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The Light in the Cracks

@thelightinthecracks

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Curator: dr. @jacifhoward
Bookstagram 📚 32/50 | I teach, write poetry, fiction, reviews and lit. crit.
CR: What Storm, What Thunder
🇻🇨🇧🇧

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Day 16 of the 30 day Read Caribbean Book Recommendation!

@thelightinthecracks is recommending Moi, Tituba Sorciere Noire de Salem or I, Tituba by Maryse Condé

Moi, Tituba Sorciere Noire de Salem or I, Tituba by Maryse Condé (translated by Richard Philcox) is a classic francophone Caribbean novel that explores some of the limitations experienced by racialized Caribbean women in the 17th century. With the legacy of slavery as the core obstacle, the story highlights the inventive methods, maternal inheritances, belief systems that Tituba uses to survive abusive systems of power or at the very least to live life on her own terms.

This novel functions as historical, horror, alternate history, neo-slave narrative, postcolonial, and women's fiction. Condé stirs up so many useful reflections on women's autonomy including how we think about their knowledge, their desires, their aspirations, their bodies, the power of their resistance and their decisions on who and how to love.

#ReadCaribbean

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📚🗾Happy Caribbean Reads Month! 🗾📚

It's my favourite time of year again!

Swipe for my favourite Caribbean authors (diaspora and heritage are valid!) who write horror, thriller or gothic books!

This year I added flags of the countries folks are from or connected to.

Disclaimer: This list is not exhaustive and always aims to try and cover as many islands throughout the Caribbean.

Have you read any of these books? Drop your favourites in the comments.

Help me kick off the month by reposting and sharing!

#ReadCaribbean #CaribbeanHorror #CaribbeanGothic #CaribbeanThriller #BlackBookstagrammer

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A win fuh de loose women—
De made to split rooms women
De gon' spit de truth women
De won't shrink or mute women
De fire-in-the-booth women
De break all de rules women
De headline de news women
De fear into fuel women
De push and guh thru women
De this is fuh you women

This is for you! ✨
Happy 2026!

#FCLE #Collys2026 #HowISplitARoom #poetdontchaknowit
#cyndiceleste

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Me to my friends: I want a surprise tea party for my 35th birthday.
My friends: Say less.

I am so, so blessed. 🥹🩷

#Throwback #LeoBaby

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CARIFESTA XV will forever be etched into my memory, and these photos and videos highlighted here are some of my #favourite moments.

I was like a bank holiday bear meeting authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers at the Literary Arts events and at the Literary Market.

The biggest moment for me was coordinating two literary events - Blind Date with a Book & Lucky Dip a Book - thanks to the CARIFESTA Literary Arts Coordinator, Nailah Folami Umoja I'll be forever grateful to her for the opportunity to do this.

A conversation that included how much I love reading, getting others to read and be excited about it and Caribbean stories, and bringing readers and authors together, led to me combining two things I love, reading and planning events, for a regional festival. Me, y'all, me!
There are times during the last week when I can't believe I did that.🙃🥳

I also did an interview with Bahamaian journalist, artist, photographer, and poet Eric Rose @photosbyericrose about the events and the importance of reading and preserving Caribbean stories.

I'm publicly thanking Dawn @baje_bookclub and my daughter Shadon for assisting with both events and for the photos and videos.

Thanks also to the authors and publishers who donated books and to everyone who attended. You made me #happy.

For me, you made CARIFESTA lit!! You were the heart of the party. 🥳

Donna
💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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🌿 The event: CARIFESTA XV
🌿 Location: Barbados 🇧🇧

The Caribbean’s greatest celebration of culture, creativity, and connection is taking place right now in Barbados (August 22 - 31, 2005) and it is amazing.

I’m Dawn, a social bookworm & bookclub host who loves selfies and everything about Carifesta XV.

Let’s talk about my fav section: Literary Arts - Books 📚

I got the opportunity to spend some time with the children at the Lucky Dip With A Book. They chose a wrapped book to read; I read to some of the children and then they drew and coloured a picture related to their book. Thank you Donna & Nailah for the opportunity.

If you haven’t done so already, get down to the Grand Market and visit the Literary Market - a bookstore with books for adults and children and guess what, you may meet a couple authors as well.

It’s been a joy just meeting my fellow bookworms and authors as you can tell from this reel.

🔖QOTD: What book(s) did you buy from the Literary bookshop and which authors did you meet?

#keepreading #book #books #bookstagram #bookworm #bookish #bookstagrammer #booklover #bookblogger #bookaholic #bibliophile #reader #reading #bajanreader #barbados🇧🇧 #caribbeanbookstagram #booksaremagical #bookaddict #booknerd #carifestaxv

Poll: How many books did you buy from the Literary Market?

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Intersect Antigua-Barbuda is a feminist collective all about "connecting Queeribbean and Caribbean feminists through storytelling, art, advocacy." Its Artist-in-Residence programme, funded by the Equality Fund and the Black Feminist Fund, was created and launched and run by Intersect A-B's co-founder Sarah-Anne Gresham. Find out more about the collective and the programme at intersectantigua dot com.

Jacinth Browne-Howard is a St Vincent and the Grenadines writer, educator and critic living in Barbados. You can find and read the essay "Visions of Kalinago and Garifuna in Peggy Carr’s ‘Shape of a Warrior’: A Review" along with her other original residence writings through the link in my bio or at https://tinyurl.com/JacinthBH.

The beautiful artwork on the reel cover is by L. E. M. @vermilemon. The image is a collage of Browne-Howard holding a stack of books nestled among flowers and leaves. Jacinth Browne-Howard's photograph is by @jfab.art.

Video: It's me, a black woman with short, natural twist out in a white shirt wearing wooden jewellery in a botanical garden talking about a review essay by writer Jacinth Browne-Howard.

#readcaribbean #bookreview #artistinresidence #blackfeminism #wadadlifeminism #historicalfiction

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Day 24:30 Caribbean Book Recommendations

SHAPE OF A WARRIOR by Peggy Carr

Recommended by @jacifhoward

Shape of a Warrior by Vincentian poet, novelist and diplomat Peggy Carr acts as a distant origin story for the sole National Hero of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Paramount Chief, His Excellency, the Right Honourable Joseph Chatoyer. Considering the 2012 narrative of British journalist Christopher Taylor in The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of Garifuna and that of James Sweeney, whose 2022 novel is based on careful research in the form of Chatoyer: Freedom’s War Chief, there are a few works available which focus on the Indigenous history of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. However, Carr, as a native of the soil, creates in Shape of a Warrior, a localized work of fiction that casts its net far beyond the historical scope of Chatoyer’s own life to a pre-Columbian version of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

#ReadCaribbean #30Days30CaribbeanBooks

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#readcaribbean book 5

This one I got in a giveaway by @thelightinthecracks every since lol but I was keeping it for June lol

#bookblurb ⇢ Ma Taffy may be blind, but she sees everything. So when her great-nephew Kaia comes home from school in tears, what she senses sends a deep fear running through her. A teacher has cut off Kaia’s dreadlocks—a violation of the family’s Rastafari beliefs-and this single impulsive action will have
ramifications that stretch throughout the entire community. Kaia’s story brings back memories from Ma Taffy’s youth, including the legend of the flying preacherman and his ties to the history of Jamaican oppression and resistance-all of which will reverberate through to the present and change Augustown forever.
Vividly bringing to life Jamaica in the 1980s, Augustown follows one family’s struggle to rise above the brutal vicissitudes of history, race, class, collective memory, violence, and myth.

#beachbooked #readcaribbean #readcaribbean2025 #currentlyreadi̇ng #Augustown #book27of2025 #caribbeanbookstagrammers #blackbookstagrammers #barbados #caribbeanbookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookish #bibliophile #books #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookworm #bookish #bookaddict #booknerd #instabook #readersofinstagram #blackreaders #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #bookrecommendations #bookphotography #bookblogger #bookcommunity

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Read the Caribbean! Swipe to see books from some of the Caribbean islands

All the books featured I’ve either read or in my everlasting tbr list lol. I can’t believe that we’re halfway through June already!

#beachbooked #readcaribbean #readcaribbean2025 #caribbeanbookstagram #caribbeanbooks #barbados #caribbeanbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookish #bibliophile #books #booklover #reading #blackgirlswhoread #bookstagrammer #bookworm #bookish #booknerd #readersofinstagram #blackreaders #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #bookrecommendations #bookphotography #bookblogger #bookcommunity

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Thank you! 📚🫶🏽

Bookclub: The House of Eve by Sadequa Johnson @sadeqasays
May 31st, 2025
Post No. 1

A huge Thank You to the sponsors of the May 31st bookclub:
- Signature Paper Shoppe @signaturepapershoppe
As we continue to support local businesses, business owner Victoria laid out amazing items for us journalling and bookish ladies. From to do lists, to bookmarks, to journals to pens to stickers!! Thank you Victoria. Go visit the IG page. 📓🖊️

- Author of The House of Eve, Sadequa Johnson @sadeqasays
Thank you so much for your (video) message to the Baje Bookclub members. The ladies loved it and were very happy and attentive to what you shared regarding why the House of Eve was written. Thank you!

- Barbadian author Dr. Jacinth Howard @thelightinthecracks
Jacinth thank you for sharing your writing journey with us. We enjoyed getting to know you. Thant you!. Here at Baje Bookclub we will also continue to support local authors 📚

- Pat’s Catering @patleacock
We loved our refreshments 😋 thank you

- Allison @bookworm5131
The cake was awesome!

- To each and everyone of you that attended, supported, assisted and contributed to this amazing Bookclub meeting on May 31st THANK YOU 🤗🤗

Everyone left with a bookmark made by me - a representation of what bookmarks would look like in the1950s (see bookmarks in the reel). The colours chosen were from the cover of The House of Eve.

Because of your contributions, support and well wishes, Baje Bookclub gifted those in attendance with tokens and giveaways.

We are building a wonderful bookish community. These bookclub meetings allow us to meet and chat about books.

Thank you!
💕💕💕💕

Dawn
Founder, Baje Bookclub

🌿Read to nourish your soul

#keepreading #book #books #bookstagram #bookworm #bookish #bookstagrammer #booklover #bookblogger #bookaholic #bibliophile #reader #reading #bajanreader #barbados🇧🇧 #caribbeanbookstagram #booksaremagical #booknerd #bookshelf #bookclub

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“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘐’𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮.”

Today, we’re sharing Dr. Jacinth Browne-Howard’s (@thelightinthecracks / @jacifhoward) final and potent piece as our Artist-in-Residence, “𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.”

📖✍🏾 Dated entries, a closing letter, and striking biblical allusions tie time and testimony together as we are gradually made privy to the injustices our main character, Ayani, endured as a child — namely, sexual abuse at the hands of her uncle and the murder of her brother, Isaiah, by those same hands.

Despite being a work of fiction, “𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬” functions as an alternative archive for survivors of similar experiences who — due to unequal power relations, potential support for the abuser, the risk of ostracisation, or the threat of their own safety being (further) compromised — are forced into silence ❤️‍🩹

“𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶... 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴.”

Ayani’s old testaments aid in the conviction of her abuser, and they reintroduce the possibility of justice for herself, other survivors, and her brother ❤️‍🔥

🔗 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐨 or 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 to read Jacinth’s resonant piece, and share your thoughts with us below 👇🏾

📸 by @jfab.art

#artistresidency #artistinresidence #caribbeanfeminism #wadadlifeminism #caribbeanfeminist #blackfeminist #blackfeminisms #stvincentandthegrenadines #vincywriters #caribbeanliterature #readcaribbean #readcaribbeanwomen Photo of Dr. Jacinth Browne-Howard sitting cross-legged on the beach, her head thrown back in laughter. Two hardcover books rest in her lap. She is wearing a vibrant, floral crop top with a long, white skirt.

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