GREAT BAY (May 1, 2000)—Calabash: A Journal of Caribbean Arts and Letters is a new journal, based at New York University, and writers from St. Martin are invited to submit writings for the debut edition, says Lasana M. Sekou.
Calabash’s organizers have been in contact with Sekou since late last year and now the submission date has been set for June 1, 2000. According to organizers, the journal seeks to “place writers, poets, and visual artists from the English, Kweyol, Spanish, French, and Dutch-speaking Caribbean in dialogue among themselves as well as with their migrant, immigrant, and expatriate counterparts.
“This is an invitation for our writers and authors to join a creative and intellectual chat room of sorts with the world through this journal,” adds Sekou.
In a recent news release, Calabash editors say that the journal “also aims to provide coverage of critical engagements by and among scholars from literary, artistic, and cultural traditions in and on the Caribbean.”
Calabash invites submissions in two areas. In addition to creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama, etc.), the editorial board would like to receive contributions that would answer one or both of the following questions: What makes a piece of writing or visual art Caribbean? How is one considered a Caribbean writer and/or visual artist?
Scholarly submissions should follow the MLA format. Short fiction and poetry, upon editorial approval, will be published in its original language (if that is not English) with a translation in English.
Sekou is encouraging writers from St. Martin, and those with access to St. Martin’s media in Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts-Nevis, and Anguilla to send three copies of their works by June 1, 2000 to the Editor, CALABASH: A Journal of Caribbean Arts and Letters, NYU English Department, 19 University Place, New York, NY, USA, 10003.