Writing for Our Lives

Writing for Our Lives was conceived as an anthology of stories illuminating the urgency of the climate crisis for people and communities of Caribbean states marked by their varied yet substantial vulnerabilities. These stories will consider the implications for the health, livelihoods, culture, heritage, and well-being of the many who go unseen, unheard and, ultimately, unaccounted for in the decision-making of those with power, purveyors of our collective resources.

The anthology will be published through the Trinidad and Tobago-based imprint Peekash Press, producing an initial e-book for international release at the annual landmark climate conference, COP29 in November 2024. A regional launch of print and audio publications will follow in the first quarter of 2025.

Please note: submissions for the Writing for Our Lives anthology under the Today Today, Congotay! project closed at midnight on June 14, 2024.

For any queries about eligibility requirements or the application process, please contact the anthology coordinators at writing@thecropperfoundation.org.

Why The Cropper Foundation?

The project builds on the legacy of founders John and Angela Cropper’s vision for a seminal environment for the strengthening and exploration of Caribbean identity through literature. Beginning in 2000, the same year the Foundation was registered, the Cropper Writing Residency was one of the first ventures of the newly formed non-profit.

Through its fifteen (ten adult and five teenaged) residential three-week workshops to date, led by award-winning writers Funso Aiyejina and Merle Hodge, the programme has helped mold over 180 Caribbean writers from almost every country in the anglophone Caribbean.

Many of these writers have gone on to publish with some earning major regional and global literary distinctions and accolades – among them, Jamaican Kei Miller and TT authors Ayanna Lloyd-Banwo, Danielle Boodoo-Fortune and Barbara Jenkins.

What is climate justice?

Climate justice intertwines human rights and development, prioritising a people-centered approach. It aims to protect the most vulnerable and ensure fairness in sharing both the burdens and benefits of climate change. Grounded in science, it recognises the necessity of equitable management of global resources. Climate justice underscores the unequal distribution and impacts of climate change, stemming from historical and systemic factors. It advocates for inclusive and nuanced strategies in global climate action, addressing underlying inequities. By acknowledging disparities and promoting fairness, climate justice strives for a world where all individuals can thrive amidst environmental challenges.

Original Artwork

Artist’s Statement:

When approached to create the piece I wanted to convey the story that need to be told in a way that was visually appealing but also get the message across to the viewer. The conversation was about rising sea levels which is a challenge we face worldwide but is especially a threat to Caribbean islands.

To reflect this, the painting was first heavily thought about and sketched. The point of view is upward, almost as the viewer is looking upward to the Twin Towers in Port of Spain, which are submerged under the ocean.

This addresses that theme of rising sea levels and was a way to convert that global issue into something the viewer could easily understand and relate to.

Furthermore, with the addition of the actual figures of rising sea level, research was done and the figures of mean sea level rise from the period of 1993 to present day ( from 0.1 inches to 0.13 inches) were derived.

From this set, a pattern of digits (0.10, 0.11, 0.12, 0.13, 0.14, 0.15) were used in a pattern of the ripples at the surface of the ocean.

Artist: Jaidn Bain

Biography: Jaidn Bain is a 16 year old contemporary artist who hails from the south land, Marabella to be exact. He attends Asja Boys College, San Fernando. The form 4 business science student is currently pursuing 10 subjects for CXC.

Jaidn’s mother noticed his artistic ability when he entered San Fernando Boys Government school at 5 years old and promptly enrolled him in art classes. His artistic skills and ability developed over the next few years resulting in him participating in the prestigious arts and music festival – Sanfest in March 2019 at the age of 11 where he was awarded a Certificate of Merit for his art piece. In November 2019, he won 1st place in his age category 10-13 years in the Office of the Prime Minister – National Aids Coordinating Committee NACC art competition.

In January 2023, he entered the Ministry of Tourism Culture and the Arts competition – Wellness in Tourism, A View from the Classroom. He was given an honorable mention at this competition which held an exhibition of the prize winners at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago in March. This gave him the opportunity to interact with fellow artists which spurred him on to become a member of the Art Society.

Since then he has been actively participating in several exhibitions including showings at the Rotunda Gallery, Red House, Mille Fleurs and the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago. He also developed an interest in curating and assists with staging exhibitions as well.

Anthology Editors

Funso Aiyejina, a key member of The Cropper Foundation family and lead editor for the upcoming 2024 climate justice anthology ‘Writing for Our Lives,’ passed on July 1, 2024. The anthology will now be published in his memory, and in recognition of his selfless commitment to The Foundation’s work across the region’s literary landscape.

Funso was one of the most steadfast compatriots of The Cropper Foundation, from before there was even a Foundation. When approached by John and Angela Cropper, grieving parents looking for a way to give back to the Caribbean in memory of their son, he co-conceptualised and led the Cropper Foundation Residential Workshop for Caribbean Writers for over 20 years, with Merle Hodge, until their retirement as co-facilitators in 2021. Over the more than two decades of his co-leadership of the Workshop, he led and mentored over 180 Caribbean writers, many of whom have gone on to leave their own marks on the regional and global literary landscape.

We remember him fondly for his sharp wit, fierce logic and generous spirit. He was unstinting in his honesty as he was in his praise. An enthusiastic supporter of many and mentor to many more, he showed up relentlessly, never complaining, but always with a chuckle and a smile.

On behalf of our Board of Trustees and the entire TCF team, we offer deepest condolences to the Aiyejina family at this incredibly difficult time. Along with you, we join the countless friends, colleagues, peers, students, writers and readers in T&T, across the region and still further across the Atlantic, in his country of birth Nigeria, in mourning the loss of our beloved Funso.

In the wake of his passing, there has been a change to the anthology’s editorial team. We are pleased to welcome Diana McCaulay, environmental activist and award-winning author as Co-Editor, who will work alongside Shivanee Ramlochan, Co-Editor of Writing for Our Lives.

Shivanee Ramlochan is a Trinidadian poet, essayist, and critic. Her collection of poems, Everyone Knows I am a Haunting (Peepal Tree Press) was shortlisted for the 2018 Felix Dennis Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Her second poetry collection, Witch Hindu, and her debut creative non-fiction book of essays, Unkillable, which focuses on Indo-Caribbean women’s disobedience, are both in development.

Shivanee has served as Book Reviews Editor of Caribbean Beat Magazine since 2012. She has worked for the Bocas Lit Fest, the Caribbean’s largest Anglophone literary festival, since its inception, and currently serves as Festival and Programme Manager. Shivanee is Social Media and Events Manager for Paper Based Bookshop, Trinidad and Tobago’s sole Caribbean specialty bookseller. She was Chief Guest Editor for Susumba’s Book Bag Issue 10: Natural Disasters in Our Caribbean / Queer & LGBT Caribbean Lit, and has served on adjudication and editorial panels for Commonwealth Writers’ adda; Honeysuckle Press; The Forward Prizes; The Caribbean Review of Books, Discover T&T, and others. Currently, she serves as Translation Selector for the Poetry Book Society.

She is the Co-Editor, alongside Lucy Evans, of the forthcoming Peekash Press anthology, Unstitching Silence: Fiction and Poetry by Caribbean Writers on Gender-Based Violence (2024). Shivanee is also a fellow of the Cropper Foundation Residential Writers’ Workshop in 2010.

Editorial Statement

It is devastating to do this work in the wake of Funso Aiyejina’s death, but that does not mean we’re working on Writing For Our Lives without him. His legacy, in The Cropper Foundation as in so many other walks of his creative and professional life, remains unkillable. It moves me, deeply and beyond easy speech, to now be co-editing this anthology of climate justice alongside Diana McCaulay, one of our region’s brightest, most indefatigable environmental activists and writers. Funso, too, approved of Diana’s work, and the ways in which she did it — this, to me, is the ultimate seal of approval. I remain hopeful and committed to the vision of this book, and radically thankful to all the writers who will become a part of it. We’ve never needed it more.

Website: https://shivaneeramlochan.com/

Facebook: @shivanee.ramlochan

X (Twitter): @novelniche

Instagram: @novelniche

Diana McCaulay is a Jamaican environmental activist and writer, a lifelong resident of the capital city of Kingston. She has written five novels – Dog-Heart, Huracan (Peepal Tree Press), Gone to Drift (Papillote Press and HarperCollins), White Liver Gal (self-published) and Daylight Come (Peepal Tree Press). She has won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Caribbean region twice, in 2012 and 2022.

Diana was awarded the Norman Washington Manley Award in 2021 for Excellence for Protection and Preservation of the Environment and in 2022, a Gold Musgrave Medal for distinguished eminence in the field of literature by the Council of the Institute of Jamaica.

Her forthcoming novel, A House for Miss Pauline, will be published by Dialogue Books in the UK and Algonquin Books in the USA in early 2025.

Editorial Statement

I am honoured to be asked to co-edit this vital anthology Writing For Our Lives, especially as the Caribbean has just experienced the devastating impacts of Hurricane Beryl. We are indeed writing for our lives, our islands, our livelihoods and our futures and I hope the stories in this collection will influence the governments of the world to finally act on the climate crisis with the urgency it requires.

Website: http://dianamccaulay.com/

Facebook: @dianamccaulayauthor

X (Twitter): @dmccaulay

Instagram: @dianamccaulay