2026 Festival Participants

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wendell-manwarren-1
Wendell Manwarren
Trinidad & Tobago
Performer

Wendell Manwarren

Trinidad & Tobago
Performer

Wendell Manwarren is an actor, rapso artiste, music producer, masman, and Carnival bandleader whose theatrical productions have consistently won awards both locally and internationally.

Yusef Bushara
Yusef Bushara
Bermuda
Author
Yusef Bushara

Yusef Bushara

Bermuda
Author

Yusef Bushara is a Sudanese–Bermudian editor, writer, and researcher. He is currently based in London, where he works as a non-fiction editorial assistant at leading independent and diversity-driven publisher Jacaranda Books. As a writer, Yusef has been published in journals such as antilang., The Foundationalist, Underbelly Press, and The Caribbean Writer. In 2025, he released his debut poetry collection, Good News, exploring quotidian Bermudian life through his dual-heritage lens.

Yusef completed his undergraduate degrees in Middle Eastern politics at Sciences Po and in English Literature at the University of Hong Kong. He earned a master’s in Comparative Literature from SOAS University of London with Distinction, where his research focused on Bermudian poetics. In his free time, he enjoys listening to terrible sports takes, going on long walks/runs, and reading widely.

yvonne-bobb-smith-photo3
Yvonne Bobb-Smith
Trinidad and Tobago
Author

Yvonne Bobb-Smith

Trinidad and Tobago
Author

Dr. Yvonne Bobb-Smith is an educator, author, and community leader. Born in Trinidad in 1931, she overcame the stigma of illegitimate birth to become Trinidad and Tobago’s first medical librarian, establishing the country’s Medical Library system. She holds a Ph.D. in Adult Education and Community Development from the University of Toronto (earned at age 68). At 90, she began writing her memoir. At 94, having survived breast cancer five times, Whose Child Are You? is her powerful testament to resilience and Caribbean womanhood.