This happened a couple months ago! In the spirit of SHARE YOUR WORKS, I am sharing! I was contacted by the editors of Caribbean Quarterly Journal letting me know Merle Collins! Yes The Merle Collins (Legendary Grenadian/Caribbean literary giant, requested my work as featured artist for the special June 2023 issue of the Caribbean Quarterly: A Journal of Caribbean Culture. This particular edition celebrates Merle : Commemoration and Community, A Festschrift for Merle Collins!
When I first arrived to Grenada in 1994 I was given Merle’s novel Angel, a novel that took me deep down into Grenada physically, politically, socially… I read Angel long into the night swallowing whole Angel’s coming of age, Grenada’s revolution, the story of Grenadian women, community, family, people. Soon after I inhaled Rain Darling, The Color of Forgetting and Lady in a Boat.
I was in the same room as Merle at the Rainbow Inn, (Grand Bras, St.Andrew’s, Grenada) many moons ago but too star struck to walk up and let her know how much I loved her works. And then one day in May 2023 after coming home from Town, Theo says Merle called.
Merle? I said.
Merle Collins, he says!
Whaaaaaaa the whaaaaa! are you serious?
She said she’ll call back later.
And sure enough later that evening that familiar hauntingly beautiful voice on the other end of the phone thanking me for saying yes to being part of this Caribbean Quarterly edition! And letting me know she was going to follow my work as a writer and a creative!
Giving thanks to you beloved Merle Collins and all you bring to this world!
Bless
M