The Nobbie
Stories for Children and Adults, by C.L.R. James, ed. Constance Webb
November 2007
Art and
Emancipation in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes Belisario and His Worlds, ed. Tim Barringer, Gillian
Forrester, and Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz
February 2008
Cuba: Art and
History from 1868 to Today, ed. Nathalie Bondil
August 2008
From the Trinidad and Tobago Review
C.L.R. James:
Cricket, the Caribbean and World Revolution, by Farrukh Dhondy
April 2002
Collected
Poems, 1937–1989, by A.J. Seymour
May 2002
A Rough Climate, by E.A. Markham
June 2002
A New World
Order: Selected Essays,
by Caryl Phillips
July 2002
The Writer and
the World: Essays, by
V.S. Naipaul
October 2002
The Autograph
Man, by Zadie Smith
November 2002
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
December 2002
Sketches of
Amerindian Tribes, 1841–1843, by Edward A. Goodall
February 2003
Abandoning Dead
Metaphors: The Caribbean Phase of Derek Walcott’s Poetry, by Patricia Ismond
March 2003
Primacy of the
Eye: The Art of Stanley Greaves, by Rupert Roopnaraine
February 2006
(A shorter version of this review appeared in the February 2006 issue
of The Caribbean Review of Books)
(Mostly
short) reviews from
Caribbean Beat
Half a Life, by V.S. Naipaul
November/December 2001
Sugar and Slate, by Charlotte Williams
September/October 2002
The
Autobiography of Alfred H. Mendes
January/February 2003
Waiting for
Snow in Havana, by
Carlos Eire
May/June 2003
Bethany Bettany, by Fred D’Aguiar
July/August 2003
In the Kingdom
of Light: Collected Poems, by M.G. Smith
November/December 2003
The Mask of the
Beggar, by Wilson Harris
January/February 2004
Between Silence
and Silence, by Ian
McDonald
May/June 2004
Lagahoo Poems, by James Christopher Aboud
January/February 2005
The Prodigal, by Derek Walcott
March/April 2005
Thank God It’s
Friday, by B.C. Pires
November/December 2005
Dancing in the
Dark, by Caryl Phillips
March/April 2006
University of
Hunger: Collected Poems and Selected Prose, by Martin Carter, ed. Gemma
Robinson
July/August 2006
Other writing
Art and artists
Still from “The Life Movie”
On Christopher Cozier’s Now Showing
First published in Antilles,
the Caribbean Review of Books
blog, 20 July, 2010
A place to stand
On artist Dhiradj
Ramsamoedj’s Adjie Gilas
First published in The Caribbean
Review of Books, May 2010
Guiana dreams
On literary and visual images of the Guianas in the Western
imagination, and their continuing relevance to the region’s
contemporary artists
First published in Paramaribo SPAN,
a book on art and visual culture in Suriname, coinciding with an
exhibition of works by Surinamese and Dutch contemporary artists, 2010
Diary: visiting Soeki Irodikromo
Conjunction: G-Star/WI STAR
Diary: in Ellen Ligteringen’s studio
Diary: meeting Pierre Bong A Jan
Conjunction: street posters/Ravi
Rajcoomar
Conjunction: classical details
Diary: looking for the red lights
Project: Een Lekkers, by Ellen Ligteringen
Project: Ingiwinti, by Sri Irodikromo
Notes and short essays on contemporary art and visual culture in
Suriname
From the Paramaribo SPAN
blog, 2009–2010
Between a fantasy and a hard place
On La Fantasie, a public installation by Marlon
Griffith, Jaime Lee Loy, and Nikolai Noel
Written in August 2009
Herd instincts
On T’in Cow Fat Cow and mas
as protest art
First published in The Caribbean
Review of Books, February 2009
Paradise™
On adapting Christopher Cozier’s Available
at All Leading Stores for a J’Ouvert performance
First published in the Available at
All Leading Stores e-catalogue, for the 2009 Trienal
Poli/Gráfica de San Juan
Working notes: On Christopher Cozier’s Tropical
Night drawings
First published in the
catalogue of Little Gestures: From the Tropical Night Series,
an exhibition at Dartmouth College, 2007
On the map
On the contemporary art
scene in Trinidad and the presence of Peter Doig and Chris Ofili
A version of this piece was published in Culture + Travel,
January/February 2008
The dream of Cuba
On Mi Querida Patria, a solo
exhibition by Sabrina Marques at Real Art Ways
First published in the exhibition catalogue
An island is a world
On Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean
Art, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum
First published in The Caribbean
Review of Books, November 2007
As we forgive
On artist Nikolai Noel’s Forgiveness
First published in The Caribbean
Review of Books, August 2007
Make a space
A dialogue with artist Christopher Cozier on the significance of the
2006 Galvanize contemporary arts programme
First published in the Trinidad and
Tobago Review, November 2006
Taking note
On Christopher Cozier’s Tropical
Night drawings
First published in The Caribbean Review of Books,
August 2006
Discomfort zone
On Christopher Cozier, his Tropical
Night drawings, and Richard Fung’s documentary Uncomfortable
First published in Modern Painters,
June 2006
Masman
A profile of Peter Minshall
First published in Caribbean Beat,
May/June 2006
Artists of the streets
Profiles of thirteen designers from the “Golden Age” of Trinidad
Carnival, co-written with Dylan Kerrigan
First published in Caribbean Beat,
January/February 2004
Interrupting the conversation:
Trinidad’s StudioFilmClub
Essay from the catalogue of Peter Doig’s StudioFilmClub exhibition at the
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, and the Zurich Kunsthalle, 2005
First published in StudioFilmClub,
2005
Other profiles and essays
The caterpillar lover
A profile of the seventeenth-century German artist and naturalist Maria
Sibylla Merian
First published in Caribbean Beat,
March/April 2009
The distraction of Walcott vs.
Naipaul
First published in the guardian.co.uk Books blog, 5 June, 2008
On Lloyd Best (1934-2007): a
personal note
First published in The Caribbean
Review of Books, May 2007
Undiscovered countries
A short profile of Trinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo
First published in Caribbean Beat,
March/April 2004
His way in the world
A short profile of Guyanese writer Ruel Johnson
First published in Caribbean Beat,
May/June 2003
What “Caribbean” can mean
An essay on Caribbean Beat
and a magazine’s role in shaping cultural identity
First published in the Guyana Arts
Journal, volume 2, number 2, March 2006
Still news
A short essay on Trinidad’s crônistas
First published in The Caribbean
Review of Books, February 2006
Imaginary islands
A short essay on the imaginary territories of West Indian literature
First published in The Caribbean
Review of Books, May 2006
Reportage,
commentary, travel
Amours de voyage; or, notes from an
occasional traveller
Notes, anecdotes, and observations, mostly from my blog