Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2011
For a person who has spent 15 out of 21 years in the Caribbean, my past reading lists have been remarkably deficient in Caribbean authors. In an effort to remedy this obvious atrocity I have devised (with the help of my very useful lit major boyfriend) a Caribbean Writers Challenge for 2011. While I have started this challenge for my own benefit, if any one else wants to join up and give it a go you are more than welcome!
Caribbean writers are notoriously underrepresented even within the Caribbean, with only a small section of local bookstores dedicated to them, few on the school syllabus and the majority of the population having no clue who the supposedly prominent writers, that represent their islands, are. In the wider world only particular literary groups take much notice and most people, again, are completely unaware that the Caribbean is a hub of literary enthusiasm. The most popular of the published Caribbean authors are undoubtedly V. S. Naipaul and Derek Walcott but beyond that…. well even I have no clue who else to be reading!
And so to the bookstore we went! In an effort to find an interesting selection of authors and poets to fulfill the challenge requirements (and give me an idea of what they should be!). Each of the authors on this list are readily available on amazon.com through the links below.
The Goal: To read either 1 Caribbean book a month (totaling 12) or 1 Caribbean novel every other month (totaling 6) between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. There is a mix of novels and fiction as well as collections of short stories and poetry so if you are not particularly enthused about any of these I would suggest the 6 books, that way you can read all the novels.
Writing a review isn’t compulsory but if you do write a review link back so everyone else can check out what you thought.
To see the list of books and to join, go to the Caribbean Writer’s Challenge 2011.
