Caribbean Heritage Month
16,000km from Sri Lanka sits a group of islands with a surprising number of similarities to us. Most obviously, both have been colonised by various European parties which makes for some western architecture, diverse dialect, political instability and brain drain.
We also share a super rich culture due to colonisation and migration. Here in Sri Lanka we pack in Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays and Veddas. In Trinidad, where Giselle is from, we have descendants of Indian (S Asian), African, Carib, Middle Eastern, European and Chinese origin - cultural blends makes for fantastic storytelling.
This month is Caribbean Heritage Month, here are a few of our faves we think you'll enjoy
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle - An expat experience of Trinidad amidst political termoil... we love the snapshop of charisma only Trini's have
The Fraud - Historical fiction based on true events, its an exploration into class and imprisonment. It asks... are we all fraudsters in some way?
When We Were Birds- Caribbean magical realism at its best... love story between Yejide, a descendant of a line of woman who talk to the dead and Darwin, a Rastafarian who breaks his faith by working in a graveyard.
The Stranger Who Was Myself - This outsider-inside style memoir of Barbara Jenkins offers insight into post-colonial race and class education and opportunities that only come to many people of the Caribbean with the prospect of migration...
No Pain Like This Body - If you liked the Leonard Woolf classic, Village In the Jungle, you'll love this. Set in 1900's Hindu community in the Eastern Caribbean, its the the perilous existence of a poor rice-growing family during the August rainy season
Augustown - Wonderfully lyrical, its a both brutal and beautiful recollection os an occurrence many years ago in a poor suburban community in Jamaica, and its connection with modern day events.