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
Get to Know Our New Artist-in-Residence
Her creative work includes her recently published poetry collection The Mother Island which won 2nd place in the 2021 FCLE competition. The collection deals with matters of identity, motherhood and womanhood in the Caribbean.
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!
Caribbean Celluloid: Telling Our Stories on Film
“One Love. That’s right, this session is about film – not just that film though, but Caribbean film more broadly and specifically ones I’ve seen this half year. Twice in the case of Bob Marley: One Love.”
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.
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.
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.
The Imprecise Science of Character Naming
A recurring thought, so far, has been names/identity/labels as I navigate who these characters are, what they call themselves and, because we live in a social reality, what they are called by others.
Get to Know Our Artist-in-Residence
Joanne, or Jhohadli, is one of Antigua and Barbuda’s most prominent contemporary writers. Having contributed to the growth of the literary scene on a local, regional, and international scale, she has published eight books of fiction…
A Place for Theory: Finding Ceremony at the Black Feminisms Forum
On the opening night of the 2024 “Global Black Feminisms Forum: Building Black Feminist Worlds,” the first of its kind in Barbados, Amina Doherty offered a politics of gathering punctuated by rituals of speaking and movement.
Coming Soon: Teach-In Series
Intersect Antigua-Barbuda is pleased to announce its upcoming inaugural teach-in series.
Coming Soon: Artist-In-Residence
Intersect Antigua-Barbuda is pleased to announce its forthcoming inaugural series, The Artist-In-Residence programme.
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.
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.
Save the Earth
I struggle to breathe
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
Continuously you feed.
I am living in fear.
Blackout
When the lights go off, and on, off- again-on-again, and finally out, tea light candles glow in every bedroom, two in every washroom.
Two haikus about the darkened sky and after
darkness at midday
the volcano next door flew
Connected to the Earth
You come to Sell
Your craft everyday
Tourist come to buy
Glass, plastic, shell.
Milk in Bush Tea
By sunup, Soufrière have the country inside out. Bryna cyar recognize he farm; the North Pole like it move to Orange Hill, bringing heat instead ah cold.
Strayed Child of Hairouna
You used to tell people about the volcano in your island with a kind of pride, the life source of the island-- a natural phenomenon that humbles even the most arrogant. Is it still active? People would usually ask. Could blow at any time you respond.