Katherine Verhagen Rodis

In the summer of 2005, the late Rex Nettleford (1933-2010) graciously agreed to meet with me to discuss the works of Louise Bennett (1919-2006). Nettleford edited Bennett’s collection of Jamaican English verse, Jamaica Labrish (1966), and remained one of the foremost experts of “Miss Lou Studies” alongside writer and critic Mervyn Morris. Nettleford was an author, academic, cultural activist, and co-founder of Jamaica’s National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC). Among his many professional accomplishments in the Caribbean region, he was an editor of Caribbean Quarterly, a Cultural Adviser to the government of Jamaica, a Professor at and Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, and a CARIFESTA (Caribbean Arts Festivals) Consultant. (more…)

Jérémie Kroubo Dagnini

Carolyn Cooper holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of the West Indies, Mona, and a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Professor Cooper is a creative and innovative Jamaican scholar whose work in Jamaican life has generated a tremendous interest in the fields of Cultural Studies, Gender Studies and Caribbean Studies. Among her numerous publications, Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender and the “Vulgar” Body of Jamaican Popular Culture (1993) and Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large (2004) must be mentioned. Carolyn Cooper is an indisputable authority on dancehall culture. She is currently Professor of Literatures in English at UWI, Mona. (more…)

Sara Florian 

Lasana M. Sekou is the author of 13 books of poetry, monologues, and short stories. He is a leading St. Martin writer and is considered as one of the prolific Caribbean poets of his generation. Sekou has presented papers and recited his poetry at cultural and literary conferences and festivals all around the world. Lasana M. Sekou is an advocate for the independence of St. Martin, which is a colony of France and the Netherlands. (more…)

Marika Preziuso

Achy Obejas is a Cuban-American journalist and writer based in Chicago. She left Cuba when she was six and lived most of her adult life in Chicago, where she worked as a freelance journalist for the Chicago Tribune.  Her first fictional work was the 1994 collection of short-stories  We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?, followed by the acclaimed novels Memory Mambo (1996), Days of Awe (2001), and recently Havana Luna, (2009) and Ruins, (2009). In 2008, Achy translated Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer-prize winning novel, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao into Spanish. This interview was conducted on 13 June, 2007. (more…)