Viñales Valley, Cuba | Wish you were here (November/December 2019)
Postcards from the Caribbean’s most extraordinary places
Issue 160 (November/December 2019)
Need to know | Events calendar (Nov/Dec 2019)
Essential info to help you make the most of November and December across the Caribbean — parang in Trinidad, Garifuna Settlement Day in Belize, Sugar Mas in St Kitts, and more
Bookshelf (Nov/Dec 2019) | Book reviews
This month’s reading picks, with reviews of In the Vortex of the Cyclone: Selected Poems; I Even Regret Night: Holi Songs of Demerara; Perfected Fables Now: A Bookman Signs off on Seven Decades; The Lesson; and Five Midnights
Playlist (Nov/Dec 2019) | Music reviews
This month’s listening picks, with reviews of the latest by Third World; Ijó; Mindscape Laboratory; and Nailah Blackman
Q&A with Laura Guzmán | Screenshots
Filmmaker Laura Guzmán explains how the life of pioneering Dominican Republic director Jean-Louis Jorge inspired her new feature Holy Beasts
Nneka Nurse: cuisine beyond boundaries | Cookup
Jamaican-American Nneka Nurse has a mission: to introduce Caribbean cuisine to international foodies. She tells Franka Philip how and why it’s time to “elevate” Caribbean food
Written for the young of all ages | Closeup
Young adult (or YA) literature is aimed at teenage readers, but appeals to many grownups, too. And in recent years there’s been a boom in Caribbean YA, Kimberly De Souza reports, as she meets five writers telling innovative stories about Caribbean youth
The Jimmy October Project | Snapshot
“New Calypso” is how twenty-four-year-old Jimmy October describes his genre-bending music — a sound that feels like “home” to listeners in Trinidad and Tobago but also appeals to international audiences. Laura Dowrich-Phillips learns more
The Ghetto Biennale: when art is defiance | Backstory
Ten years ago, a group of artists in Haiti launched an audacious, even provocative, project: the Ghetto Biennale, drawing international attention to the creative community in Port-au-Prince’s Grand Rue. The event’s tensions and discomforts are at the heart of its mission, writes Nixon Nelson, as the Ghetto Biennale prepares to stage its sixth edition
Curaçao diary | Destination
An unexpected flock of flamingos, traditional architecture, a hike with incredible views, and beach after glorious beach — Philip Sander samples the delights of Caribbean Airlines’ newest destination
George Town, Grand Cayman | Neighbourhood
Equally famous for its amazing beaches and diving spots and as an international financial centre, the capital of the Cayman Islands also offers art, nature — and a little taste of Hell
An ABC for SVG | Explore
Twenty-six ways to experience the best of St Vincent and the Grenadines — in alphabetical order
Old San Juan | Bucket list
One of the Caribbean’s oldest cities has a historic centre famous for its architecture and culture
For the sake of a lizard | Green
The gem-like colours of the tiny Union Island gecko — a lizard found only on one small island in the Grenadines — are why it’s so highly coveted by the exotic pet trade. As Erline Andrews reports, hopes for the endangered gecko’s survival depend on new conservation efforts, and a push for eco-tourism
Cruising for trouble | On this day
Some people love cruise ships, some people hate them. But, personal preferences aside, the fate of the SS Columbus — scuttled by her captain eighty years ago — suggests the dangers of tourism in a time of war. James Ferguson tells the tale
Have her cake and eat it | Classic | Last word
Attillah Springer on the world’s best black cake — her granny’s. Originally published in 2005, this Beat classic was reproduced in the November/December 2019 issue
