One Brooklyn
August 30, 2019:
Today, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams announced a partnership with The Idea Room Corp. to launch the first-ever Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF), running from September 6-8, 2019 at iconic venues across Brooklyn. The festival, the theme of which is “Caribbean beyond Carnival,” includes support from One Brooklyn Fund Inc., and will feature works and appearances by universally-acclaimed writers of Caribbean descent, including Jamaica Kincaid, Elizabeth Nunez, and a host of both established and upcoming authors of Caribbean-centric poetry and prose.
Throughout the three-day event — organized by The Idea Room Corp. in cooperation with Community Revitalization Partnership and MAP Media International — award-winning contemporary writers and veterans of the literary festival circuit, including Kei Miller, Lauren Alleyne, Barbara Jenkins, Paul Pryce, and DaMaris Hill, will participate in discussions, interviews, readings, and theatric renditions, all supporting BCLF’s goal of advancing the narrative around what it means to be a person of Caribbean heritage.
“Brooklyn is proud to be known as the Caribbean capital of America, and it is enhanced immeasurably by the cultural influences that flow to these shores from the Caribbean islands, through its people,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams. “It is important that the rich and diverse artistic expression that Brooklynites of Caribbean descent share with other cultures within our borough be highlighted and extended beyond carnivals and island-specific cuisine.”
“In a time when the notion of otherness is being disparaged, it is a great comfort and encouragement to the Caribbean community and all of its writers who often toil thanklessly, to receive this level of support and partnership from the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President and One Brooklyn Fund,” said Marsha Massiah-Aaron, lead strategist and director of The Idea Room. “We believe that partnerships such as this are perhaps our greatest tool in the work of collectively acknowledging and commending the priceless contributions of the Caribbean community in making our world a more pleasant place in which to live.”
“One Brooklyn Fund is proud to support Brooklyn’s first Caribbean literary festival” said Lori H. Luis, executive director of One Brooklyn Fund Inc. “What better time to bring attention to the important works of Caribbean authors and illustrators from around the world?”
BCLF, featuring contributors who hail from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Puerto Rico, aims to celebrate Caribbean oral and written storytelling, in its various forms, at the following venues:
· Greenlight Bookstore, 632 Flatbush Avenue
· 333 Lounge, 333 Flatbush Avenue
· Brooklyn Historical Society, 55 Water Street
· The Plaza at 300 Ashland, 300 Ashland Place
Free tickets to festival events are available at Eventbrite. To pledge support for BCLF, and for more information and updates, tickets, or to volunteer, visit bklyncbeanlitfest.com or @bklyncbeanlitfest.
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