Explorando las ciudades de Lucía

Las ciudades de Lucía de la escritora Beatriz Navia Antezana es una novela que atrapa al lector desde los comienzos del libro. Dos características principales son fáciles de detectar a medida que se continúa con la lectura: el delineamiento de los personajes principales, nieta y abuela, como el ensamblaje de su estructura como si fuera un trabajo arquitectónico con un diseño donde se incorporan los saltos temporales junto a las idas y venidas entre San Juan, P.R. y La Paz, Bolivia.

Los datos se presentan como si fueran hilos o fotografías para completar un cuadro. Sin haber visitado Bolivia, la contemplas por la capacidad de la autora de descripción en detalle de los paisajes del altiplano: El Illimani, El Alto, Charazani, La Paz, junto a la variedad de modismos al hablar en español urbano, coloquial, familiar, quechua y aymara. Además, Navia borda la narración utilizando un lenguaje erudito, lírico con símiles y metáforas originales.


El conflicto comienza en San Juan. Una modalidad del tema literario el ubi sunt es reconocible en el texto en los inicios de la obra.
Ubi sunt, ¿dónde está? ¿Dónde está aquello que fue? Y como si fuera una especie de telemaquia, una búsqueda del pasado en este caso datos sobre la vida de una abuela en lugar del padre, su vida se paraliza y sale al encuentro de una verdad.

Siga leyendo @ http://lugaresimaginarios.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/las-ciudades-de-lucia-comentarios/

Literary Forum @ International Book Fair

Casa de las Américas, sub-headquarters of the International Book Fair of Havana, which is dedicated to the Caribbean this year, will hold a literary forum in conjunction with the Book Institute. Foro Caribe: Escritura y contemporaneidad [Caribbean Forum: Writing and the Contemporary World] will be held on February 13, 14 and 15, 2012, from 9:30am to 1:30pm, at the Che Guevara Room at Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba. Admission is free.

The Forum will be a space for lectures and workshops on the writing of the Caribbean and its diasporas, which will have the participation of renowned writers from the region who will be present in Havana for the International Book Fair. This Forum will be a new occasion to welcome researchers, teachers, editors, writers, translators, and readers to Casa de las Américas and will provide a fresh opportunity to reflect on the writing of the Caribbean and its diaspora.

Read comlete article @ http://repeatingislands.com/2012/01/29/foro-caribe-a-forum-on-caribbean-writing-and-the-contemporary-world/

Review Caribbean Anthology

Review by Lisa Dumond from a year back, when the book first appeared.

There can only be one reason why a person would not be a fan of Caribbean fiction, especially fabulist fiction: they simply haven’t had the pleasure of encountering it… yet. Nowhere else will readers find the warm, ready welcome extended by Caribbean storytellers. Now, if you took my strong suggestion and dived into Patrick Chamoiseau’s Chronicle of the Seven Sorrows, you already know this is true, and you’ve been hungering for more.

If you missed Chamoiseau’s brilliant novel, now you can pick up the slack and get started with Whispers From the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction.

The mere fact that it’s edited by the extremely talented Nalo Hopkinson should be enough enticement to lure many readers in. Add to that a truly bone-chilling story by Hopkinson herself — a unique and sinister twist on a familiar plot. Then, take into account the creative magic of the twenty authors featured in this anthology, and you have a sampler tailor-made introduction to the realm of Caribbean fabulist fiction. It’s an introduction not soon forgotten.

Marcia Douglas’ “What the Periwinkle Remember” starts off the compilation perfectly with the blend of mysticism and sensibility that marks this branch of fiction. The excerpt, from Madame Fate, allows us a glimpse into the life of a shape-shifter, her daily struggle for survival and the wonders of her transformation. In “Spurn Babylon,” Tobias S. Buckell brings together the tragedy and hope of the present with the losses of the past and grants the protagonist a chance to bridge that gap. The unquestioning acceptance of the Charlotte Amalie residents embodies the strength and spirit of the people within Caribbean literature.

Read complete article @ http://repeatingislands.com/2012/01/22/caribbean-anthology-whispers-from-the-cotton-tree-root/

Nueva novela por autor Dominicano

Andrés L. Mateo invita a la puesta en circulación de la nueva edición de su novela Pisar los dedos de Dios, la cual será presentada por Olivier Batista Lemaire, el martes 7 de febrero a las 6:30 p.m. en el Foro Pedro Mir de la Librería Cuesta.

Publicada originalmente en el año 1979, con un prólogo del escritor Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Pisar los dedos de Dios es una novela experimental que ha tenido cinco ediciones y que transcurre en un colegio católico en los días finales de la “Era de Trujillo”. Es una visión sicológica profunda de las incertidumbres y presiones de la época, caracterizadas por la polarización entre la vida y la palabra.

Cada capítulo es narrado por un personaje, adquiriendo la dimensión de la novela que trabaja el punto de vista del narrador plural y al final el desenlace convoca a todos los personajes envueltos en una misma trama que parece tejida por el azar.
La Editorial Santuario se siente complacida de poner al alcance del público esta nueva edición de Pisar los dedos de Dios, de Andrés L. Mateo, Premio Nacional de Literatura, autor de numerosos libros de la literatura nacional, columnista galardonado y uno de los escritores dominicanos más conocido. http://dominicanoshoy.com

Interview with Ishion Hutchinson

Ishion Hutchinson was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. He attended the University of the West Indies, Mona, New York University, and received his PhD from the University of Utah. Peepal Tree Press (UK) published his first book, Far District, spring 2010. Recipient of the 2011 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry, he is a Pirogue Fellow and currently teaches at the University of Baltimore. He recently edited the Caribbean Poetry feature in Issue #17 of Poetry International.

Can you comment on the significance of the title, “Far District?

The title is really literal. It is trying to call to mind the idea of a territory, situated in time and space, away from the metropolis. A place outside of the centre, but not lacking its own centres. The word “district” is always a rural location for the Jamaican, and can carry pejorative overtones, so a far district is even deeper in the country, deeper away from the polis where thoughts are shaped and officiated. The logic there is of the land, what can be ruled and cultivated, and what cannot, but is endured. In the country, the real deep country, a man says “I will build here,” and he makes something sufficient for himself. This is not as utopian as it may appear; the natural elements are there to contend with, from clearing the land, to greater unpredictable issues like bad weather. There are unnatural elements to worry about too, namely, another man. I don’t think one can build without a permit even in a minor city. In a way, to add to the image of far, true solitude can only be found in the country, the district in the distance, and solitude is one of the main positions of the voice in the title poem itself. The solitude isn’t romantic, though, it is constant bewilderment. I think solitude in the city—if it can be found—amounts to loneliness, and that one gets nostalgic for what is in nature that is greater than ourselves: the mountains, the sea, the forest, stillness.

Read the interview @ http://arcthemagazine.com/arc/2012/01/ishion-hutchinson-interview-in-poetry-international/

Jamaican Family in 70s London

Mr. Alexander by author Roger H. Panton is an intriguing story of deceit within a Jamaican family in ’70s London. In this book, readers will follow the Alexander family through their journey with those who are around them – it is a literary piece laced with intriguing scenes, unforgettable characters and an absorbing storyline.

Jamaican born Mr. Alexander loses his wife in a tragic accident. Six months later, Mr. Alexander’s son is born to Carmen, a friend of his daughter Mavis. As soon as the police renew their interest in the death of Mrs. Alexander, Mr. Alexander flees London to join Carmen and his newborn son in New York but things don’t go according to plan. Life seems to hang in the balance for Mr. Alexander and the only person who can set things right is daughter Mavis, but will she? More surprises await readers as the whole story unfolds in Mr. Alexander.

Intriguing, eye-opening, and filled with emotions, Mr. Alexander is a riveting read that everyone will surely find enjoyable and interesting.

Read complete article @ http://www.jamaicanliterature.com/2011/12/mr-alexander-a-book-by-roger-h-panton/

Feria del Libro en Cuba

The 2012 edition will be dedicated to Caribbean literature, and Cuba’s Arte y Literatura Publishers will offer a full catalog of books and authors from this geographical area.

February is already her and with it arrives the high point for literature in Cuba. February 9, the 21st International Book Fair begins in San Carlos de La Cabaña Fortress and other places in the capital, then as customary it will expand towards all corners of the Island. A special characteristic of the 2012 edition is that the guest of honor is not a single country but the culture of all the peoples of the Caribbean basin.

With the designated “Caribbean literature” fixed in its sights, the Cuban Book Fair will thus welcome this great cultural diversity and linguistic plurality (French, English, Spanish, Dutch), bathed by the waters of the Caribbean sea.

This vast geographical territory, which has deserved its title as the American Mediterranean, not only embraces the Greater Antilles – the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Española (containing two states: Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and the insular group named the Lesser Antilles – but also countries of Central America and South America with coastal areas fronting the Caribbean.

In addition to geographical proximity, they share centuries of greater European metropolitan colonialism and interference from the powerful neighbor to the north, as well as the imprints of slavery and the violent and traumatic processes of decolonization and emigration, which have forged common codes in the history and culture of the Caribbean community.

However, such links have not been enough for these neighboring peoples to recognize each other through their literature, among other reasons because authors of the Caribbean region are not usually a focus of interest for the world’s main publishing centers.

So the current convocation of the Book Fair presents a wonderful opportunity, but it’s demanded a remarkable effort by national publishing houses eager to bring Caribbean literature closer to the assiduous Cuban reader.

Read complete article @ http://www.cubanow.net/pages/articulo.php?sec=17&t=2&item=10249

New Anthology: Near Open Water

Disturbing in its honesty, this anthology by Keith Jardim, Near Open Water: Stories (Peepal Tree Press Ltd, $18.95) focuses a sharp yet intimate eye upon the people of the Caribbean. The characters face problems of freedom, history, race, class, violence, entrapment, and morality. Theirs is a region in constant flux, trying to break away from its dehumanizing past while uncertain of how to manage the present and plan for the future. Unflinching in its portrayal of the realities of Caribbean life, these dark short stories also find solace in the natural beauty of the region.

Casa Awards for African-Cuban Women

In the 53rd Casa de la Américas Literary Awards, Caribbean winners included Haitian writer Gary Victor for his novel Le sang et la mer, with a special mention for Guadalupe’s Gisèle Pineau for her Morne Câpresse. Two Cuban essayists were also conferred prizes for their works on African-American/Afro-Cuban women; Zuleica Romay won the first prize in the category on Black Presence in the Americas and the Contemporary Caribbean for her essay “Elogio de la altea o las paradojas de la racialidad.” In this same category, the special mention went to Inés M. Martiatu with “¿Y las negras qué? Pensando el afrofeminismo en Cuba.”

Full article @ http://repeatingislands.com/2012/01/28/casa-de-la-americas-awards-afro-cuban-women-discuss-afro-cuban-women/

Mayra Santos Febres & the Contemporary Caribbean

Lección errante: Mayra Santos Febres y el Caribe contemporáneo is the first book of critical essays on Mayra Santos-Febres, one of the Caribbean’s most versatile writers, and arguably the first Latin American Afro-Hispanic literary celebrity. The collection examines the unique poetic universe of Santos-Febres, populated by “wandering” beings such as immigrants, transvestites and sex-workers, whose fictional voices rise up against their long-standing socio-historic marginalization. Lección errante delves into Santos-Febres’ public persona, revealing her as an emblem of a new generation of Latin American writers who shuttle comfortably between fiction, poetry, and the scholarly essay; between printed media and virtual technologies; between the traditionally intellectual arena and the popular culture scene.

Reflecting the variety of media and locations that Santos-Febres’ work engages, Lección errante includes an interview, a bibliography, and academic articles by emergent and established scholars from Latin America, Europe and the United States, studying Santos-Febres’ novels, poetry, essays, and blog. The collection also highlights Santos-Febres’ role as mentor to younger writers of the region, and the broader lessons that her works offer on the changing contemporary trends in postcolonial and neocolonial writing and criticism.


Contributors include Debra Castillo, Carmen Oquendo-Villar, Annette Passapera, Rubén Ríos Ávila, Radost Rangelova, Irune del Río Gabiola, Rosana Díaz-Zambrana, Margaret Shrimpton, Elvira Sánchez-Blake, Guillermo Irizarry and Chrissy B. Arce.

Lección errante: Mayra Santos Febres y el Caribe contemporáneo. Edited by Nadia V Celis and Juan Pablo Rivera. (San Juan, P.R.: Isla Negra Editores, 2011)

Source: Repeating Islands 2011

Premiere of “Maryse Condé, une voix singulière”


The documentary film Maryse Condé, une voix singulière, directed by Jérôme Sesquin, was screened for the first time in the United States yesterday February 2, 2012 at the Earl Hall Auditorium, Columbia University in New York. The screening was presented by scriptwriter Françoise Vergès and followed by a question and answer period with Maryse Condé (in English).

Maryse Condé, une voix singulière (2011; 52 minutes; in French without subtitles), which premiered on French television in December 2011, retraces the life of celebrated author Maryse Condé. Born in Guadeloupe in 1937, she published over a dozen novels exploring the relationships between African peoples and the Diaspora and led a distinguished academic career in France and the U.S. Maryse Condé retired from Columbia University as Professor Emerita of French in 2005. The film includes interviews conducted in Paris, New York, French Guiana, and the Caribbean, as well as archival footage.

Watch Maryse Condé, une voix singulière

The documentary can also be downloaded from http://download-documentaire.blogspot.com/2012/01/france-5-empreintes-maryse-conde-une.html

George Castera to be Honored

Haitian poet Georges Castera will be honored in the 2012 Étonnants Voyageurs Literary Festival. The festival, which takes place from February 1 to 4 in Haiti, has as its main theme this year, “L’encre est ma demeure” [Ink is My Home], the title from Georges Castera’s work, paying tribute to the author, who will also be the writer of honor in the Livres en Folie book fair in Port-au-Prince, in June 7, 2012.

Read full article @ http://repeatingislands.com/2012/01/28/georges-castera-to-be-honored-in-the-2012-etonnants-voyageurs-festival/

Underway

By Quito Nicolaas

If my soul could think
between the walls
of colonialism,
my mind would have spoken.

Out of my mouth
came words
of an ignored
nostalgia

Obstinate wind,
splurge in Hooiberg
awake others.

Give up a place,
so the elderly hear
how each morning
breathe the freedom.

Make place,
so the elderly can hear
how each morning
breathes freedom.

As my conscience
cease to trouble me
memories will continue.

From: © Bos pa Planta 2011

Bos pa Planta is available @ www.bookishplaza.com