Datebook | Events calendar (Mar/Apr 2018)
Events around the Caribbean in March and April, from Guyana’s Easter Regatta to Carnival in Jamaica and St Patrick’s Day in Montserrat
Issue 150 (March/April 2018)
Embark
Word of mouth (Mar/Apr 2018)
The bright colours of Guyana’s Phagwah celebrations mingle into a shade of unity, and Sint Maarten’s annual Carnival defies the ravages of Hurricane Irma
A Commonwealth Games gold relay repeat? | The game
As the Commonwealth Games open in Australia’s Gold Coast, can Trinidad & Tobago’s 4×400 relay team, the reigning world champions, repeat their victory? Kwame Laurence reports
Bookshelf (Mar/Apr 2018) | Book reviews
This month’s reading picks, with reviews of The Tower of the Antilles; The Dear Remote Nearness of You; Kingston Buttercup; Writing on Water; Pocomania and London Calling
Screenshots (Mar/Apr 2018) | Film reviews
This month’s Caribbean film-watching picks, with reviews of Cocote; Sergio & Sergei; and The Silence of the Wind
Playlist (Mar/Apr 2018) | Music reviews
This month’s listening picks, with reviews of the latest by David Bertrand; Jimmy October; Major Lazer; and Beres Hammond
Chef Ben ‘BJ’ Dennis: “That right there, that’s Africa” | Cookup
When US chef Ben Dennis arrived in Tobago, he was astonished to find traditional recipes that recall those of his Gullah ancestors. He talks history and heritage with Franka Philip
Immerse
André Alexis: the puzzle of “home” | Closeup
Born in Trinidad, brought up in Canada, writer André Alexis is a “Nowherian” — and that complicated identity, along with his passion for exploring big ideas, drives his philosophical and deeply literary novels. A recent string of awards has raised his international profile, but as Donna Yawching learns, it was no overnight success for one of the most original writers in both Caribbean and Canadian literature
Skip Marley: “I’m not trying to fill his shoes” | Own words
Twenty-one-year-old Skip Marley, grandson of the legendary Bob, on growing up in Jamaica’s musical royal family, his hopes for stardom, and the message of his songs, for his own and every other generation — as told to Nazma Muller
Miriam | Showcase
“Every Saturday is the same story.” A tale of a woman and her four persistent suitors — fiction by Michelene Adams
Arrive
Havana hello | Destination
Caribbean Airlines’ newest destination is one of the region’s — and the world’s — most iconic cities. From music to revolutionary history, baroque architecture to pastel-hued classic cars, from the Malecón to the bar where mojitos were (supposedly) invented — welcome to Havana, now serviced by two direct flights from Port of Spain each week
São Luís do Maranhão — Brazil’s reggae city | Travellers’ tales
Founded in 1612 on Brazil’s Atlantic coast, the city of São Luís do Maranhão is a treasurehouse of historic achitecture, encrusted with ornate blue tiles, and has a long tradition of avant-garde poets. It’s also — as unlikely as it sounds — a hotbed of reggae music. David Katz pays a visit, to investigate how this city more than two thousand miles from Kingston has adopted reggae as its very own, with a new museum celebrating the cultural link
Engage
Next stop: space | Discover
As more and more entrepreneurs look towards space exploration, it’s still almost unknown outside the industry that one of the world’s busiest launch sites is on the doorstep of the Caribbean. Erline Andrews learns how French Guiana’s half-century-old spaceport is essential to our future exploring the galaxy
Walter Tull — over the line | On this day
A century ago, as the First World War drew to a close, a Barbadian-British man named Walter Tull was killed on the battlefield. He was one of many thousands dead in the “Flanders clay,” but also unique: as James Ferguson writes, Lieutenant Tull was the first officer of colour ever appointed in the British Army, in defiance of race prejudice
