Caribbean authors “have a home” with the CARICON- The list of participants keeps growing.

By: Staff Writer

May 25, 2021

A major literary conference for the Caribbean is being held virtually this June with the organiser saying that Caribbean authors finally “have a home,” as the list of participating countries just keeps growing.

Steve Russell, founder and director of the Caribbean Literary Conference (CARICON), told Caribbean Magazine Plus that this will be the first year that an official CARICON will be hosted but his organisation has been hosting literary events for the past four years now, which ultimately morphed into the CARICON being held virtually between June 4 and 6.

He added: “This is the second time that we are hosting an event of this nature in the virtual space and we expect to see larger attendance because attendees are familiar with the caliber of event we produced, and they have been spreading the word. COVID has allowed us to reach more people throughout the Caribbean diaspora and that in of itself is a good thing. While it is difficult to predict attendee numbers on virtual events, we expect great support based on our registrations so far.”

Mr Russell also said: “The list of participating countries continues to grow each year as the word spreads. This year there are 12 different countries represented, namely Trinidad & Tobago, US Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Barbados, Panama, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Montserrat and Canada.

Despite the on-boarding of more countries for this year’s event, major changes had to be made to accommodate all of the new participants. One major change was the structuring of the programming, something Mr Russell said: “Most of our sessions are typically one hour long in order to encourage more engagement and to add value to both the presenter and attendee. 

“Furthermore the virtual production, yes, I call it a production because that is what it is – requires more pre-planning to pull off a successful event. One has to take into consideration the different internet connectivity in different areas of the Caribbean when you book speakers and workarounds that you may have to institute if someone’s internet fails. The platform you use to deliver the content to the audience also helps to shape the experience and that in itself is another beast. Luckily, I have a great team who works tirelessly to pull it off.”

This year’s theme is the “REBIRTH,” with all things considered with the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Russell said: “2020 has dealt everyone a blow with the pandemic that we thought the most fitting theme for 2021 should be REBIRTH. One can interpret this in both a literal and figurative sense. We have structured our programming to reflect that by dealing with the cultural and folklore sessions on Friday June 4th. On Saturday the main focus is on the literary ‘meat and potatoes’ of the conference. We like to say we are Digging Deep and then on June 6, the closing day we are looking at the New Wave, a renewed and futuristic approach to the Caribbean from a literary space but also from an environmental and economic sense. Topics such as the Creative Economy & Tourism, as well as and Climate Change is in discussion.

This CARICON’s sponsors have responded to the call as the core sponsors like the Jamaica Tourist Board, Dominican Republic Tourism Board, Jamaica Cultural Alliance and Brer Anancy Press have been with Mr Russell from day one. He added: “They continue to believe in the value and purpose of what we do at CARICON. I am very encouraged with the interest of local Caribbean based small businesses especially during these COVID times. It’s more difficult getting a response from the larger entities because most have put a freeze on their sponsorship budget. We also encourage friends of CARICON to visit our website and make a tax deductible donation if they would like to see us continue the work we do to bring awareness to Caribbean Literature.”

Mr Russell also said: “At the end of these three days of CARICON, I hope that attendees leave feeling that their time was well spent and they have garnered some tools to help them take their writing to the next level. We have over 13 free panel discussions on topics from Herbs and Healing to the future of the Caribbean Creative Economy for Sustainability and low cost workshops dealing with Folklore, Perspectives in Young Adult literature and even Book Adaptation for Television and Film. So, we have a great lineup of activities to whet the appetite of any literary enthusiast or novice.”

With all of the work being put into the CARICON for this year, authors can expect a lot of benefits from being a part. Mr Russell said, “One of the major reasons to attend CARICON is to connect with the movers and shakers of the literary industry. Connect and network so that you can build relationships that lead to either project collaborations or deal making with literary experts such as agents and publishers. We connect authors with book lovers while providing a space that is 95 percent Caribbean focused. Attendees also learn and explore new approaches to publishing and branding which is very important in this new digital age.”

Mr Russell also said, “Simply put, I think our tagline sums it up perfectly, CARICON – “A Celebration of Caribbean Literature.” The conference is here to help promote and elevate our work as people of the Caribbean diaspora who have been overlooked and left out. We have great stories to tell and nobody can tell our stories better than we can, so… let’s get to writing because now you have a home.”