- 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 …
Continue reading A teen mother triumphs in Elizabeth Acevedo’s With the Fire on High
-- 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 …
Continue reading Behold the Saviour Empress in Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko
-- 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 …
Continue reading The triumphs and woes of genius in Premee Mohamed’s Beneath the Rising
-- 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 …
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 …
Continue reading Overcoming post-Emancipation stagnation in Erna Brodber’s The Rainmaker’s Mistake
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 …
Continue reading Magic is Chaos and Catharsis on This One Sky Day in Popisho – A Novel Review
Originally posted on TurkeyenReviews2018. “It was her grandmother talking that Sunday evening when Caesar approached Cora about the underground railroad, and she said no. Three weeks later, she said yes. This time it was her mother talking.” pp. 8 The Underground Railroad is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead. It revolves around Cora, a …
Continue reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Things They Carried is the only book on my list that I have listened to exclusively. This was purely coincidental. My father had bought the audiobook months ago, and for some reason, I was struck with a pang of laziness upon seeing the cover. I just didn’t feel like seeing the words for this …
Social media has been helping me discover so many of my readings. For instance, when I started following Ava DuVernay on Twitter last year, I inevitably stumbled upon her OWN series Queen Sugar during her fan-comment retweets. Most of these comments were mini thankyou-notes that ranged from “thank you for exploring ____ theme” or “I …
Afropunk steered my readings to Nigeria again by introducing me to Binti. I don’t remember what their Facebook post said, but I do remember reading the book's description...
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