Juneteenth and Caribbean American Heritage Month Celebrations

 It was an honor to be a featured poet, alongside Keisha-Gaye Anderson and Lindamichelle Baron on Juneteenth 2025. The event was also held as a part of the Caribbean American Poetry Assocation (CAPA) celebration of Caribbean American Heritage Month at the beautiful Joseph Lloyd Manor House in Long Island, NY. 

Tribute was paid to Jupiter Hammon, the first African American published poet in the United States. Hammon and his ancestors were enslaved at Lloyd Manor House. 

Thanks again to Andrew Tharler of Preservation Long Island for the kind hospitality, to Dr. Beryl Williams of CAPA for inviting me, and to the Huntington Arts Council, and Poets and Writers for funding the event. 

Top 2025 Caribbean Book Blogs - Poets of the Caribbean Made the List!

For the second year in a row, Poets of the Caribbean was ranked in the top 25 Caribbean Book Blogs, in 6th place. This is indeed an honor! Thanks to all my readers and subscribers for your support and comments over the years. Your suggestions and recommendations have been so beneficial.

Here is a link to all the other great Caribbean book blogs:

25 Best Caribbean Book Blogs and Websites in 2025

Caribbean American Poetry Association (CAPA) 2025 Juneteenth Celebration

If you are looking for ways to celebrate Juneteenth this year, as well as National Caribbean American Heritage Month, the Caribbean American Poetry Association, (CAPA) and Preservation Long Island is hosting a free event on Thursday, June 19th. The event is also a tribute to Jupiter Hammon, America's first published black poet.

I am honored to have been invited by CAPA to participate in this year's event. If you are in the Long Island area, I hope that you will join me, Dr. Lindamichelle Baron, Keisha-Gaye Anderson and others for an afternoon of poetry, drama, music, and history. 

The event will be held at Joseph Lloyd Manor, 1 Lloyd Lane, Lloyd Harbor and will begin at 2:00 p.m.

For more details, check out the following link:

Preservation Long Island Juneteenth Event

Hope to see you there!

Happy National Poetry Month, 2025 - Celebrating Poet and Memoirist, Safiya Sinclair

 Happy National Poetry Month!

I hope that you have started the month with interesting poetry to read and events to participate in. Today, I want to highlight Jamaican poet and memoirist, Safiya Sinclair. Safiya was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Her chapbook of poems and essays, Catacombs, was published by Argos Books in 2011.

Her debut poetry collection, Cannibal (University of Nebraska Press, 2016), won the Whiting Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Metcalf Award, the Prairie Schooner Book Prize and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Poetry. It was also a finalist for the Pen America Literary Award, longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the American Library Association selected it as one of its Notable Books of the Year. Impressive! Safiya's other well-deserved awards are too numerous to mention.

I am now reading Safiya's critically acclaimed memoir, How to Say Babylon (Simon & Schuster, 2023). Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Arizona State University.

I would love your feedback on what you are currently reading, whether you have read any of Safiya's works, and how you plan to celebrate poetry month.