sx salon 4

April 2011

Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, by Edwidge Danticat

This month two new Caribbean literary Prizes were awarded to giants in the field. Earl Lovelace was awarded the first Grand Prize for Caribbean Literature by the Regional Council of Guadeloupe for his new novel Is Just a Movie, and Derek Walcott was awarded the first OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature in Trinidad for his recently published collection of poetry, White Egrets. Both prizes come with substantial monetary awards and have garnered much interest due to small number of regional prizes. When we launched the Small Axe Literary Competition three years ago, we did so because there were very few competitions dedicated to Caribbean writers and fewer, if any, for unpublished writers. We’re happy to see the support for Caribbean writers growing, particularly as new and interesting writers continue to emerge.

In this issue of sx salon, we publish poetry from two of those emerging voices, Monica Minott, first-prize winner of the 2009 Small Axe Literary Competition, and Keisha-Gaye Anderson, who was shortlisted in the 2010 competition. Also in “Poetry & Prose” is a peek at a memoir-in-progress from Patricia Powell. We have a similar mix of emerging and established voices in “Interviews,” where Lakshmi Persaud discusses the beginnings of her career and what motivates her to continue, five novels later. We also hear from Anthony Williams, editor of Caribbean Book Blog, who has recently published his first novel.

Also in this issue is our first review of a theatrical performance: Soyica Colbert reviews a production of Derek Walcott’s Ti-Jean and His Brothers staged at Boston University earlier this year. We also publish reviews of two academic monographs—Sonjah Stanley-Niaah’s Dancehall: From Slaveship to Ghetto and Michaeline Crichlow’s Globalization and the Post-Creole Imagination. Rounding out the “Reviews” section is a review of Austin Clarke’s novel, More.

This issue’s “Discussion” section features a discussion of Edwidge Datnticat’s Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, winner in the nonfiction category of the OCM Bocas Prize. J. Michael Dash, Elizabeth Duchanaud, and Martin Munro each offer thoughts in short articles on Danticat’s collection of essays, and Danticat’s response is as open and engaging as the pieces in Create Dangerously.

To return to where I began, I close with the reminder that the 2011 Small Axe Literary Competition is open for poetry and short prose submissions until May 31. We hope you enjoy the April issue of sx salon (table of contents below).

Kelly Baker Josephs

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Table of Contents

Introduction and Table of Contents—Kelly Baker Josephs

Reviews

Derek Walcott’s Ti-Jean and His Brothers (Boston University production)—Soyica Diggs Colbert
Dancehall: From Slaveship to Ghetto, by Sonjah Stanley-Niaah—Erin MacLeod
More, by Austin Clarke—Asha Jeffers
Globalization and the Post-Creole Imagination, by Michaeline A. Crichlow—Milagros Ricourt