Babel and Babylon: Confronting Systems of Silence and Violence represented in novels by Cherie Jones and Kei Miller
Artist-In-Residence Jacinth Browne-Howard Artist-In-Residence Jacinth Browne-Howard

Babel and Babylon: Confronting Systems of Silence and Violence represented in novels by Cherie Jones and Kei Miller

There is so much more to say about how these women demonstrate feminist consciousness by fighting for themselves in the worst and most dire situations. There are so many more credits to attribute to the authors of these texts whose use of narratology, both in fiction and nonfiction, activates knowledge and clarifies absences about women which remained hidden historically

Read More
Frig It! Screenplay for a not-yet-produced short film by Joanne C. Hillhouse
Artist-In-Residence Joanne C. Hillhouse Artist-In-Residence Joanne C. Hillhouse

Frig It! Screenplay for a not-yet-produced short film by Joanne C. Hillhouse

Irma swings the flashlight toward the gap where the door and window used to be.

Water gushes through both openings. A TEARING metallic sound. Irma swings the flashlight toward the roof. Another part of the GALVANIZE roof rips away. Cresilla’s scream cuts off when she looks up and glimpses a red-chested figure with black cape.

CRESILLA, in wonder, voice carrying in excitement: Frig it!

Read More
Don’t sleep on Caribbean Fantasy and Science Fiction: Caribbean Futurism (A Reflection on 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚, 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝘵𝘰𝑟𝑒, 𝑅𝑒𝘵𝑢𝑟𝑛)
Artist-In-Residence Joanne C. Hillhouse Artist-In-Residence Joanne C. Hillhouse

Don’t sleep on Caribbean Fantasy and Science Fiction: Caribbean Futurism (A Reflection on 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚, 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝘵𝘰𝑟𝑒, 𝑅𝑒𝘵𝑢𝑟𝑛)

My current reading is not by design but it’s a good jumping off point for reflection on how spec fic, or Caribbean futurism, is in many ways the type of fiction we need when the world is at its most volatile or uncertain.   

Read More
Object Permanence
Artist-In-Residence Joanne C. Hillhouse Artist-In-Residence Joanne C. Hillhouse

Object Permanence

On the page, as in life, people (characters) have things that mean something to them; that come to symbolize things in the greater context of the story. For me, the key is not to force it (what a character’s thing is) but to discover it over the course of revisions.

Read More
What Can Story Do?
Artist-In-Residence Joanne C. Hillhouse Artist-In-Residence Joanne C. Hillhouse

What Can Story Do?

I’m not a scientist nor a politician, but, climate change is real and writing is how I process life. The creative process compels me to grapple with whatever anxiety, and frankly fear, I may be feeling about our current and near future reality.

Read More
Guyana, Venezuela, and Colonialism
Intersect Intersect

Guyana, Venezuela, and Colonialism

Although the current lines dividing South America and the Caribbean were drawn by colonial powers and do not reflect the reality of the indigenous residents prior to colonisation, it is nevertheless important to recognise that the indigenous Caribbean people – in addition to the afro-Caribbean and indo-Caribbean people – living in the Essequibo region consider themselves Guyanese. This fact alone should warrant an end to the dispute.

Read More
Transnational Feminism and Gender-Based Violence
Intersect Intersect

Transnational Feminism and Gender-Based Violence

A world released from the vicious grip of gender-based violence demands building movements across borders and regions. It calls for us to agitate for Palestine’s liberation, to push for an end to the war in Sudan and assist those displaced by it, and to protest the neocolonial forces keeping the Democratic Republic of the Congo in conflict and its people exploited for resources that power our societies. It calls for us to stand with Guyana and the people of the Essequibo region – many of whom are indigenous – who are at risk of being uprooted from their homes in the face of potential annexation by Venezuela. It requires that we engage in direct action and work to elevate the Caribbean’s collective consciousness through education and the co-creation of feminist thought.

Read More