Dominican poet Tamara Lowe selected for curated online feature

Dominican poet Tamara Lowe's work was recently featured in the Acalabash Blog's Poetry Portfolio, curated by John Robert Lee, a notable St Lucian writer, who, along with Andy Caul, the founder and main editor, are behind the online repository of contemporary Caribbean writing.

Her poems featured on the site (both written and in audio format) are: To You Who Love Him, What I Want, and To Little Black Girls Who May Never Be Told.

The portfolio, which was posted to the site on December 17, is the sixth, and most recent in a series featuring the work of authors and artists from the Eastern Caribbean, said a media release.

For Caul, who has a master's degree from Harvard, Acalabash is especially interested in "voices that provide fresh and nuanced perspectives on sociopolitical issues and cultural practices…of the sub-region,” the release said.

He says he is "always excited to read and to amplify the voices of younger creatives of the Eastern Caribbean."

Lee is the author of elemental (2008), Collected Poems 1975-2015 (2017), and Pierrot (2020). His poetry appears in numerous magazines and anthologies, including the Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse. His reviews and columns appear widely, and he produced and presented radio and television programmes in St Lucia for over 30 years.

Lowe, from the northern town of Portsmouth, has been writing and performing poetry for several years and has performed at several events in Dominica, including the Dominica Festival of Arts (Domfesta) in 2021. She is no stranger to stages outside her homeland and her poems were also featured at two of the Bocas Literary Festival events in Trinidad and Tobago in 2021. She has also performed her poems at a Hugh Wooding Law School OECS Cultural event. Lowe is working on her first collection.

While the OECS has central focus in Acalabash, the portfolio also carries work by authors from other parts of the Caribbean, including French-, Spanish- and Dutch-speaking nations. Also featured in Portfolio 6 were poetry of Anique Sylvestre (Martinique), Amilcar Sanatan (TT), Artwork by Mac Donald Dixon (St Lucia) and Anique Sylvestre (Martinique). The work of Dominicans Celia Sorhaindo (Portfolio 1) and Artwork by Sarama Rolle – Culture (Portfolio 2) were also featured in previous issues.

Lowe is currently the country manager of Tropical Shipping in Dominica and was recently elected president of the regional maritime organisation Women in Maritime Association Caribbean (WiMAC).

For more info: Follow Tamara Lowe on Instagram and YouTube