Coming to Poets of the Caribbean...

Dear readers,

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about Cherry Natural, our August poet. I am excited to share with you a sneak preview of upcoming posts and new features. First, stay tuned as I highlight a French Caribbean poet in September. This will be the first francophone poet highlighted on the blog, in keeping with my promise to provide balanced coverage of English, Spanish and French Caribbean poets.

Also, October will be the one-year anniversary of Poets of the Caribbean. Yeah! Thanks to all you readers who have visited the blog over these past months. Some of you left thoughtful comments for which I am grateful. I have been pleasantly surprised at the wide geographic readership so far, and the range of poets and topics that you are interested in. I am glad that you found my blog and look forward to sharing with you the works of many Caribbean poets.

Which leads me to my next announcement. In October, I will be having some surprise giveaways, so be sure to check in with me regularly so that you don't miss out. One such surprise will be the giveaway of my October poet's first collection. I will also be picking your brain with a poll to see what you would like to see on Poets of the Caribbean as we move into another year.

So, thanks again for checking in and stay tuned!

Cherry Natural's Writings

Below are more details on Cherry's works:

• Come Meck We Reason (1989)
• Her poems also appear in the anthology, Utterances and Incantations: Women, Poetry, and Dub (Sister Vision Press, 1999)
• Earth Woman: Selected Poems, 1989-2001. (Rastazumska Productions, 2003)

Cherry was also nominated for a Reggaesoca Award in 2000, in the category of best dub poet. And, I believe I also mentioned in a previous post that this talented poet also has a black belt and is a martial arts instructor. Phenomenal woman!

PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award goes to Jamaican Poet

Jamaican poet, Ishion Hutchinson, has won the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for his first collection, Far District. Read more here for the full story in the Jamaica Gleaner. Far District is a publication of London-based Peepal Tree Press.

This is a great achievement, especially for a debut collection. Congratulations from Poets of the Caribbean, Ishion. Excellent!

National Book Festival 2011

If you are going to be in the DC area in September, check out the 2011 National Book Festival.  Cedella Marley will be among the many authors participating this year.

Be sure to try and connect with some of the poets as well, such as Yusef Komunyakaa,

See you there!

Thanks to Kind Reviewers

Reviews of any kind help writers to hone their craft, so it is great when readers take the time to share their reflections.Through this post, I am expressing sincere (and a little overdue) appreciation to two reviewers who recently took the time to  write favorable reviews about my first poetry collection, From Cane Field to the Sea.

First, thanks to Helen Frazer, for her comprehensive and thoughtful review which she posted on Amazon.com.

Thanks also to Melanie, who posted her review on Goodreads, after winning a copy of the book.

Sincere thanks as well to Jennifer Brown-Banks of Pen and Prosper  for sharing some of the poems on the Coffee House for Writers Blog during Poetry Month.

So, a lot of love shown to my book so far. As a fledgling writer, this is very encouraging.

Thanks to you all.

Dub Poetry and a Cherry Natural Performance

Dub poetry originated in Jamaica during the 1970s, and evolved from dub music. Its popularity grew and spread to Canada and England. In dub poetry, the poet performs,  accompanied by musical instruments, such as drums, guitars, etc. For more information on dub poetry, see Geoffrey Philps' primer on the origins of dub poetry. See also Wikipedia's take on dub poetry.

In addition to Cherry Natural, other notable dub poets are Linton Kwesi Johnson, Oku Onuora, Benjamin Zephaniah, Lillian Allen, Mutabaruka and Afua Cooper.

Here in this video, Cherry Natural performs her poem, Be You. Enjoy.

Cherry Natural (Marcia Wedderburn)

Cherry Natural (aka Marcia Wedderburn) is an internationally acclaimed dub poet. Cherry is Jamaican and has been performing dub poetry since 1979. I had the pleasure of seeing her perform recently at the Jazz in the Garden program held in June in Kingston, Jamaica, and what a performance!

Cherry Natural

I am pleased to feature Cherry as my August poet. She is also a motivational speaker, holds a black belt and is a martial arts instructor (Hmm, based on my previous post, Cherry and I have something in common, an interest in karate). This versatile poet focuses on social, political and economic issues, as well as women's rights.

Cherry has published two poetry collections so far, and has also done recordings.

Stay tuned throughout this month for more on this fascinating poet.