Rinaldo Walcott
Rinaldo Walcott is Professor and the Carl V. Granger Chair in Africana and American Studies. He is also the Chair in the Department of Africana and American Studies at the University at Buffalo; Rinaldo’s research focuses on the cultural expression of Black life with an interest in the transnational, diasporic and the national crosscurrents of Black creativities. Rinaldo is the author of number of single authored, co-authored, and co-edited books. His more recent work is The Long Emancipation: Moving Toward Black Freedom (Duke, 2021) and On Property: Policing, Prisons, and the Call for Abolition (Biblioasis, 2021) which was short-listed for the Toronto Book Award in 2021. Currently Rinaldo is working on two monographs, one on freedom and the sea, and another on Black queer expressive culture. A third work seeks to grapple with the possibilities of achieving utopia from the grips of the catastrophe that threatens to consume all of planetary life. Rinaldo was born in Barbados. He divides his time between the city of Buffalo and the city of Toronto.
Roberta Clarke
Roberta Clarke is an advocate for human rights and social justice. She is currently a Commissioner on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Ronald Cummings
Ronald Cummings teaches in the English Department at Brock University in Canada. His work has appeared in Caribbean journals such as Small Axe, New West Indian Guide, the Journal of West Indian Literature and the Caribbean Review of Books. He has co-edited two critical volumes: Caribbean Literature in Transition 1970-2020 with Alison Donnell (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and The Fire That Time: Transnational Black Radicalism and the Sir George Williams University Occupation with Nalini Mohabir (Black Rose Books, 2021). He is also the editor of Make the World New: The Poetry of Lillian Allen (forthcoming with Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2021). Ronald is book reviews editor at sx salon.
Rubadiri Victor
Rubadiri Victor is a multi-media artist working in eight mediums; he is also a cultural activist. He is the author of Meditation on the Traditions a photo-essay on Traditional Mas, and publisher of Generation Lion Magazine. He is the founder of the Artists’ Coalition of Trinidad & Tobago- T&T’s primary artist representative body, and the Wire Bend Folklore Theatre which combines traditional artisanry with interactive animation to depict folklore. Anansi and the 10 Dragons is the first of a 7-part series depicting adventures of Anansi’s grandmother as a young Spider. The series is part of a larger Universe of books entitled Myths for a New Time. ‘
Ryan Bachoo
Ryan Bachoo has been a multimedia journalist for the past 15 years, covering numerous topics including news and current affairs, politics, sport, and climate change. As a presenter, he has also hosted several programmes, including anchoring the primetime news and the morning show. In 2023, he copped the Caribbean Broadcasting Union’s Best Caribbean Documentary Award for his production of Concordat. He has also been Editor of the Year for the last two years at Guardian Media where he works. In 2025, he published his debut novel, An Unending Search. The novel reflects Bachoo’s deep appreciation for West Indian literature and his commitment to preserving Caribbean storytelling traditions. His aim is to re-energise West Indian storytelling and inspire the young generation to not only read but write Caribbean literature.
Satnarine Balkaransingh
Satnarine Balkaransingh, PhD, is an economist, playwright, and Kathak Classical dancer and choreographer with the Nrityanjali Theatre. His new book Kunuwaton celebrates the First Peoples’ influences in Trinidad and Tobago’s cuisine.
Shakira Burton
Born and raised in deep South Moruga, Shakira’s passion for poetry began as a student at Cowen Hamilton Secondary. Teacher, arts educator and creative are just a few words to describe her. As an artist she thrives to be the voice of the 99% and use her talent as a medium to inspire change throughout Trinidad and Tobago. As the reigning First Citizens National Poetry Slam Champion, Shakira is focused on embracing different opportunities to allow the artform of spoken word to grow and expand.
Shivanee Ramlochan
Shivanee Ramlochan’s first book of poems, Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting (Peepal Tree Press, 2017) was a finalist for the 2018 People’s Choice T&T Book of the Year, and shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Shivanee was shortlisted for the 2018 Bridport Prize for Poetry. “The Red Thread Cycle”, from her debut collection, won a Small Axe Literary Competition Prize for Poetry, and was on audiovisual display at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas. Find her work online at www.novelniche.net, shivaneeramlochan.com, @novelniche
Simone Leid
Simone Leid is a poet and gender advocate from Trinidad and Tobago. As a gender, community development and climate justice practitioner, her writing often draws from the stories she encounters in the course of her work on the ground in the Caribbean. She has had poems published in SX Salon, Callaloo Journal and Tongues of the Ocean. She is a fellow of the Cropper Foundation Residential Workshop for Caribbean Writers, the Callaloo Writers workshop and the Moko Poetry Masterclass. She is currently awaiting the award of her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of the West Indies, St, Augustine. She is completing her first poetry collection tentatively titled Mother Tongue, which explores the lives of working-class Caribbean women, particularly in relation to their inextricable role in mothering.
Sonja Dumas
Sonja Dumas is an arts consultant, performer, choreographer, teacher, filmmaker and writer. She is a founder and co-director of COCO Dance Festival, as well as the founder and artistic director of her dance company, Continuum Dance Project. She is also the author of the children’s story album Once Upon a Caribbean Time, a collection of original Caribbean folktales for children, and more recently she founded Zum-Zum Museum, an interactive children’s museum.
Stacy Julien
Stacy-Ann Julien grew up in a family of creatives. She always loved books and started writing short stories and poems as a child. Yet, it wasn’t until experiencing first-hand as a new parent, the challenge of getting her little one to bed, that her dream of publishing her own book started to actualize with her debut title “Somebody’s Sleepy but Not Me”. Combining her passion for children and writing, Stacy aims to provide relatable and engaging stories that celebrate the essence of the Caribbean, cultivate the joys of reading, and create meaningful moments with loved ones.
Talia Khan
Talia Khan graduated from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine with a BA in Spanish and French with First Class Honours. She is a Spanish interpreter/translator for the government of Trinidad and Tobago. She has also contributed to various humanitarian efforts with the Ryu Dan Empowerment Foundation, including and not limited to mentoring and teaching basic English to Venezuelan migrant children.
Tracy Assing
Tracy Assing is a writer, editor and filmmaker. Her 2010 film The Amerindians explored Assing’s own identity, the indigenous history of the islands and the political structure of the Santa Rosa Carib Community (now the First People’s Community).
V. Ramsamooj Gosine
V. Ramsamooj Gosine was educated at Corinth Teachers’ College and UWI, St. Augustine . His works have been published in newspapers and magazines, The Caribbean Writer and BIM, and broadcast on the BBC. He has received awards from the National Cultural Council, The Hindu Women’s Organisation, and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association. He is the author of seven books and has been one of the major contributors to two books on builders of Chaguanas.
Ved Valmiki
Aaron Valmiki Rampersadsingh, better known by his spiritual name: Ved, carries intimate knowledge and experience of the spiritual dimension of Yoga cultivated from his lifelong association with the living Master Sri Vasudeva, intense spiritual exploration, and service as a yoga teacher. He attended Presentation College San Fernando before pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Psychology in the United States on scholarship.
After his mother’s passing from a long battle with cancer, he spent some time in an ashram and went on pilgrimage to the Himalayas. This surfaced the inspiration to share yoga and spiritual practice in service to his community.
“Start meditating Today,” was written to serve persons of every faith who are interested in learning meditation for wellness, self-awareness and spiritual connection. It is the product of teaching hundreds of meditation classes and workshops over the past eight years and serves as a manual to begin your meditation journey.
Vindhar Suraj
Vindhar Suraj loves to write. As a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, he draws heavily on his island/Caribbean life for inspiration. His interest is in representing the Caribbean experience by drawing on techniques of magical realism to create familiar yet unique perspectives. Fantasy and magic are part of his world. He is working on his first novel, which incorporates local folklore into a local setting.
Yesha Townsend
Yesha Townsend is a Bermudian writer and English lecturer at the Bermuda College. Her work has been published or featured in Bermudian, Caribbean and British spaces, notably, The Bermudian Magazine, The Bermuda Anthology of Memoir & Creative Non-Fiction, Poui: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing, The Wolverhampton Literary Festival 2021, MOKO: caribbean arts and letters, and The Bermuda Biennial 2022. She’s in a band called DONNA. And a duo called ICARUS. Her writing explores grief, identity and love through the lens of the Black Bermudian and Caribbean experience, she writes of home, of hurricanes, of Bermudian history, mythology, and folklore.
Yomi Sode
Yomi Ṣode is an award-winning Nigerian British writer. He is a recipient of the 2019 Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship, shortlisted for The Brunel International African Poetry Prize 2021, and Arts Foundation Awards 2024.
His acclaimed one-man show COAT toured nationally to sold-out audiences, including at the Brighton Festival, Roundhouse Camden and the Battersea Arts Centre. In 2020 his libretto Remnants, written in collaboration with award-winning composer James B. Wilson and performed with Chineke! Orchestra premiered on BBC Radio 3.
In 2021, his play, and breathe… starring BAFTA award winning, David Jonsson, premiered at the Almeida Theatre to sold-out audiences, rave reviews and garnered four Black British Theatre Awards. Yomi is a Complete Works alumnus and a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. He is the founder of BoxedIn, First Five, The Daddy Diaries, and mentorship programme, 12 in 12. Yomi’s debut collection, Manorism was shortlisted for the T.S Eliot Prize 2022, The Rathbones Folio Prize 2023, and was adapted for stage at the Southbank Centre. Yomi’s debut novel, The Interpreter, has been acquired and will be published by Viking.
Yvonne Weekes
Yvonne Weekes, PhD, is a writer of poetry, prose, and drama from Montserrat. She has taught theatre and English in London, England and in Montserrat before moving to Barbados in 1996, following the Soufrière Hills volcano eruption. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Interviewing the Caribbean, Wadagabei, and Poui. Weekes is a Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Award winner for her memoir Volcano (2006). Dr. Yvonne Weekes is a lecturer in theatre at UWI—Cave Hill. Her most recent book is Nomad.