CaribbeanTales Newsletter: November 2005

Walk good, Shana

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 11:29:48 -0500

With this issue, CaribbeanTales must say goodbye to Shana Calixte. I have to admit that I’m never really happy when friends leave. Although I usually know that it’s best for them and that they have a world of other wonderful new ventures to pursue.

Shana has been a key colleague and trusted friend to us here at Leda Serene Films ever since she joined the small planning group that, in 2002, had already begun dreaming of all the multimedia possibilities for CaribbeanTales. Shana had recently completed her Master's thesis on St. Lucian women's negotiations of "home" and how they saw themselves "fitting" into multiracial and multicultural Canada. As a student and community activist she had created and designed websites for Black and women’s groups. So it was really easy for us to find common ground as we continued to brainstorm and develop themes and ideas about the links between Caribbean-Canadian heritage and storytelling, and how these could be channeled and expressed through the New Media.

Click here to listen to an interview clip with Shana Calixte on CHRY

Click here for Miss Lou performing 'Walk Good'

Shana became the Designer and Project Manager of our first CaribbeanTales website project: caribbeantales.ca. In 2004, she also took on the role of Editor of the multimedia E-Newsletter. This is now the ninth E-newsletter that she has been responsible for producing. The feedback that we receive from our readers continually testifies to what we already know -- that CaribbeanTales has an avid and expanding readership that appreciates the quality and scope of our multimedia projects. Shana has done an excellent job of building and sustaining the high quality and variety of our content.

I know that all our readers will join with me in thanking her for a job well done, and wishing her all the best as she moves forward.

Walk good on your way
and good duppy walk with you,
Walk good every day,
and good duppy walk with you
Every day, on your way
Walk good, good follow you
If you just walk good!
Walk good!
The Honourable Louise Bennett-Coverly ("Miss Lou")

The islands will speak...

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 10:58:01 -0500

Welcome to the November newsletter issue of CaribbeanTales!

These past few months have seen a whirlwind in our offices as we prepared to launch three new projects aimed at celebrating the great traditions of Caribbean-Canadian storytelling.

They include the release of our new documentary series, Literature Alive, on October 6th on Bravo! The first screening, entitled Memory Places, featured Andre Alexis bringing viewers along on a journey to his various 'homes' of Toronto, Ottawa and Trinidad. Subsequent episodes featured Shani Mootoo and Tessa McWatt (you can read about her in this newsletter edition). The documentary series will continue to air on Thursday evenings on Bravo! at 8pm and includes the three storytellers featured in this issue, Dany Laferrière, Tessa McWatt and Jemeni.

Our most recent work realizes the convergence of projects that CaribbeanTales and our sister company, Leda Serene Films, have been working on. Firstly, there is the documentary series that profiles Caribbean-Canadian authors. This will be followed in January 2006 by a brand new website: Literature Alive Online. This website will bring you highlights from the documentary series, author profiles (including an extensive listing of publications, reviews and online links) as well as previously screened audio video clips, and some new ones as well!

Literature Alive Online will not only be a database of some of our most reputable Caribbean-Canadian authors, it will also have sections for teachers and students who are interested in learning all about the storytelling tradition with various curriculum resources and book lists. It will also provide many new media downloads, games and quizzes as well as a book club message board to chat about the newest fiction from Caribbean-Canadian writers. Our next newsletter in February will be sure to introduce you to all of these new items, so stay tuned.

In addition, CaribbeanTales will be launching five audio books in a project that brings together the written and the spoken word. Gemini Nominee Leonie Forbes who brought to life the character of Sister Hope in Lord Have Mercy is producing this project. Look out for highlights of this project in our next newsletter, early in 2006. These three projects that reflect a range of various media, all work as one to showcase the remarkable and incredible talent of Caribbean-Canadian storytellers. Using the Internet, television and audio/cd delivery methods, CaribbeanTales and Leda Serene Films are promoting the breadth and diversity of Caribbean-Canadian literature and making use of the new ways in which stories are being communicated.

Please enjoy our latest newsletter, with stories on the launch of the documentary series, our three featured storytellers, a review of one of our currently available Audio Books, I is a Long Memoried Woman, and more creative work from one of our newsletter readers.

November 11th, 2005

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 16:38:16 -0500

Capital Slam: The Remembrance Day Edition (Ottawa)
8 p.m., Gap of Dunloe - 263 Bank Street (at Cooper)

November 13th, 2005

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 19:27:04 -0500

Bake Sale & Craft Fair (New Westminster, BC)
Trinidad and Tobago Cultural Society of BC
Union Hall

November 24th-27th, 2005

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:50:16 -0500

Tobago Signal Hill Alumni Choir (Guelph, Hamilton, Toronto)

December 10th, 2005

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 19:36:32 -0500

Children's Christmas Party (Vancouver)
Jamaican Canadian Cultural Association of British Columbia

Burke's Bookstore 2nd Annual Burla Award Ceremony (Toronto)
Recognizing the accomplishments of an author of Caribbean/African heritage
7:00pm, at 873 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto

December 31st, 2005

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 19:42:38 -0500

Old Years Night Party (Montreal)
Guyana Cultural Association of Montreal
Venue: St.Ignatius of loyala Parish Hall, 4455 West Broadway.