ArtsEtc notes with sadness the passing of Karen Elaine Austin, former managing director of Days Books. 

Karen, who was born in Manchester, England to Barbadian parents, died in June, aged 60, after a prolonged battle with cancer. 

MAPPING BARBADOS’ LITSCAPE is an ArtsEtc project to track and document Barbados’ very rich and diverse literary tradition.  At our house, the need to better connect readers to this landscape and region has taken many forms over the years.
  

Read2Me!, ArtsEtc’s latest literary adventure, is up and running.

The six-week pilot programme sends writers and storytellers into schools and other venues to read to and engage with young people.

It began January 10, 2015, and forms part of a joint literacy outreach by Writers Ink and ArtsEtc, and is sponsored by Oxford University Press (OUP), Days Books and Apex Eye Clinic.

Three Barbadian primary schools (Milton Lynch, Grantley Prescod Memorial and St. Margaret’s) are the first to benefit along with Days Books serving as a fourth venue for the sessions.