Lisa Allen-Agostini - Trinidad Noir

Keith Jardim, a jaguar who lives in the forests of Guyana and Venezuela, is the author of Under the Blue: Stories (2008) and The Last Migrations: Stories and a Novella (forthcoming). He eats peccaries and alligators, fish and capybara, the occasional moist-eyed deer, and agoutis. He knows the government of Trinidad and Tobago never had a heart.

Oonya Kempadoowas born in England of Guyanese parents and brought up in Guyana. She has lived in Europe, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Tobago, and currently lives in Grenada. Her first book, Buxton Spice , was published in 1997 and has been translated into five languages. Her second novel, Tide Running (2001), won the 2002 Casa de las Américas prize. Kempadoo was named a Great Talent for the Twenty-First Century by the Orange Prize judges.

Jaime Lee Loy, a native Trinidadian, studied literature and visual arts at the University of the West Indies (St. Augustine) and is pursuing an MPhil in literature. A contributing artist to Galvanize (2006), she has participated as artist-in-residence at Caribbean Contemporary Arts (CCA), Trinidad, and the Vermont Studio Center, U.S. She was Exchange Programme Coordinator for CCA where for five years she experimented with video.

Darby Maloneywrites short stories, poetry, and is currently working on a children’s Heroes of Trinidad and Tobago series which includes Russell Latapy: The Little Magician (2007) and Stephen Ames: Trinidad’s Ace Golfer (2008). Darby has lived in eleven states and three countries, and currently resides in Southampton, New York and Trinidad and Tobago.

Reena Andrea Manickchandis a twenty-six-year-old native of Trinidad and Tobago who has enjoyed creative writing since she was eight. Besides short stories, her work also includes socio-dramas. Her writing has moved from dark and negative to sweet and positive. After being baptized into theater, she began producing works that explore how to appropriately resolve these extremes. She credits her countrypeeps and close ones for her inspiration.

Shani Mootoowas born in Ireland and grew up in Trinidad. She is the author of a collection of short stories, Out on Main Street (1993), a book of poetry, The Predicament of Or (2001), and two novels, Cereus Blooms at Night (1996) — long-listed for the Booker Prize, short-listed for the 1997 Giller Prize, and a finalist for the British Columbia Book Prize — and He Drown She in the Sea (2005), which was long-listed for the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She lives in Canada.

Elizabeth Nunezis a CUNY Distinguished Professor and author of six novels, including Beyond the Limbo Silence (1999), winner of the Independent Publisher’s Award, and Bruised Hibiscus (2000), winner of the American Book Award. Prospero’s Daughter (2006) was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Nunez is coeditor of the anthology Stories from Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad (2006) and executive producer of the television series Black Writers in America .

Lawrence Scottwas the 1999 winner of a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Novel (Canada and Caribbean) for Aelred’s Sin (1998). He is the author of Witchbroom (1992), Ballad for the New World (1994), and Night Calypso (2004). His stories have been anthologized in The Penguin Book of Caribbean Short Stories and The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories. His stories have also been read on the BBC. For more information visit www.lawrencescott.co.uk.

Judith Theodorewas born and grew up in Woodbrook, Port-of-Spain. One of her short stories was short-listed for a local Newsday competition, and she was selected to participate in the Cropper Foundation 2005 Caribbean Residential Writing Workshop in Tobago. She recently completed the Playwrights’ Workshop 2007 conducted by Tony Hall. She is also a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Art Society and works in various media, but has a preference for oils and pastels.

Tiphanie Yaniquewon a Boston Review Fiction Prize, a Fulbright Scholarship in creative writing, and a Pushcart Prize. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston. Her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry can be found in various publications including Transition, Callaloo, and the London Magazine . She is a professor of creative writing and Caribbean literature at Drew University, and currently is the review editor of Calabash and a fellow with Teachers & Writers Collaborative.