From “Eeky Freaky” in Trinidad to winning short-story awards in America!

By: Staff Writer

November 9, 2021

The Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) has garnered a lot of attention for the calibre of Caribbean writers they are promoting, none is more interesting than one of this year’s winners.

Patrice Grell Yursik, Trinidadian born Chicagoan, told Caribbean Magazine Plus about her winning the 2021 BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writer’s Award:  “I am so excited, honoured, and delighted to have won. This is my first official award, the only thing I’ve won before for my fiction was an honorary mention in the Derek Walcott Writing Contest back in 2005. I have won blogging awards for Afrobella.com and a NABJ award for my Miami spa review column back in 2008, but nothing for my fiction before. This feels like such a significant achievement for me. “

Her entry, “Daughter 4,” is a semi-serious take on a daughter’s interaction with her somewhat wayward father and his nonchalant approach to serious matters of the family. You can read her entry here.

Patrice’s love for writing goes back to her high school days where she said, “There wasn’t much focus on creative writing back in that time of my life. I wrote poetry extensively in that time and published under the pseudonym “Eeeky Freaky” in Trinidad Guardian’s The Zone section from let’s say 1995 to 1998 maybe.”

“I am one of those people who have always wanted to be a writer, it’s in my spirit. Since I was young, I knew this would be my path, to be a storyteller. Authors like Samuel Selvon, Olive Senior, and Jamaica Kincaid inspired me, before I knew what I wanted to do with my life, I knew I wanted to write these kinds of stories. Our stories.”

Patrice was born and raised in Trinidad and when she was small, her family home was in Belmont. She also said: “By the time I was 4, my parents had moved us to a brand-new townhouse complex called Westmoorings-by-the-sea. I remember the area when it was just townhouses petering out to a dirt and gravel track down to the seawall. So much has changed!”

She added: “I migrated from Trinidad in 1998, to attend the University of Miami. There, I received a BSc in communications (film scriptwriting) and double majored in creative writing, fiction. I was invited to stay on with a full scholarship for my MFA in creative writing fiction and graduated in 2004. After that, I was hired at the Miami New Times, first as assistant calendar editor and then calendar editor. I stayed at the paper until 2009. I started Afrobella.com in 2006, and became an early adopter and pioneer in the beauty blogging space, shining a light on natural hair and finding a new career path in the process. I’ve been blogging ever since, and began working full time for myself as a blogger and freelance writer in 2009. Now I live in downtown Chicago with my husband and our two cats, Max and Kippy.”

Chuckstr.com 2014

She likes genuine people and engaging conversations, books that pull her in and make her want to keep reading, she also likes delicious, hearty meals made with love, living a peaceful and happy life with her husband and their kitties along with the catharsis that writing can bring.

She hates uncomfortable clothing, and doesn’t care for disingenuous social climbers, “I don’t enjoy the texture or smell of bananas, I don’t like most reality television shows because the energy seems so fake and toxic,” she said.

Such a rich spirit must have energy for more meaty books, but she doesn’t have any books she has penned yet but it is “in the works.” She added: “I’m finally ready to begin some book projects.

“I’m actively looking for the right contests and literary publications to submit to — as soon as my next stories feel complete!”

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