YOUNGER READERS PLATFORM: 1:00 Heritage – An Ever Present Past Explore the region’s heritage through the art of folklore with Opal Palmer Adisa (Jamaica), Look! Moko Jumbie, the wonder of a home land with Cindy Similien-Johnson (Haiti), Haiti Is, and a tale to inspire children everywhere to become change agents in their own communities with Tykime Davis (Panama), Yasmin the Warrior. 2:00 Courage - Creating a World of Wonder: Devon Harris (Jamaica), Yes I Can!, an original member of the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team to the Winter Olympics, and Anaya Lee (US/Guyana), A Bully's Disguise, who at the age of 9 was the youngest published chapter book author in the U.S., swap stories of adventure and going really, really fast! 3:00 Creativity – Making Our World: Inquiry, creativity and beauty are key in tales for middle schoolers by Cray Francis (Antigua & Barbuda), Honey Dew’s Carnival Fever, Carol Ottly-Mitchell (St. Kitts - Nevis), Fury on Soufriere Hills, and Tammie Paige (Panama), What Favor is Your Hair 4:30 Adventure – Brave New World: Award-winning Young Adult fiction writers journey to brave new worlds. Zetta Elliott (Canada/St. Kitts - Nevis), Mother of the Sea, from the coast of Africa to across the Atlantic, Ibi Zoboi (Haiti), American Street to magical realism and vodou culture; Daniel José Older (USA/Cuba), Shadowshaper Cypher, to an urban-fantasy in summertime Brooklyn. MAIN STAGE: 1:00 Writing Age: Seasoned and new poets reflect on culture, family and aging. With Negus Adeyemi (Barbados), Gemineye, Lauren K. Alleyne (Trinidad & Tobago), Difficult Fruit, Heather Archibald (St. Kitts - Nevis), Home. Home and MervynTaylor (Trinidad & Tobago), Voices Carry 2:00 Writing Memory: A look at placing one’s experiences down on paper to heal, remember, and turn pain into personal power with Carmen Bardeguez (Puerto Rico), Dreaming Rhythms: Despertando Silencios, Cheryl Boyce Taylor (Trinidad & Tobago), Arrival, and Sophia Jones (Jamaica), Born of a Monster

3:00 Classics Old and Continually New - Commonwealth Prize winner, Robert Antoni (Bahamas), Trinidad Noir - The Classics joins NYPL Young Lion nominee, Nicole Dennis-Benn (Jamaica), Here Comes the Sun and Forward/Felix Dennis Prize winner, Tiphanie Yanique (Virgin Islands), Land of Love and Drowning in celebration Classics Old and New. Moderator: Johanne Civil, executive director, Queens Book Festival 4:00 Under the Poet Tree - Lyrical sharing with a host of poets presenting new work and dusting off old favorites. 4:30 Literature as Life - “Caribbean” has always been insular and expansive. Author, Gaiutra Bahadur (Guyana), Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture, poet, Karina G-Lopez (US/Honduras), Jewtina Journals, and performance artists, Lysanne Charles-Arrindell (Sint Maarten/Saint Martin), Where I see the Sun, and Rosamond King (Gambia/Trinidad & Tobago), Rock | Salt | Stone explore racial, gender; sexual identies in regional narratives. Moderator: Kenrick Ross, president, Urban+Out. 6:00 (Re)Discovery - We Come From Far A finale presentation in verse, prose, music and movement from artists joined the celebration of the power of the written word to change lives and worlds. BOOK BUSINESS ROUNDTABLES: 1:00 First Book Journey – From idea through writing, to printing and marketing, learn the highs and lows for the debut work with poet, Keshia Gaye Anderson (Jamaica), Gathering the Waters, and novelist, Nicole Dennis-Benn (Jamaica), Here Comes the Sun. Moderator: Ron Kavanaugh, publisher, Mosaic Literary Magazine 2:00 Writers as Gatekeepers – Novelists, Elsie Augustave (Haiti), publication director of the Paris-based, Nubia, and Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont (Guyana), executive editor of The Network Journal join poets, Opal Palmer Adisa (Jamaica), publisher, Interviewing the Caribbean, and Mercy Tullis-Bukhari, (US/Honduras), co-publisher, Blind Beggars Press look at what happens when writers take on the roles of editors and publisher. Moderator: Kelly Baker Josephs, editor of sx salon: a small axe literary platform.

Schedule subject to change without notice.