 
In spaces where reality often plays out like science fiction, it is easy to dismiss ‘Caribbean speculative fiction’ as a pop-culture fad in Caribbean storytelling; but fiction author and economics researcher, Dr. Karen Lord sets that wayward thought straight.
The writer-in-residence of the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies, featured guest speaker for this year’s Campus Literature Week and UWI Cave Hill alumna sat down with UWI Today to speak about her genre, what it means to be a writer and how we can nurture the next wave of writers currently canvasing The UWI St. Augustine campus.
JA: So what does it mean to be the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies’ writer-in-residence?
KL: It means meeting many interesting students and discovering what I would call, the future of Caribbean Literature. I give advice bearing in mind, Professor Funso Aiyejina does an absolutely brilliant job of this already in the programme. So what I bring, is the experience of being a published author. I look at the writers in the MFA programme here through a kind of ‘future filter’ where I think in ten years, I’m going to be bumping into some of them at literary festivals or be excitedly buying their books.
JA: How to you carve out a space to write?
KL: We keep talking about wanting to hear all voices and hearing all stories, but we forget that to be able to find the space and time to write a story requires privilege. That’s why I’m thrilled about literary festivals like Bocas. We have literary awards in the Caribbean that give you money. Do you know how rare that is? Usually you get a shiny statue, some prestige and a little bump in the sale of your books - if you’re lucky. But in terms of sheer usefulness, that Frank Collymore award? Coming at a time when the whole country was in economic recession and no research projects were available – it enabled me to go to my father and say: Yes I just finished my PhD in Sociology of Religions, but I’ve received this opportunity that will give me my first amount of cash for the year. I think I should pursue it and see where it could go. That financial base enabled him as a West Indian parent, to support me and trust me.
I am constantly inspired by writers of other countries, but I also know what it’s like to be grounded in Caribbean Literature. When I did CXC in school, one of the books I studied was Edgar Mittelholzer - My Bones and My Flute, a horror story set in Guyana! When people come to me and say that Caribbean Sci-Fi doesn’t exist, I say, you fool. You didn’t have the right syllabus!
JA: Given your academic background, how did you decide to start writing fiction?
KL: I used to write in school, but I never had the guts to submit, but what I got right is that I knew I had to live a little so I would have something to write about. By the time I sat down in 2003 to write a novel – I had something to draw on that helped me produce a textured and complex world with multiple voices. The thing that helped me the most was when I started my PhD at Cave Hill. I took a course on how to write academic essays in undergrad, so I knew how to write in a focused and structured way. Then by postgrad, you’re writing about forty thousand words and that’s an amazing incubator for the development of a novel and that’s what helped me unlock the writer within.
JA: How do you see Caribbean speculative fiction in conversation with what’s happening globally?
KL: From the mundane to the mythic, I ask myself what are our traditions in the West Indies? I know we are flooded by La Diablesse and Soucoyant and that’s ok, but also think about the future. What’s going to happen with our solar power, water level etc.? These are things we could examine. Tobias Buckell’s Hurricane Fever is a good example of this. I want there to be the full gamut of Caribbean literature. We have our Nobel Prize winners and that’s beautiful, but I want mediocre writers too. We inherit other people’s throwaway media, why not ours? I also want to see more of the African and Indian Commonwealth literature come to the fore as well as translated works. People always think you nurture Caribbean literature by becoming insular and that’s actually the opposite of what I’m saying. I’m saying, there’s a lot of amazing work out there and we need to support each other.
JA: Tell us about your new book, The Galaxy Game.
KL: Every book I write is different and that’s not the popular thing to do. Redemption is fantasy. Galaxy Game is a follow-up from The Best of All Possible Worlds (Boapw) so it’s Sci-Fi. You will appreciate the Galaxy Game more if you read Boapw first. Galaxy Game is a road trip to a foreign planet that has many different societies and cultures. I told this story from the point of view of someone who began on the realm of Boapw and we spring off of that. The joy of Galaxy Game is I wanted it to feel as if you were properly in a new place, but still one that knew fully how to function.
JA: What is next for you?
KL: I will be in Trinidad until the end of August. The audiobook of the Galaxy Game is coming out soon. I’ll also be doing more research work. I am also working on a manuscript that’s a sequel to Redemption – it’s getting closer and closer to completion. It is one of those works that you start and you realise you have a lot of work to do on it and you let it take it’s time.
Jeanette Awai is a freelance writer and member of staff at The UWI’s Marketing and Communications Department.
Interview Update:
Dr. Karen Lord left Trinidad at the end of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in early May and therefore will not be leaving in August.
Dr. Karen Lord was previously referred to as a UWI Cave Hill alumna. However, she started her PhD at the Cave Hill Campus, but did not graduate from the University since she completed her PhD at Bangor University in Wales. |
