New climate justice book to launch at Bocas Lit Fest

Writing For Our Lives, a new collection of creative writing commissioned by The Cropper Foundation and published by Peekash Press, is not titled in hyperbole. The fiction, creative non-fiction, and poems in the anthology confront dire realities of the global climate crisis, focusing on its risks to Caribbean territories, a media release said.

Co-edited by Jamaican novelist and environmentalist Diana McCaulay and Trinidadian poet and essayist Shivanee Ramlochan, Writing For Our Lives makes its international debut at this year’s Bocas Lit Fest, on May 3.

Eighteen contributors from eight Caribbean territories – Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, Sint Maarten and The Bahamas – make up the anthology, ranging from prize-winning authors with several published works in their repertoires, to up-and-coming writers for whom Writing For Our Lives marks one of their first print publications. Each contributor’s piece addresses the urgent need for climate justice, through works that range from the dystopian to the folkloric, set in the Caribbean’s past, present, and future.

Cherisse Braithwaite-Joseph, CEO of The Cropper Foundation, outlined the vision for the anthology as all-encompassing.

“This collection is really about helping people see and feel the human stories behind climate change. We want to move the discussion beyond the science and statistics to show the unequal impacts of this crisis and the decisions made to address it on those that may be easily overlooked.”

When asked to identify the intended audience for the book, Braithwaite-Joseph said in the release, “We want policymakers, students, and teachers alike to appreciate not just how the climate crisis affects our economies and livelihoods, but how the impacts connect to increased health risks, food shortages, displacement, and anxiety.”

At the Bocas Lit Fest, co-editors McCaulay and Ramlochan will introduce the anthology, and invite readings from a regional cross-section of its contributors: Randy Ablack (Trinidad and Tobago), Brendon Alekseii (TT), Kevin Jared Hosein (TT), Elton Johnson (Jamaica), Dreylan Johnson (Guyana) and Simone Leid (TT).

Writing For Our Lives was made possible through the financial support of Open Society Foundations. The anthology is dedicated to the late Funso Aiyejina, who for over two decades co-facilitated, alongside Merle Hodge, The Cropper Foundation’s residential workshops that trained so many leading contemporary Caribbean writers.

Like almost all sessions at the 2025 Bocas Lit Fest, the event is free and open to all. With the theme, Always Coming Home, the festival – marking its 15th year – includes prize-winning writers, including Marlon James, Myriam JA Chancy, and Lawrence Scott, alongside emerging talents, such as Yesha Townsend, Lesley-Ann Wanliss and others, the release said.

The Writing For Our Lives anthology will be available for sale at the Bocas Lit Fest at Nalis May 3-4 and at Paper Based Bookshop from May 5 onwards. An e-book will also be released for online purchase.

For festival programmevisit: bocaslitfest.com

For more info: visit
thecropperfoundation.org
, Facebook and Instagram using the handle @thecropperfndn.

Writing For Our Lives contributors

Writing For Our Lives contributors

Randy Ablack – TT

Brendon Alekseii – TT

Tadzio Bervoets – Sint Maarten

Anika M Christopher – British Virgin Islands

Sonia Farmer – The Bahamas

Kevin Jared Hosein – TT

Dreylan Johnson – Guyana

Elton Johnson – Jamaica

Rhys Knowles – The Bahamas

Simone Leid – TT

Amanda T McIntyre – TT

Judy Raymond –TT

Christina Katrina Smith – Barbados

Portia Subran – TT

Sharma Taylor – Jamaica

Charlie Godet Thomas – Bermuda

Scott Ting-A-Kee – Guyana

Nadine Tomlinson ­– Jamaica