The accolades just keep rolling in for my debut novel, The Girl with the Hazel Eyes. Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, Yahoo! has just featured it as one of 10 Must-Read Books by Caribbean Authors!
The article, written by Moriba Cummings, is a glowing ode to so many things that are beautiful about the region and its diaspora. But perhaps one of the things that stood out to me more than anything else was the realization that I'm not alone in believing that the region is sorely under-appreciated for its literary accomplishments. Moriba pointed out that while the music and cuisine are readily accepted as the life-enriching arts that they are, literature lags as the forgotten step child in the artistic family.
I also came across a factoid on Carib Biz Network stating that the "Caribbean is the source of the United States' earliest and largest Black immigrant group and the primary source of growth of the Black population in the U.S."
Against this background, it is incredibly jarring for me to reconcile that our literature isn't embraced more. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Tap the links to read: