VI writer featured in climate anthology

Virgin Islands author Anika Christopher is among 30 Caribbean writers featured in a new anthology that she helped launch on Monday at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The ceremony, which was held at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre Pavilion, was hosted by The Cropper Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Writing for Our Lives anthology will feature 30 pieces of poetry, fiction and nonfiction selected from about 130 submissions received from across the Caribbean, according to the foundation.

The preview launched on Monday — which includes six pieces from the anthology and is now available for free download — was published by the Bocas Lit Fest-run imprint Peekash Press in Trinidad and Tobago.

Reading

During the ceremony in Azerbaijan, Ms. Christopher, a former Miss BVI, read her poem “The Women with Fish” and took part in a panel discussion about climate justice in the Caribbean.

The session also included an audio presentation by Jamaican novelist Marlon James and a speech by CCCCC Executive Director Dr. Colin Young.

The complete anthology is scheduled for print and electronic publication in the first quarter of next year.

In a foreword to the anthology preview, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell compared the literary works to the annual climate negotiations.

“Even at the highest level, as we worked on negotiations where parties combed over every sentence, every word, every comma of text, agreeing to the commitments of all countries around the world, I strove to keep front of mind the human face of climate change,” he stated, adding that the anthology “takes on this mission with the appearance of ease that can only be born out of great beauty and artistry.”

Editors

The co-editors of the Writing for our Lives anthology are Jamaican author Diana McCaulay and Trinidad and Tobago author Shivanee Ramlochan.

Ms. McCaulay was approached to work on the project after the sudden death of lead editor Funso Aiyejina on July 1, according to the foundation.

“It was a pleasure and a privilege to read the diverse, celebratory and urgent submissions to Writing for our Lives,” Ms. McCaulay said. “Choices were difficult, and the words of the writers have remained with me.”

Larger project

Writing for our Lives is the second part of the “Today Today, Congotay!” project funded by the United States-based Open Society Foundations.

It follows a pilot project that included a climate justice micro-theatre undertaking executed in collaboration with the Brazil and Williamsville secondary schools last year in Trinidad and Tobago.

For more information, go to thecropperfoundation.org or follow The Cropper Foundation on its Facebook and Instagram pages using the handle @tehcropperfndn.