Below are a list of Caribbean-related events and talks during the Windham Campbell Prize Festival. Prize recipients and panelists include Erna Brodber and André Alexis.The Festival will take place from Wednesday, 13 September to Friday, 15 September. Events are listed in chronological order, with locations noted at the end of each description. Of special note is the “Emancipation in Woodside” event, with Erna Brodber in conversation with Claudia Rankine on Friday, 15 September, 4pm. More information is available at the Windham Campbell Prize website.
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
**Festival events**
The Future of the Past: Myth-making in the Modern World
Thursday, 14 September, 12:00 PM
New Haven Free Public Library
133 Elm Street (enter lower level on Temple Street)
Professor of Classics Emily Greenwood talks with André Alexis, Marina Carr, and Carolyn Forché about how they approach myth in their work.
More information here
Close Looking: Erna Brodber on African Fractal Designs
Thursday, 14 September, 12:30 PM
Yale University Art Gallery
1111 Chapel Street
Erna Brodber looks at African textiles from the Yale University Art Gallery collection and discusses the use of fractals in her most recent novel, Nothing’s Mat. Moderated by Caroline Kanner (YC ’18). Note: seating is limited.
Co-sponsored by the Yale University Art Gallery.
On Becoming a Writer
Thursday, 14 September, 5:30 PM
Afro-American Cultural Center
211 Park Street
Prize Director Michael Kelleher talks with André Alexis, Erna Brodber, Ike Holter, and Ashleigh Young about how and when and why they started writing, and the greatest challenges they have faced in forging their identities as writers.
Co-sponsored by the Afro-American Cultural Center and Yale Creative Writing.
Art in the Age of Trump
Friday, 15 September, 4:00 PM
Whitney Humanities Center
53 Wall Street, Room 208
The Age of Trump has changed political discourse in this country, perhaps forever. Legendary New York editor Erroll McDonald (YC’75) talks with André Alexis, Carolyn Forché, Ike Holter, and Maya Jasanoff about writing in a hyper-partisan era led by a Twitter-addicted president.
More information here
Emancipation in Woodside: Erna Brodber in Conversation with Claudia Rankine
Friday, 15 September, 4:00 PM
Afro-American Cultural Center
211 Park Street
Erna Brodber and Claudia Rankine discuss the annual Emancipation Day celebrations in Woodside, Saint Mary, the rural community in the hills of northeast Jamaica where Brodber was born and continues to make her home. Brodber and Rankine will explore Brodber’s longtime involvement with Emancipation Day, as well as considering the importance of black spaces in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Clips from Bury Mi Foot Chain, a documentary about the Woodside celebrations, will be integrated into the conversation.
More information here
Closing Event: Prize Recipient Readings
Friday, 15 September, 7:30 PM
Yale University Art Gallery
1111 Chapel Street, Auditorium (enter at 56 High Street or 201 York Street)
It has become a festival tradition to close with short readings by all of the prize recipients. Featuring André Alexis, Erna Brodber, Marina Carr, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Carolyn Forché, Ike Holter, Maya Jasanoff, and Ashleigh Young.
Co-sponsored by the Yale University Art Gallery.
