one of the authors; yet I admit I’ve been skimming and skipping rather than reading every word or chapter.
BIM: Arts for the 21st Century vol. 12 May 2025 (e-copy and physical book, p. 64) – I have both versions because I am a contributing author with a poem and two stories in this volume.
Maid for More by Kimolia Mings (physical book, p.126) – I don’t read a lot of pure romances these days but this is a local author whose poetry I’ve enjoyed and after featuring her in “CREATIVE SPACE #4 OF 2023: WRITING CARIBBEAN ROMANCE” , I was past due to engage with a longform version of her main genre, one of the most reliably popular genres in a shaky time in the book industry.
Interviewing the Caribbean Vol 5 No 2 (e-journal, p. 80) – I actually thought this would be the next thing I finished; I’m soooo close. Also you may have noticed that one of my books, with art by Cherise Harris, With Grace, is the cover image for the journal (not the last time I’ll say that in this post; what are gifts I never thought #thewritinglife would gift for $1,000,000, Alex)
Love Songs make You Cry by Lasana M. Sekou (physical book, p. 63) – This may actually be the MVP of this reading period because how have I had this book for so long and not realized how engaging it is.
Naniki by Oonya Kempadoo (e-book, p. 56) – Another author-supplied copy; not the only book I am currently reading by this author – I’ve purchased the others, I promise.
All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (physical book, p. 60) – like this one I bought during CARIFESTA, the Caribbean arts olympics, last Summer.
The Reformatoryby Tananarive Due (e-book, 1:55:56) – This book is as good as I knew it would be and that ‘knowing’ is one reason I’ve taken my time to get to it because…the trauma.
Middlemarchby George Eliot (e-book, 3:59:22) – Sticking with it.
Cambridge School Shakespeare The Tempest (physical book, p. 60) – The first Shakespeare I read, back in secondary school, and it’s feeling slightly less like a foreign language this time around.
News of home
I still haven’t settled on a name for the paragraph I’ve been dedicating this year to news from home, my home, Antigua-Barbudan and the wider Caribbean, nor on what news specifically I’ll feature. But this weekly prompts colour challenge, the colour for March being yellow, which I learned about thanks to this post on my mutual-in-words Ivor’s blog, is a timely opportunity to share two cultural touchstones.
Peep the yellow? Okay, so this is Susie’s Hot Sauce. The Susie in question is Susannah Tonge, who started the brand here in Antigua in 1960. When I came to know it, I was a young reporter and the brand was going international, winning awards across hot sauce competitions in the US, under the stewardship of Ms. Tonge’s daughter, Rosie McMaster, a travel executive turned hot sauce entrepreneur. McMaster passed in January of this year. Management of the brand had reportedly already passed to her children who continued her flex of rolling out special editions. The most recent one, pictured, is of Team Antigua Island Girls, the first all-female, all-Black woman rowing team to row the Atlantic Ocean. Both Susie’s and Team Antigua Island Girls are cultural icons in Antigua-Barbuda, and agents of excellence. RIP, Rosie…and may your dream, once articulated to me, of building a farm to table heritage and agri- tourism venue built around Susie’s, one day be realized.
Okay, now to new things from…
Life
When I decided to share the pic, upthread of me and my dad, I figured I’d be mentioning (because why pretend that everything’s golden) that …I don’t know, ERs feel interminable…and hospitals and testing labs and all of it have the power to make you feel powerless. But my dad’s out of hospital and …I’m going to try to have faith that things will continue in that direction. That’s all on life.
(You’re not seeing double; my book, with art by Danielle Boodoo-Fortune, The Jungle Outside, as mentioned in the second linked post above, is the cover image for the current Collins secondary school catalogue)
Journaling Writing 2 – If you’re a regular here, you know I use this series to track my own writing and hold myself accountable; it now comes with writing tips.
CREATIVE SPACE #5 OF 2026 – MANGO MEMORIES; CREATING CARIBBEAN FILM – My desire to keep the award winning CREATIVE SPACE art and culture series going now that it’s no longer platformed in my local newspaper is my main reason for pushing my Patreon so hard; so I hope, if you’re reading this, you’ll support, either with your coin by becoming a member, gifting memberships, or contributing in other ways, even simply passing on what you find there. I hope to continue to learn about and grow that space with great content and opportunities to create together while sustaining what I do as an independent writer.
What I’ve been listening to
Not so new. 80s Music mostly – it’s what I grew up on and maybe what I find comforting just now…or maybe, just maybe, it’s just the best music era ever.
What I’ve been watching
This YouTube short caught my eye
Before that, well, nothing’s pulled me out to the theatre in a minute; maybe if they returned Sinners to the big screen where I am before it sweeps the Oscars, #manifesting, I’d catch it a third time. I did catch two interesting Netflix watches. One was the Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. I was never a big reality TV person but I did catch some episodes of Top Model, so I am as complicit as anyone in the mess the series revealed. The other was a docu-film, Descendants, I had never heard of, about a fascinating part of American history I had no knowledge about, a town called Africatown in Alabama, started in the 1800s by illegally trafficked enslaved Africans and the search for the ship, Clotilda, that transported them and then was burnt and sunk to cover up the crime. A big recommend. I like how they used extracts from Zora Neale Hurston’s posthumously published Barracoon to tie the narrative together.
Beautiful shots, meaningful and poignant storytelling; why wasn’t this nominated for an Oscar? was it not eligible? Because…
Anyway, to end, Six Degrees.
I was going to do the six degrees book challenge, which I found out about when visiting What Cathy Read Next’s blog, using Zora or even my most recent read, Fences, but I see the rules require me to start with Wuthering Heights, a book I’ve never read. Never let it be said that I don’t embrace a challenge. I am, after all, a fan of the Micheaux Mission film channel on YouTube and their six degrees of D’urville Martin running efforts to connect the blaxploitation era actor to actor-picked-at-random from any era.
*cracks knuckles*
Wuthering Heights was written by Emily Brontë who is the sister of Charlotte Brontë who wrote, a favourite of mine, Jane Eyre, which prompted fan fiction about Bertha, Rochester’s wife, or the lady in the attic, that became the Caribbean classic Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Bear with me here but there was a film adaptation of Wide Sargasso Sea in the ’90s starring Karina Lombard whom I remember from a couple of early 90s films, the most relevant to this chain being The Firm by John Grisham who had a chokehold on both book lovers and movie goers in this era, as he also wrote A Time to Kill which similarly became a big feature film co-starring Samuel L Jackson who was also in the recent Netflix-platformed adaptation of The Piano Lesson, which brings it right back to August Wilson, craftsman of that and my most recent read Fences.
*whooo*
Did it.
*This post contains affiliate links for bookshop.org and libro.fm meaning I should get a percentage of each purchase if you use the relevant links.
jhohadli