Neala Luna writes from Trinidad and Tobago and her poems explore self-discovery and resilience against a backdrop of trauma, escapism, self-harm and substance abuse. She writes to offer connection and solace and to celebrate the role of community and historical legacy as opportunities for vulnerability, healing, and empowerment. Neala Luna was shortlisted for the 2022 Bocas Emerging Writers Fellowship and her poems have appeared in The Caribbean Writer, PREE, Small Axe, Susumba’s Bookbag, and Acalabash Poetry Portfolio. Her poems have been anthologized in "RUSH" (Black Pansophy Books, 2022), which explores the last seven decades as seen through the eyes of women of colour, and are forthcoming in "Unstitching Silence" (Peekash Press, 2024), which features Caribbean voices writing about gender-based violence.
Otancia Noel is a graduate of the MFA Creative Writing programme at The University of The West Indies. She has gone on to accomplish a lot in her writing career since graduating. She was longlisted for writing at Johnson and Amoy Caribbean Short Story Prize 2019 and 2020 in fiction and non-fiction. She's had short stories featured in Solar Punk online magazine Issue No. 3 U.S.A and The Caribbean Writer Magazine Vol. 36 U.S.A . Otancia has an upcoming short story feature in Cosmic Double Magazine U.S.A. She's the winner of The Vincent Cooper Literary Prize for Caribbean vernacular 2021, was eligible for both the Hugo and the Nebula Award 2022 for best Short Story fiction prize U.S.A, winner of Hachette and Hodder Education UK Island Voices Caribbean Contemporary Prize 2022. and runner up fellowship offered for the International Literary Seminars to be held in Nairobi Kenya in December 2023. We're very proud of her accomplishments.
Simeon Chris Moodoo is a national and regional award winning playwright and director, whose work has been peer-reviewed and published. Moodoo is a husband, a son, an educator, a student of Trinbagonian indigenous martial arts (Kalinda and Rope Jab), and has professional experience in various aspects of theatre production and performance. His interests lie in the facilitation of learning, and the persistence and advancement of Caribbean Culture, Theatre, Performance and Society. Special Skills: Kalinda (Trinidadian Stick-fighting) Jab Jab/Rope Jab (whip fighting and whip cracking), fight choreography and Caribbean performance.
Sunil Whittle enjoys writing Trini-focused content that examines personal connections through the eyes of gender and sexuality, mental illness wrapped up in general comes and bacchanal. He is excited to compete the MFA in Creative Writing at The University of The West Indies and see where his talent may take him.
Nadja Adora Nabbie is a writer who champions the empowerment of women through narratives that depict healing from trauma, connection to the body and self-love. A scholarship winner, Nabbie secured a Masters in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Sussex before returning to Trinidad to publish her first title, My Own SBA Toolkit for CSEC English A Examinations. She has had a variety of poetry, flash fiction and short stories published in the newspaper.
Dr Travis Weekes is an award-winning Saint Lucian poet, playwright and director. He is also an actor and cultural critic. He studied Literature at the University of the West Indies, Mona; Theatre at the Jamaica School of Drama and Cultural Studies at the Cave Campus of UWI. As a researcher and dramatist, Dr Weekes focuses on the indigenous traditions and discourse in the theatre of Nobel Prize winning playwright Derek Walcott. He also uses this research to develop innovative dramaturgical approaches to his own theatre practice both as a playwright and director. Indeed, he has written several plays and scripted the production “Jazz Country” which was staged as part of Saint Lucia’s presentation to Carifesta 2013 in Suriname. His play “The Field of Power” was staged to mark the celebrations of Nobel Laureate Week in Saint Lucia in 2015. Another of his plays, “The Fight for Belle Vue” has been being translated into French Creole which he has also directed for a staged reading in Martinique. Dr Weekes has worked as the Cultural Education Officer of the Folk Research Centre in Saint Lucia, Lecturer in French Lexicon Kweyol at Cave Hill, UWI and Lecturer in Caribbean Studies and Theatre Arts at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in Saint Lucia. He has also lectured extensively on Saint Lucian and Caribbean culture both in and out of the region. He is currently employed as the Theatre Coordinator and Lecturer in Theatre at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts of the University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine. Last year he directed a film adaptation of his play, “The Fight of Belle Vue” with his student actors. In 2022, he staged his most recent play, “Mennen Mwen Mon Repos”, with the Children of Helen Alliance, at the Wellington Library in Florida, USA. This year, 2024, Dr. Weekes directed a play entitled “Sunday with the Warlord” by Dawad Phillip, based on the life of Calypsonian the Lord Blakie. This play was staged at the Naparaima Bowl, San Fernando, Trinidad on February 04 and subsequently at the Little Carib Theatre on February 15 and 16. Dr Weekes’ publications include “Two Plays: The Fight for Belle Vue and The Field of Power”, “Bodies, Memories and Spirits” Discourse on Selected Cultural Forms and Practices in Saint Lucia” and a collection of poems entitled, “Let There be Jazz”.