Inspired by the archives
A collection of seven commissioned creative works, developed in partnership between writers, CLH, and the NGC Bocas Lit Fest.
Featuring the work of Andre Bagoo, Kendel Hippolyte, Anu Lakhan, Breanne Mc Ivor, Celeste Mohammed, Alyea Pierce, and Alexandra Stewart. More information on each of the writers is available below.
[…] The work made by these seven writers, collected here, forms its own archive of the imagination. For me, the best result of this partnership would be more creative writing, in diverse and unpredictable forms, styles, and voices, extending the astonishingly rich tapestry of Caribbean writing through engagement with the archives of our past.
Nicholas Laughlin, July 2022
Inspired by the Archives Writers
Andre Bagoo
The Agony and Ecstasy of Eric Williams, inspired by the archive of Eric Williams (2018)
Andre Bagoo is a poet and writer from Trinidad. His poetry has appeared in Boston Review, Cincinnati Review, St. Petersburg Review, PN Review, POETRY, and The Poetry Review. He won the Charlotte and Isidor Paiewonsky prize in 2017.
Kendel Hippolyte
The Fire’s Light, inspired by the St. Lucia Folk Research Centre (2019)
Kendel Hippolyte is a poet, playwright, director, and sporadic research of St. Lucian and Caribbean arts and culture. He won the St. Lucia Medal of Merit (Gold) for Contribution to the Arts. His book Fault Lines won the OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry in 2013.
Anu Lakhan
Snow Woman, inspired by the archive of Eric Roach (2018)
Anu Lakhan is a writer and editor. Her poetry, fiction, and sometimes-experimental literary criticism have appeared in Poetry, sx salon, Bomb, Wasafiri, and other Caribbean and not-Caribbean spaces. She lives in Trinidad and Tobago.
Breanne Mc Ivor
How I Wrote My First (Publishable) Novel, inspired by the archive of Derek Walcott (2018)
Breanne Mc Ivor was born and raised in West Trinidad. She studied English at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh. In 2015, she won The Caribbean Writer’s David Hough Literary Prize.
Celeste Mohammed
Hart’s Cut, inspired by the archive of Edric Connor (2019)
Celeste Mohammed is a lawyer turned author. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, she graduated from Lesley University with an MFA in Creative Writing. She won the 2018 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, the 2017 John D. Gardner Memorial Prize for Fiction, and the 2019 Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction.
Alyea Pierce
Three poems, inspired by the archive of Kathleen Warner (2020)
Alyea Pierce is a National Geographic Explorer, Fulbright alumna, and spoken word poet and researcher. She uses her creative work with poetry, spoken word, audio, and photography to examine oral storytelling and folklore traditions in Carnival celebrations across the African diaspora.
Alexandra Stewart
Postcard Women, inspired by the Michael Goldberg Postcard Collection (2019)
Alexandra Stewart is the only two-time champion and the first person to win Trinidad and Tobago’s First Citizens National Poetry Slam. She is one of the most awarded spoken word poets in the Caribbean. When she’s not on stage, she teaches spoken word poetry, English, and English literature.
“
The archives are a time machine. The door
is open. Will you step inside?
Alexandra Stewart
