What is the first thing you wrote?
I used to write stories very much inspired by my grandfather’s books. Very often they imagined children like myself navigating situations and environments wildly out of their control.
Who do you write for?
Myself, first and foremost. I have to be excited by the work, compelled by it.
What was the first Caribbean book you read?
I don’t think I remember the first one. The first one I remember clearly is probably Harriet’s Daughter by M. NourbeSe Phillip.
How many Caribbean writers from the 1940s and 50s could you name? How many women?
Una Marson, Sam Selvon – do Naipaul and Walcott count? Jean Rhys, who I don’t think actually published in either decade. Not enough…
Which writer do you wish you knew more about?
The one I’ve yet to discover of course!
What is the earliest piece of Caribbean writing you have read?
In terms of what I would consider Caribbean, possibly one of J.E. Clare McFarlane’s poems in the Routledge Reader.
Does the Caribbean’s literary past matter to you?
Immensely.
Who are our most important writers today?
I’m not sure I think this is a fair question. By what parameters do we establish ‘importance’? There are numerous writers I find important for a multitude of factors, including the what, the why, and the how of their writing. Not all of the important writers have the readerships I think they deserve, and I fear curating a list of weighty writers may serve only to continue to remove space for the others.
What are you reading now?
Right now, I’m reading quite a bit of fiction. In particular, the novels of Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
