Alison de la Bastide
Alison de la Bastide has been a passionate educator for 30 years. She has taught at the preschool and primary school level in T&T and abroad. Presently, besides her work with Let’s Read, Alison facilitates teacher education workshops and is a volunteer coordinator at a Servol Junior Life Centre where she works with students 12 to 16 years old, to strengthen their literacy skills.
Andre Burton
Andre Burton is an educator, media producer, tech developer and the creator of CountMeInTT, a digital math challenge designed to help students improve their speed and confidence in multiplication. Through his tutoring practice, A’s Online Tutoring Services, Andre has worked one-on-one with more than ninety students across Trinidad and Tobago, completing over 7,500 hours of mathematics tutoring. Andre created CountMeInTT as a fun, fast-paced way for students to practice multiplication and build confidence in mathematics.
Anup Ramsundar
Anup is a 27-year-old musician and lifelong student of Hindustani Shaastriya Sangeet. By profession, he is a Senior Business Analyst at ANSA Packaging, and he continues to balance a demanding corporate career with a deep commitment to music and performance. As a member of Tabla Sangam, he represents a new generation of Caribbean musicians dedicated to the preservation and elevation of Indian classical music.
C.S. Binnie
C.S. Binnie is a young and imaginative author ready to share her first two books with the world. She wrote the first draft of each book within two days. She finds inspiration in the most unique places. Her books, Emily and Bella and the Missing Puzzle: Book 1 and Emily and Bella Meet the Fairies: Book 2, were both written in 2025 and published in 2026. She believes many her age will appreciate seeing themselves in these characters. You can learn more about author C.S. Binnie, as she develops her characters, at crystalmariesealy.com/csb-creations
Charisse J. Broome
Charisse J. Broome, also known as Señora Broome (Sra Broome), balances her roles as a part-time educational governess and writer. She enjoys exploring the wonders of nature and creating engaging Caribbean-themed educational content for students in Standards 1 and 2 (6-11 years). Known for her works like “AWESOME FATHER from AWEsome Me!”, “Thank You, Abba” and “Soca Spanish”, Charisse also delights readers with her humorous poems such as, “Patsie’s PecUliar Pastelles”, “Mango-mouth Marlon” and “Khumar, the Ketchup, and the Khurma” which celebrate specific features of the food culture in her cherished homeland – Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies.
Crystal-Marie Sealy
Crystal-Marie Sealy, MBA, BSc Hons, is mom first, two-time bestselling author, keynote speaker and mindful strategy consultant, returning to life in Trinidad and Tobago, after two decades in Canada.
Author of multiple publications, including two international best-sellers, self-published children’s books and more, her first children’s book, “The Brave Little Puffer Fish: Authenticity for Children”, has genuine rave reviews and a five-star rating on Amazon. Crystal-Marie’s focus, in all of her offerings, and the name of her inspiring keynote, is “Authenticity for Gentle Resilience” through self-acceptance, intuition, individual sovereignty and, for women, the feminine. As a strategy consultant, and president and founder of Crystal-Marie Sealy—previously Successiory (2011-2019)—Crystal-Marie’s signature framework, “Mindful Entrepreneurship for Mindful Affluence™”, empowers service and intuition-based professionals. Learn more about Crystal-Marie at www.CrystalMarieSealy.com
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné
Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné is a Trinidadian poet and visual artist. Her accolades include the 2012 Small Axe Literary Competition, the 2015 Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize and Wasafiri New Writing Prize, and the 2019 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for Poetry for her debut collection Doe Songs. Her poetry is featured in the bilingual anthology The Sea Needs No Ornament, edited by Loretta Collins Klobah and Maria Grau Perejoan. She is the illustrator of Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure (CaribbeanReads) and The Jungle Outside (HarperCollins Publishers), both written by Joanne C. Hillhouse.
Dawsher Charles
Dawsher Charles also known as ‘The Resilient Warrior’ is the Founder and Managing Director of Survival Scholars. She is a Puppeteer, an author, an Educational Development Coach and Consultant, a Trauma and Crisis Management Specialist, a youth leader, change maker and advocate for students to have a balance between their mental health and wellbeing with their academic achievement. Her story is one of success through struggles where she was able to overcome every obstacle she encountered. Today Dawsher uses her experiences along with her education and creative skills to inspire and empower thousands of parents, teachers and students with resilience tools and skills. Dawsher enjoys incorporating the arts, especially puppetry into her engagements with students providing exceptional experience at her highly impactful location Puppet Palace offering Puppet Shows, Puppet Making and the Art of Puppetry to hundreds of schools across Trinidad and Tobago. She is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Trust 100 Young Leaders award, the Commonwealth youth award for excellence in development work, AFETT Youth Leader Award, National Youth Organizational Award for Arts and Culture along with several other awards for her dedication in education development and the arts. Dawsher continues to partner with several established local and international organizations such as UNESCO, Central Bank of TT, and many others to harness her expertise in education development so that more young people can benefit creating a multiplier effect.
Deneka Thomas
Deneka Thomas (they/them) is a queer, non-binary writer, performance poet, arts educator and media practitioner from Trinidad and Tobago. Deneka is the founder and Creative Director of Bacano Leaf, a creative social enterprise that nurtures the Caribbean’s stories and culture by empowering young people to write and speak about their experiences, concerns, and their hope for better futures for themselves. Through poetry slams, workshops, digital media, and various creative initiatives, Bacano Leaf creates space for young people’s voices to grow and flourish.
Internationally recognized for their work on gender issues, LGBTQ+ advocacy, women’s empowerment, and environmentalism, Deneka has earned their place among some of the Caribbean’s most dynamic voices. They are the 2018 Grand Slam Champion of the First Citizens National Poetry Slam, a third-place winner in 2019, and a five-time finalist of the competition. Their words have resonated on stages like TEDx Port of Spain 2018, the Trinity College Hip Hop Festival 2019, the Women Deliver Conference 2019, and the Nairobi Summit (ICPD+25).
Deneka’s debut poetry collection, “These Hallowed Parts,” is on its way to the world. It maps a journey of coming out, trauma, and coming to terms with their queerness. Their work has also found homes in Moko Magazine, Shade Literary Arts, and other literary spaces, where it continues to stir dialogue and push boundaries. Their poems are love letters, battle cries, confessions, and calls to action, all at once. To witness their work is to reckon with the beauty and ache of what it means to exist, to heal, to hope.
Denisa Thompson-Oblington
Denisa Thompson-Oblington is an English Language and Literature teacher as well as Drama Facilitator at Providence Girls’ Catholic School with a passion for storytelling using prose, poetry, and drama mediums. She draws inspiration from Trinbagonian culture, her own life story, and the voices of her students. When not writing, Denisa can be found exploring nature and local landmarks with her husband and son. This is Denisa’s first published book, based on fantasy, folklore, and Mas.
Dr Afiya Gaspard
Dr. Afiya Gaspard is a medical doctor who also has a BSc. in Human Nutrition and Dietetics. She studied at University of the West Indies Mona and St.Augustine campuses. She has worked in a number of industries gaining a wealth of knowledge and expertise. She works at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in the Pediatric department. Dr. Gaspard has been writing for many years, she originally had a lifestyle blog but recently decided to dabble in writing books for children as a means to combine her love for children and science. She is the author of Meet the World Inside of You, an educational children’s book with a twist. Dr. Gaspard describes it as a little book with a big personality. Her goal is to make learning about your body cute and fun and to encourage children to be more inquisitive.
Dr Rajini Haraksingh
Dr Rajini Haraksingh is an accomplished Trinidadian scientist and Lecturer in Biotechnology at the University of the West Indies. She has spent the last decade building capacity for the development and upliftment of Caribbean people through education. She wrote this book to ignite curiosity in children about the value of work and to help them wrap their little heads around why parents engage in this befuddling act. She secretly hopes it also prompts parents to examine their own relationships to work, brings new clarity, and even encourages courageous career breaks, pivots, or further engagement that may become necessary with parenthood.
Dragonzilla
Dragonzilla is the mascot of the Children’s Bocas Lit Fest. This smiling friendly dragon lives in the Bocas del Dragon (Dragon’s Mouths) in the Gulf of Paria, but comes out to visit children who take part in the Children’s Storytelling Caravan and other children’s activities helping them to develop a love for reading, writing and storytelling.
Eliana Teelucksingh
Eliana Teelucksingh is 6 years old and attends a primary school in Port-of-Spain. She has one sister. This is her first book. Her writing was inspired by Dr. Seuss. Eliana wanted children to be smiling and happy when reading the stories in her book. Eliana enjoys swimming in a pool, going to the zoo and Chuck E Cheese, watching television and playing in the park. She wants to be a doctor to help sick babies.
Emma Teelucksingh
Emma Teelucksingh is 11 years old. She attends Cunupia Presbyterian Church and lives in Chaguanas. Emma has one sister. Her writing was inspired by Roald Dahl and Charles Schulz. Her favourite book is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In 2024, Emma was a finalist for the National Youth Awards which was organized by the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service.
Georgia Popplewell
Georgia Popplewell is a writer/editor and media producer and managing director of the international citizen media project Global Voices. She has worked in independent media since 1989. She started her career at the pioneering Trinidad and Tobago television production company Banyan and has worked on productions such as the Nickelodeon TV series Gullah Gullah Island, in addition to having written extensively on culture, music, film and sport. In 2005, Georgia started Caribbean Free Radio, the Caribbean’s first podcast.
Geron Ruiz
Geron Ruiz is a 23 year old spoken word artist who does not like long bios (for himself). Hailing from Arima, he is a teaching artist at the ROOTS Foundation, a director of the local spoken word collective, The Stragglers Inc., and a zero time National Poetry Slam finalist (he made a couple semis, though). Having recently completed his degree in English Language and Literature with Education at UWI, St Augustine, he is currently hoping his writing career takes off before having to get a dreaded “day job”.
Javaughn Forde
Javaughn Forde is a contemporary multidisciplinary artist based in Trinidad and Tobago. His work is centred around magical realism and the human experience. Javaughn has published bodies of poetry, hosted and participated in multiple visual art galleries as well as put out his own, at home, recorded musical mixtape by the title “Thoughts of The Unconscious”. Javaughn is the Artistic Director of The 2 Cents Movement and a Counselling Psychologist, finding joy in understanding the underpinnings of human interactions and motivations.
Justin Haynes
Justin Haynes was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and later moved to Brooklyn, New York. Having earned his MFA from Notre Dame, he continued his graduate studies at Vanderbilt University. He has been awarded various fiction residencies and fellowships, including from the Fine Arts Work Center, the Vermont Studio Center, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Tin House Summer Workshop. His writing has been published in a variety of literary magazines and journals, including Caribbean Quarterly, SX Salon Small Axe Project, and PREE. Justin lives in Atlanta and teaches English at Oglethorpe University. Ibis, his debut novel, is the winner of the 2026 OCM Bocas Prize for Fiction.
Katrina Khan-Roberts
Katrina Khan-Roberts took on the role of Mertrina the Trinidad and Tobago Mermaid after her 15 years in the youth space towards ocean literacy. As a young woman from a small island developing state, she spent her childhood at the beach and in the coastal zone, so she witnessed the changes due to human activities. Using her B.Sc. Environmental and Natural Resource Management, minors in Marine Biology and Zoology and M.Sc. Tourism Development and Management and vast experience, she published books and resources related to educating about the ocean and how to protect it.
Kevin Jared Hosein
Kevin Jared Hosein is the author, most recently, of Hungry Ghosts, fiction winner of the 2024 OCM Bocas Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. It had also been longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. He is a two-time winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, regionally in 2015 and overall in 2018. His previous novels include The Repenters, which was shortlisted for the Fiction OCM Bocas Prize, and The Beast of Kukuyo, which received a Burt Award for Young Adult Caribbean Literature. Both were also longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. He has been published in numerous anthologies and outlets, including Esquire, Wasafiri, Lightspeed, Granta, BBC Radio 4 and Perspective. He lives in Trinidad and Tobago.
Kevon Gareth Foderingham
Lawrence Scott
Lawrence Scott is a prize-winning writer from Trinidad & Tobago. He was awarded a Lifetime Literary award in 2012 by the National Library of Trinidad & Tobago for his significant contribution to the literature of Trinidad and Tobago. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019. His new novel is Dangerous Freedom (Papillote Press, 2020). His second novel Aelred’s Sin (1998) was awarded a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Best Book in Canada and the Caribbean (1999). His first novel Witchbroom, a BBC Book At Bedtime, 1993 had its 25th anniversary of publication with a new edition (1992-2017). His other novels are: Light Falling on Bamboo (2012) and Night Calypso (2004). His short stories have featured on BBC Radio 4. His first collection Ballad for the New World, (1994) includes The House of Funerals, awarded the Tom-Gallon Award by The Society of Authors (1986). He is the editor of Golconda Our Voices Our Lives, (2009), a collection of stories, poems and archival photographs collected through a Public History project conducted on the Golconda sugarcane estate in Trinidad (UTT Press, 2009). His most recent book is the poetry collection Looking for Cazabon. His website is: www.lawrencescott.co.uk
Let’s Read TT
Suzette Cadiz has been an educator for 39 years. She opened and operated a Montessori school in the 1970s after graduating from the Association Montessori Internationale London, and then went on to teach for over two decades at a primary school. In 2010, she co-founded Let’s Read, and continues to advocate for increased literacy throughout Trinidad and Tobago.
Alison de la Bastide has been a passionate educator for 31 years. She has taught at the preschool and primary school level in T&T and abroad. Presently, besides her work with Let’s Read, Alison facilitates teacher education workshops and is a volunteer coordinator at a Servol Junior Life Centre where she works with students 12 to 16 years old, to strengthen their literacy skills.