Author Archives: Carol Mitchell

The Old School Magazine Review – Tata and the Big Bad Bull

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine posted an enthusiastic review of Tata and the Big Bad Bull by Juleus Ghunta. Among other things, the reviewer points out that  “This cute children’s story is perfect for a read-aloud or beginning readers…This is an excellent story for toddlers up through upper elementary aged children. …There are so many huge life lessons tucked into this small children’s book that it is definitely one you’ll want to read multiple times.” Full review here.

Pick up a copy of Tata and the Big Bad Bull in bookstores or on Amazon. Read more reviews on GoodReads.

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week

Write a Winning Novel

The 2019 Burt Award for Caribbean literature aimed at young adults is now open for submissions and you may have written next year’s winner. The competition is getting increasingly tight and so it’s crucial that you submit your strongest and most polished work.

CaribbeanReads, as a part of its mission to provide quality Caribbean literature, is extending its editing services at special rates to qualifying young adult novels.

Services:

100 word review of plot summary and 1000-word sample Free

Skype chat and 250+ word review of plot summary and novel


US$250


Editing of novel



US$750 and up


If you are interested in our services for your Caribbean young adult novel, email us with your novel’s title, its length, and a one page synopsis along with details about your Caribbean nationality and your writing history if any. We will respond with details on the services we can offer.

Note that CaribbeanReads does not have any connections, influence, or special knowledge of the Burt Award, its administrators, or its judges. We cannot guarantee any results, we can simply assist you in submitting your best work.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week, Uncategorized

Five Months, Twenty Thousand Words

The Burt Award for Caribbean literature is an annual prize given by CODE, a Canadian NGO committed to developing literacy world-wide.  The Caribbean version of the competition is open to Caribbean nationals and submissions should be at least 20,000 words and suitable for readers aged 12-18. This year’s deadline is October 31, 2018.

Previous winners have been clustered around particular islands, with winners from smaller territories, like Antiguan Joanne C  Hillhouse’s Musical Youth, being the exception. I don’t believe that this is a reflection of lack of talent in some islands rather than in others. I do believe the results reflect perhaps, a lack of access to the resources that may be key to producing a polished manuscript that has a shot at winning. With this in mind, we have conceived the special offer presented below.

While it is true that the award accepts manuscripts (work that has not yet been accepted by a publisher) these manuscripts are expected to be at the same level of structural soundness, grammatical and logical accuracy, and thematic relevance as any published manuscripts that may be submitted. So it is important for would-be submitters to ensure their work is in the best possible condition.

If you are planning to submit a novel, there are a few things you should do. If you haven’t already done so, read some of the work of previous winners and of highly acclaimed young adult novels that are similar in theme to yours. This is not so you can copy their plot or style but so that you can get a feel for the type of writing that appeals to young people (and to the judges). If you don’t enjoy reading these books, the young adult genre may not be right for you.

Secondly, if you haven’t started writing it may be too late for this year, but get started anyway, especially if you have a fully formed idea in mind for your novel. You should complete your novel with enough time to let it sit for a while, to have others read it, and ideally to have it edited by someone familiar with the editing process. It is possible to submit a competitive novel right after you’ve typed the last period, but this usually only works for very experienced writers and even those writers understand the value of having a professional editor review their work. If you aren’t finished within a month of the deadline, don’t despair, keep at it. You’ll have a much more polished submission in the following year.

Note also, if you submitted a novel to the Burt Award in the past, you can resubmit IF you have made significant, documentable improvements.

CaribbeanReads is offering a few specially priced editorial service packages to writers considering entering the Burt Award. If you are interested in having editorial comments and perhaps a full edit of your Caribbean young adult novel, email us with your novel’s title, its length, a one page synopsis, along with details about your Caribbean nationality and your writing history if any. We will consider your novel for the offer and send you information about our discounted services.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week, Uncategorized

Dolphin, the Arctic Seal, Returns to Antigua and Barbuda in an Inspiring Children’s Book

MEDIA RELEASE

 

 

 

 

Dolphin, the Arctic Seal, Returns to Antigua and Barbuda in an Inspiring Children’s Book

St. Johns Antigua November 30, 2017 — Author, editor, and writing coach Joanne C. Hillhouse releases her latest children’s book, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure. Beautifully illustrated by Trinidadian artist Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, Lost! is inspired by the story of an Arctic seal which found itself in the Caribbean seas a few years ago. The book pulls children into a fun adventure about kindness and friendship that will leave them with a greater appreciation of our marine environment. Lost! includes a fun maze which gives children a chance to help the lost seal find his way home.

Kirkus Reviewers dubbed the book “appealing …, all the more so for being based on real life” and praised it for giving children “…a chance to learn more about the work of environmentalists and Caribbean sea life.” –Kirkus Reviews

Marine educator, Carole McCauley, who has worked in both the Caribbean and the US, declared Lost! “A wonderful and inspiring story for all ages.”

In the book, Dolphin, much like his real life counterpart, the young male hooded seal Wadadli, finds himself stranded in the Caribbean Sea, and far from his home in the North Atlantic. Wadadli was rescued by the Coast Guard of Antigua and Barbuda, while the fictional seal, Dolphin, has a little help from a new underwater friend.

Award-winning author Joanne C. Hillhouse is the Antiguan and Barbudan author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Fish Outta Water, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, and now Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure. Her fiction, non-fiction and poetry have been published in various Caribbean and international journals and anthologies. Joanne lives in Antigua and from there she freelances as a writer, editor, workshop/course facilitator, and writing coach; and runs the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize writing programme to nurture and showcase the literary arts.

Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure is published by CaribbeanReads Publishing. Books are available at bookstores across the Caribbean and at online booksellers. Lost! is a reimagining of Hillhouse’s book Fish Outta Water which was published by Pearson Education in 2013. Visit www.caribbeanreads.com for details.

# # #
For more information on this article contact:
Carol Mitchell
info@caribbeanreads.com
inc. Photo of author, Cover image of book.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week

End of Year Round Up

Believe it or not, 2017 is almost over and it’s been an exciting year. Here are some highlights:

We are already gearing up for next year with the publication of several new picture books and a large project we hope to launch, so stay tuned!

Here is what we published in 2017:

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week

CODE sponsored Read with Me author tour Trinidad November 8-11, 2017

Burt Award winning authors toured Trinidad this November, thrilling children and adults with their books. The event was sponsored by CODE and BOCAS Lit Fest.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week

November issue of Zing Magazine available now

The November-December 2017 issue is now on LIAT planes. This issue’s Caribbean Lit page features books by Tracey Baptiste, Opal Palmer Adisa, and Jacob Ross, artwork by Danica David, and an interview with Haitian fiction author, Katia D. Ulysee. Pick up your copy on your next Caribbean trip.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week

Raise the Bar, a Youth Spoken Word Showcase

This weekend the Code sponsored BOCAS Lit Fest Burt Award book tour ended with Raise the Bar, a youth spoken word showcase at the Government Campus Plaza auditorium on Wrightson Road. This was a free and open event for all secondary school students, their families and teachers. The event was very well attended and uncovered lots of wonderful talent in the secondary school community in Trinidad and Tobago.

Author Danielle Y. C. McClean with the winning Red Team

Authors Danielle Y. C. McClean and Tamika Gibson show there support for promoting literacy

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week

Bocas Lit Fest Trinidad Tour – Reading

Danielle Y. C. McClean reading from The Protectors’ Pledge

As a part of the CODE sponsored, Bocas Lit Fest Author tour, the authors, including our own Danielle Y. C. McClean, read and signed books at Nigel R. Khan booksellers Saturday November 11.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

#ReadWithMe Campaign Launch

Some of the past winning authors of the Burt Award for Caribbean Literature descended on Trinidad this week to entice youth with their books. This week of activities brought to us by Bocas Lit Fest and CODE was aimed at putting young people into direct contact with authors and getting them excited about reading. Visit the Bocas Lit Festival website or more information.

Burt Award Winners

Left to right Danielle Y. C. McClean (The Protectors’ Pldege), Imam Baksh (Children of the Spider), Florenz Webbe Maxwell (Girlcott), Tamika Gibson (Dreams Beyond the Shore)

Leave a Comment

Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week