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.
Since 2011, ArtsEtc has published a list of twelve books by Barbadian authors in time for the country’s Independence celebrations November 30. The IndyList—as we simply call it—cosponsored by the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Committee and The Bajan Reporter, has been part of an annual literacy campaign involving activities with local bookseller Days Books for World Book Day in March.
One of those activities has been Read2Me!: it seeks to engage young readers with workshops and readings especially designed for them. The IndyList reviews, which provide a guide to selected works, have also grown into an informal yet coherent introductory “reader” to writers and books worth discovering. The Bridgetown Literary Tours, organized in association with Esther Philips, Barbados’ Poet Laureate, was a popular alternative, taking patrons on a bus ride around the capital with local writers as their guides.
Long before these initiatives, however, there was Green Readings. ArtsEtc’s literary activism began properly with these open-air performances sponsored in partnership with Barbados’ Ministry of Environment. Launched in 2008, these Environment Month events featured a mix of words, music, food, video, and visual arts.
One of ArtsEtc’s goals as an independent Barbadian publishing company and cultural forum established in 2003 has been to provide leading and emerging artists and thinkers spaces to be read, seen and heard. Our sponsorship of the NIFCA Winning Words anthologies (2011-present) reflects a significant commitment to providing the best channels to bring Barbadian Literature to the fore, whether the voices are new or established. A general anthology, covering writing from the modern era to the present age, is in the works.
Our profiles of the top winners of the Frank Collymore Literary Awards extend our efforts, as do our blogs, features, and social media shout-outs and sharing on the literature, though our general purview is all the Barbadian art we can cover. A number of Colly winners have gone on to publish their work nationally and internationally, proving Barbados’ most lucrative literary competition for unpublished manuscripts remains a reliable sounding ground for the best this nation’s writers have to offer. An overview of these writers and their works may be found here.
Welcome to ArtsEtc’s Literary Map of Barbados. Enjoy the exploring.
Linda & Rob
The Editors
