Publications
Jubilation!
In Jubilation!, over fifty contemporary Jamaican poets reflect in complex, nuanced, outspoken, meditative, humorous and outrageous ways upon the historical and existential moment of Jamaican independence from Britain and the years that have followed. A majority of the poems were written for this anthology and are previously unpublished.
Edited by Kwame Dawes, the collection includes the work of, among others, Opal Palmer Adisa, Lillian Allen, Edward Baugh, Jean “Binta” Breeze, Frances Coke, Christine Craig, Kwame Dawes, Delores Gauntlett, Lorna Goodison, Jean Goulbourne, Millicent Graham, Sally Henzell, Ishion Hutchinson, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Evan Jones, Easton Lee, Ann-Margaret Lim, Rachel Manley, Mbala, Shara McCallum, Earl McKenzie, Kei Miller, Pamela Mordecai, Mervyn Morris, Mutabaruku, Geoffrey Philp, Velma Pollard, Heather Royes, Olive Senior, Tanya Shirley, A-dZiko Simba, Fabian Thomas, Ralph Thompson, Donna Aza Weir-Soley, d’bi.young.
Kingston Noir
From Jamaica’s capital city come stories which match the complexity and contradictions of Kingston itself.
Edited by novelist Colin Channer, the collection includes original stories by: Marlon James, Kwame Dawes, Patricia Powell, Chris Abani, Marcia Douglas, Leone Ross, Kei Miller, Christopher John Farley, Ian Thomson, and Thomas Glave.
SO MUCH THINGS TO SAY
Published by Akashic Books in 2010 , SO MUCH THINGS TO SAY is a collection of work by 100 poets who appeared at the festival in the first decade . Edited by Kwame Dawes the contributors come from over 35 countries including the U.S., Belarus, the UK, China, Nigeria, India, South Africa, Cuba, and includes Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Pulitzer prize winning poets Yusef Komunyakaa and Louis Simpson among many other award winning poets.
IRON BALLOONS
Hit Fiction from Jamaica’s Calabash Writer’s Workshop was published in 2006 by Akashic Books.
Edited by Colin Channer, it includes short stories by Marlon James, Elizabeth Nunez, Kwame Dawes, Kaylie Jones, Geoffrey Philp, Rudolph Wallace, Konrad Kirlew, Alwin Bully, A-dziko Simba, and Sharon Leach.
“Mr. Channer’s story, and the others he has collected in Iron Balloons, is raw and uncensored… above all [the stories] are influenced by the rhythms, the colloquialism and the self-confidence of reggae music.”
–New York Times. (NY Times June 2006 review link)
“All 11 authors know how to tell a story . . . and their ability to eloquently delineate a particular experience accounts in large part for the significance and success of Iron Balloons.” –Toronto Star