Letters and Lovers rule in This is How You Lose the Time War

Dear reader, Did you know that February is International Correspondence Writing Month (InCoWriMo for short)? The point of this month-long challenge is to slow your communication down, return to pen, paper and post-office, and write one letter a day to anyone locally or abroad, stranger or friend. I can feel your confusion. You came here …

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A teen mother triumphs in Elizabeth Acevedo’s With the Fire on High

- originally published in the January 23,2022 edition of the Stabroek News I was introduced to Elizabeth Acevedo back in 2020 when I read “Gilded”, her contribution to the short story anthology A Phoenix First Must Burn. Her tale about a young Taino metalmancer starting a revolution in the colonised Dominican Republic was one of my …

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Cover of Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

Behold the Saviour Empress in Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

-- Originally published on December 12, 2021 in the Stabroek News Last December, I had the pleasure of reviewing a gift: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, which sits on my bookshelf as one of the best books I have ever read, and I was happy to share it with my readers last year. Thankfully, Ifueko herself …

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Cover of Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed

The triumphs and woes of genius in Premee Mohamed’s Beneath the Rising

-- Originally published on November 14, 2021 in the Stabroek News Photograph of Premee Mohamed I love cosmic horror. There is something unsettling about one day finding one’s self battling against giant incomprehensible forces older than humanity itself. Add a dash of action/adventure to the mix and set it in the early 2000s and I …

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Suzan Palumbo’s Caribbean Gothic

-- Originally published on October 3, 2021 in the Stabroek News Photo of the author, Suzan Palumbo If anyone had taken me aside last month and asked me what came to mind when I heard the phrase “gothic horror”, I would have given them a very narrow description. I would have told them about dilapidated …

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Post-climate change dystopia as indigenous rebirth- Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

-- Originally published on September 5, 2021 in the Stabroek News In early August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) released an updated report on scientists’ current understanding of the state of global warming and its implications for our present and future. This review of current climate literature is a sobering warning for our …

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Cover of The Rainmaker's Mistake by Erna Brodber

Overcoming post-Emancipation stagnation in Erna Brodber’s The Rainmaker’s Mistake

Today is Emancipation Day, and millions of Afro-Caribbean people within the Region and across the diaspora will be celebrating the 183rd anniversary of the abolition of slavery across the British Empire. We have come a far way since this first Emancipation Day, but there are still many ingrained colonialist systems and thought processes that we …

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Magic is Chaos and Catharsis on This One Sky Day in Popisho – A Novel Review

I attended my second Bocas Lit Fest back in April and was once again introduced to many Caribbean writers whose work I am excited about. One of these writers is Leone Ross, whose most recent novel, This One Sky Day (aka Popisho), was featured in the Imaginary Homelands panel. Before the hour was up, I …

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“Manhood isn’t a monolith” and other lessons for Queer youth in George M. Johnson’s Memoir-Manifesto “All Boys Aren’t Blue”

June is Pride Month. Throughout this month, members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Asexual, Interest and Queer communities and their allies - both in Guyana and across the globe - recognise, acknowledge, and celebrate the influences and achievements of the LGBT+ community through the millennia. These communities also use Pride month to highlight the …

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Mothers, Mental Health and Pre-Independence Drama – A review of The Shadow Bride by Roy Heath

May is a month brimming with themes for Guyana. Labour Day, Indian Arrival Day, Mother’s Day and our upcoming 55th Independence all hold heavy historical and cultural significance for us. May is also Mental Health Awareness Month internationally, and Guyana has been making strides to raise awareness of and do more to promote good mental …

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