The latest episode of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest’s 100 Caribbean Books That Made Us podcast shines a spotlight on the late, beloved writer Samuel Selvon and his popular book Ways of Sunlight.
T&T writer Vashti Bowlah — the author of Under the Peepal Tree and Sugarcane Valley — considers Selvon’s beloved short story collection, first published in 1957 and a longtime staple of school readings lists. Ways of Sunlight includes classic stories of rural life in Trinidad — like “Johnson and the Cascadura” — alongside tales of West Indian immigrants in London. Bowlah reflects on key themes and settings in Selvon’s stories that she has written about herself, five decades later: enduring elements of T&T’s social landscape.
Launched earlier this year, the 100 Caribbean Books That Made Us podcast explores how iconic books of past decades have influenced and inspired writers of today.
The podcast series is the latest iteration of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest’s ongoing 100 Caribbean Books That Made Us: a list of literary works in all genres — poetry, fiction, and non-fiction — crowdsourced by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest with input from readers across the Caribbean and its diasporas. Its aim is to celebrate the region’s literary heritage, and introduce new readers to the diverse voices and themes of Caribbean writing. Now Bocas has commissioned contemporary writers from T&T to reflect on classic books from the crowdsourced list in audio format.
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