I've been invited to join a panel discussion on the question the title of this post poses, and I suspect a discussion of the challenges associated with the term "Caribbean writer" alone will make for an entire night of discourse. But there are, I'm sure, many other challenges writers described as such (or those longing for a description as such) experience--all the way from the initial stages of their writing process to the finished work, through to publication, promotion, and sales, and (if they're fortunate) on to long and short lists for awards and prizes.
I can't speak for the writing end of course, so hopefully my observations and questions will suffice. Some of my reader / critic observations and questions are about the category "Caribbean writer." I won't bore you with the usual ones about inside / outside geographic space classifications (which I'm sure will surface at some point in the discussion), but like some other observers, I wonder about sales categories. I wonder for instance if being categorized as "Caribbean writer" helps or hurts a book's promotion and sales. I wonder also about the effect of being placed in even broader general categories like "fiction writer" and "non-fiction writer."
Other related topics for discourse will most likely be about audience--who's buying the books?who's not buying the books? etc. And my observations and questions on that subject will include concerns I have about the assumed audience being addressed by many Caribbean writers. Based on what I have observed on subject matter, language, and characters, I tend to agree with those who say many Caribbean writers appear to be talking to an audience aged 50+ and as such are neglecting a younger generation of readers.
(Of course, I understand that if you're a writer 50 or older--as many of the oft-published Caribbean writers are--those are the folks you'll naturally tend to talk to. But then you shouldn't complain when younger people don't buy your books. From my experiences with younger readers, I can say they don't necessarily want history lessons from their fiction writers.)
But also important on the subject of a book's reception or readership are its reviewers and critics. And my observations and questions concerning that area will include the role they have played, and can play, in the life and death of a book.
That's some of it for now.
I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about the challenges Caribbean writers face. Please share your thoughts in the comments or via email: signifyinguyana[at]gmail.com. Thanks!
