#readcaribbean year 2 - recap

This year 2020 marked my first participation in the #readcaribbean challenge launched by Cindy Allman (@bookofCinz). I wanted to make a quick assessment of what I enjoyed, what I discovered, what surprised me.

What I enjoyed

I really felt like I was watching a community at work. Talking with people who share my taste for reading and my approach to promote Caribbean culture has reinforced my plans to develop Karukerament.

I had already planned to read 4 books, but I have to say that it was hard to resist the urge to buy books after reading some particularly enthusiastic recommendations. In any case, I kept up with my original pace to read these 4 novels: “Solibo Magnifique” by Patrick Chamoiseau, “Dancing Nude in the Moonlight” by Joanne C. Hillhouse, “La Grande drive des esprits” by Gisèle Pineau and “The Girl With The Hazel Eyes” by Callie Browning. Unsurprisingly, each book won me over. Each of them had different in style but they all celebrated Caribbean identity.

Seeing people playing along the #streamcaribbean challenge. I know it's an effort to make a playlist so it was heartwarming to see people do it... As for me, I made a playlist for Gisèle Pineau's “Morne Câpresse” and a playlist for my Caribbean romance fiction “Bay La Vwa”. And yes, as you can imagine, this is just the beginning for #streamcaribbean.

What I discovered

I am finally able to plan my Instagram content. Having prepared my visuals allowed me to publish quietly and regularly throughout the month of June. I even managed to get into a reading routine to finally read Elizabeth Acevedo's novel “The Poet X”, Audrey Lorde's essay “The Master's tool will never dismantle the Master's house” and Rilzy Adams' Caribbean novella “Brand New”. I even started the m/m saga of Whyborne and Griffin...Conclusion, I finished my annual challenge because I reached my reading goal of 48 books. I extended it to 70 books.

I've only been in the Caribbean Bookstagram for about a year now, so this challenge was a great opportunity to get an overview of the English-speaking community’s favorites. So I've added to my TBR: “Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams, “Love after Love” by Ingrid Persau, “The Confessions of Frannie Langton” by Sara Collins and “A Brief History of Seven Killings” by Marlon James.

What surprised me

On the bright side. When the challenge got an article in Oprah's magazine, we celebrated without losing sight of the fact that Caribbean literature doesn't need Oprah to be validated. But a token of appreciation is always nice.

Unpleasantly. This #readcaribbean challenge was also an opportunity to highlight the discrimination that Caribbean bookstagrammers face from publishing houses. For the past two weeks, there has been discussion about the fact that publishers refuse to integrate Bookstagrammeur.se.s in the promotion of their Caribbean authors. This ranges from refusing to send ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copy, free copies before publication) when the Bookstagrammer lives in the Caribbean to creating contests limited to people on US soil. I think the problems are similar in the French case... In short, this is a subject we will discuss another day.

On the downside. This #readcaribbean challenge was also an opportunity to highlight the discrimination that Caribbean bookstagrammers face from publishing houses. For the past two weeks, there has been discussion about the fact that publishers refuse to integrate Bookstagrammers in the promotion of their Caribbean authors. This goes from refusing to send ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copy, free copies before publication) when the Bookstagrammer lives in the Caribbean to creating US-only giveaways. I think the problems are similar in the French case... Anyway, we’ll talk about it another day.

And you, how did you spend your #readcaribbean June? Any disappointing book? Any exceptional book? Any inspiring book? Tell me all about it.